News at Eleven: Travelling as a 'modern troubadour' and setting out

without a penny in his pocket, he [Simon Armitage] stopped every night along the way to give poetry readings in village halls, churches, tourist information centres, pubs and living rooms. Audience numbers varied, and at one venue included a party of American school children queuing for the loo, and a flock of sheep.

A sock would be passed around to collect such offerings as the audience saw fit to give.

from The Guardian: Simon Armitage preludes his new book on home ground

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