They say a prophet is not without honour save in his own country. Now I’ve never claimed to be a prophet — most of the time I am reacting to events rather than predicting them — but I am, yes, honoured to say that my home town autobiography launch two weeks ago at our lovely community-run Ropetackle Arts Centre in Shoreham near Brighton was an absolute triumph.  

I had three special guests for the occasion, who all feature in the book, of course. From the world of music came John Otway, legendary lunatic, my sometime double act partner and co-writer of our surreal 1991 rock opera Cheryl, and TV Smith, singer of seminal punk originators The Adverts, whom I persuaded to go solo during a difficult period in the late ’80s and who hasn’t look back since.

My third guest was Dick Knight, the man who put together a consortium to back up our fans’ campaign during our titanic battles to save Brighton & Hove Albion FC from predatory capitalism in the 1990s, was our chairman for many years and remains a hero to Seagulls fans. There is a chapter in my book devoted to our battle to save the club we love — quite simply the most successful grassroots campaign I have ever been involved in, and I’ve seen a few.

The thing about Dick is that he is the only person I have ever met who talks more than I do. We meet for lunch occasionally and it is like Ali v Frazier with words — both searching for that tiny gap in the other’s stream of consciousness in order to barge into the conversation.

I knew that if I put him on at the beginning of the evening I’d have to physically carry him offstage. So I put him on last and he did three minutes — and a very complimentary three minutes they were too, in every sense of the word. Thanks Dick.   

And then it was off to Brussels, where I translated part of my memoirs about my time living there — riots and all — into French and then played bass for a storming set with my old Belgian punk band Contingent. I say old: we formed in 1979.

That’s OLD.

Now a word of heartfelt congratulation to BBC producer Kemi Majekodunmi, who set herself the task of telling the story of performance poetry from the beats to the slammers via ranting verse, dub poetry and a whole lot more in an hour and succeeded brilliantly.  

Rhymes, Rock & Revolution — The Story of Performance Poetry was broadcast last Monday night on BBC4 and is an absolute tour de force.

It’s available on BBC iPlayer for the next month or so and I heartily recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in our subculture. It not only traces the path performance poetry has taken in the past 50 years but how developments in music have played an essential part in that change. Google it!

Five more gigs this week. Thursday and Friday I was in Maldon and Leeds, this afternoon I shall be at Elland Road, hopefully cheering the Seagulls to three more points and then tonight with the brilliant Joe Solo at the Old Number 7 in Barnsley, which is already sold out, I’m happy to say.

Tomorrow in Whitby — the home of Arguments Yard, the title of my book — and on Monday at Kent University, where I studied politics and French, or more accurately gig organising and militant social activism, between 1975 and 1978. On the road!

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