Thomas Blackburn

BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry with 'Lost Voices: Thomas Blackburn'.

Novelist Julia Blackburn joins Brian Patten to talk about the life and work of her father, Thomas, whose powerful and remarkable poetry reflects the lifelong struggles he had with his demons. Thomas's father handed on to his son a hideous sense of shame which was in due course compounded by alcoholism and an addiction to prescription drugs. Yet Thomas Blackburn's rich and unflinching poetry is still well worth reading, and at the end of his life he was able to make peace with the past and die in contentment.

Poems read by Patrick Romer.
Producer: Christine Hall.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.