Henry Normal (bornPeter James Carroll, 15 August 1956) is an English writer, poet, film and TV producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Manchester Literature Festival), and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. In June 2017, he was honoured with a specialBAFTA for services to television. He set upBaby Cow Productions withSteve Coogan in 1999, and was its managing director until his retirement in 2016.

Henry Normal
Birth name	Peter James Carroll
Born	15 August 1956 (1956-08-15) (age 68) Nottingham, England
Medium	Comedian, television producer, poet, writer
Years active	1980s–present
Website	henrynormalpoet.com

Normal was born inSt. Ann's, Nottingham where he attended William Sharp school (now namedNottingham University Samworth Academy). It was there that his teacher encouraged him to look for poetry in the lyrics ofBob Dylan andJohn Lennon. He started to write poetry and published his first book of poems entitledIs Love Science Fiction? (Mushroom Books, 1975) when he was nineteen.^[1]

Whilst living inChesterfield, Normal chanced upon a local fanzine writer and knocked on thebedsit door of editor Faye Ray. The fanzine editor played Normal tapes of 'ranting' poets he had recently received includingSteven 'Seething' Wells, Little Brother andJoolz Denby. Normal went on to be a central figure in the local music scene and the performance poet was a regular fixture at local gigs.

Early in his career Normal toured with the bandPulp. With Mark Atwood he helped form the Live Poets Society, whose motto was "poetry so good you can actually understand it". Established inManchester, they performed in pubs and clubs throughout the north of England. Normal had an eccentric delivery style, and at a 1987 poetry convention inCorby performed with a paper bag over his head. Also in the 1980s, Normal had short prose pieces published in small press magazines such as "Peace & Freedom magazine". He released a live album,Ostrich Man, in 1987.^[2]

In 1991 he starred inChannel 4's late night series,Packet of Three, which blended stand-up comedy with a peculiarlysolipsistic sitcom about the staff working at avariety theatre called the Crumpsall Palladium. As the beleaguered, depressed theatre owner, Normal was assisted by stage managerFrank Skinner and kiosk attendantJenny Eclair.

He co-wrote and script-edited the multi-award-winningMrs Merton Show and the spin-off seriesMrs Merton and Malcolm. He also co-created and co-wrote the first series ofThe Royle Family withCaroline Aherne andCraig Cash. WithSteve Coogan, he co-wrote the BAFTA-winningPaul and Pauline Calf Video Diaries,Coogan's Run,Tony Ferrino,Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible, all of Coogan's live tours, and the filmThe Parole Officer.

Setting upBaby Cow Productions in 1999, Henry executive-produced all, and script-edited many, of the shows of its seventeen-and-a-half-year output during his tenure as MD. Highlights of the Baby Cow output during this time include Oscar-nominatedPhilomena,Gavin and Stacey,I Believe in Miracles,Moone Boy,Uncle,Red Dwarf,The Mighty Boosh,Marion and Geoff,Nighty Night,Camping,Hunderby andAlan Partridge.

In 1994, Normal performed a series of four shows calledEncyclopedia Poetica onBBC Radio 4. Since retiring in April 2016, Normal has written and performed eleven Radio 4 shows combining comedy, poetry and stories about his life and family:A Normal Family,A NormalLife,A Normal Love,A Normal Imagination,A Normal Nature,A Normal Universe,A Normal Communication,A Normal Ageing,A Normal Community,A Normal Home andA Normal Journey. Both series of shows have since been repeated onBBC Radio 4 Extra.

In 2018,Two Roads publishedA Normal Family: Everyday adventures with our autistic son, which he co-wrote with his wife, screenwriter Angela Pell.

Henry has several poetry collections published byFlapjack Press:

• Travelling Second Class Through Hope (2017)
• Raining Upwards (2017)
• Staring Directly at the Eclipse (2018 – originally published by Five Leaves in 2016).
• This Phantom Breath (2018)
• The Department of Lost Wishes (2018)
• Swallowing the Entire Ocean (2019)
• Strikingly Invisible (2019)
• The Escape Plan (2020)
• The Beauty Within Shadow (2020)
• The Distance Between Clouds (2021)
• Collected Poems, Volume One (2021)
• Collected Poems, Volume Two (2022)
• The Fire Hills (2023)
• Collected Poems, Volume Three (2023)
• A Moonless Night (2024)

Normal lives in East Sussex with his wife, the screenwriter Angela Pell, and their son, Johnny.^[3] He regularly performs poetry at literature festivals around the UK.^{[citation needed]}

Normal has been awarded honorary degrees by both theUniversity of Nottingham andNottingham Trent University. He is a Patron of NottinghamUNESCO City of Literature.^[4] He has also had abeer and abus named after him in his home city.^{[citation needed]}

• Baby Cow Productions
• Poetry Society Interview
• BBC Comedy Guide entry at theWayback Machine (archived 2006-10-06)