Tony William Harrison (30 April 1937 – 26 September 2025) was an English poet, translator and playwright. He was one of Britain's foremost verse writers and many of his works have been performed at theRoyal National Theatre. He is noted for controversial works such as the poem "V", as well as his versions of dramatic works such as the tragediesOresteia andLysistrata fromancient Greek,Molière'sThe Misanthrope from French, andThe Mysteries fromMiddle English.
Harrison was also noted for his outspoken views, particularly those on theIraq War. In 2015, he was honoured with theDavid Cohen Prize in recognition of his body of work and in 2016, he was awarded thePremio Feronia [it] inRome.
Tony William Harrison was born on 30 April 1937 into a working-class family inBeeston, Leeds.[1][2][3] He was the elder child of baker Harry Ashton and homemaker Florrie (née Wilkinson-Horner) Harrison.[4][5] He was a scholarship pupil atLeeds Grammar School, then readClassics at theUniversity of Leeds.[1][6][7]
Harrison published his first book of poetry,The Loiners, in 1970;[8]Loiner is an informal demonym, of unclear origin, for people from Leeds.[10]Claire Armitstead, in his obituary forThe Guardian, describes the collection as "exuberantly rude".[9]
One of his best-known works is the long poem "V" (1985), written during theminers' strike of 1984–85, and describing a trip to see his parents' grave inHolbeck Cemetery in Beeston, Leeds, "now littered with beer cans and vandalised by obscene graffiti".[12] The title has several possible interpretations: victory, versus, verse,insulting V sign, etc. Proposals to screen a filmed version of "V" byChannel 4 in October 1987 drew howls of outrage from the tabloid press, some broadsheet journalists, andMembers of Parliament (MPs), apparently concerned about the effects its "torrents of obscene language" and "streams of four-letter filth" would have on the nation's youth.[13] Indeed, anearly day motion entitled "Television Obscenity" was proposed on 27 October 1987 by a group ofConservative MPs, who condemned Channel 4 and theIndependent Broadcasting Authority.[14] The motion was opposed only by MPNorman Buchan, who suggested that fellow members had either failed to read or failed to understand the poem. The broadcast went ahead and, after widespread press coverage, the uproar subsided. MPGerald Howarth said that Harrison was "Probably anotherbolshie poet wishing to impose his frustrations on the rest of us". When told of this, Harrison retorted that Howarth was "Probably another idiot MP wishing to impose his intellectual limitations on the rest of us".[15]
Prometheus is a 1998film-poem, starring Micheal Feast in the role ofHermes, which examines the political and social issues connected to the fall of theworking class in England, amidst the more general phenomenon of the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe, using the myth ofPrometheus as a metaphor for the struggles of the working class and the devastation brought on by political conflict and unfettered industrialisation. It was broadcast onChannel 4 and was also shown at theLocarno Film Festival. It was used by Harrison to highlight the plight of the workers both in Europe and in Britain. His film-poem begins at a post-industrialist wasteland inYorkshire brought upon by the politics of confrontation betweenthe miners and the government ofMargaret Thatcher.[18][19][20][21]
Harrison was married to Rosemarie Crossfield from 1960 until their divorce in the 1970s. They had two children, Jane, born in Leeds, and Max, born while the family was living in Nigeria.[9] He remarried, in 1984, to the Canadian sopranoTeresa Stratas. After his second marriage ended in divorce, his partner in later life was the actressSiân Thomas, who survives him.[9][32][4]
In the early 1980s, Harrison spent time living in New York and Florida, before settling permanently inNewcastle upon Tyne.[8] He died in Newcastle on 26 September 2025, at the age of 88.[32] He had been diagnosed withAlzheimer's disease some years before.[8][33]
Harrison was one of Britain's foremost verse writers and many of his works have been performed at theRoyal National Theatre.[1]
Richard Eyre calls his 1990 playThe Trackers of Oxyrhynchus "among the five most imaginative pieces of drama in the 90s".Jocelyn Herbert, famous designer of the British theatrical scene, comments that Harrison is aware of the dramatic visual impact of his ideas: "The idea of satyrs jumping out of boxes inTrackers is wonderful for the stage. Some writers just write and have little idea what it will look like, but Tony always knows exactly what he wants."[34]
Edith Hall wrote that she is convinced Harrison's 1998film-poemPrometheus is an "artistic reaction to the fall of the British working class" at the end of the twentieth century,[18][35] and considers it as "the most important adaptation of classical myth for a radical political purpose for years" and Harrison's "most brilliant artwork, with the possible exception of his stage playThe Trackers of Oxyrhynchus".[18]
ProfessorRoger Griffin of the Department of History atOxford Brookes University, in his paperThe palingenetic political community: rethinking the legitimation of totalitarian regimes in inter-war Europe, describes Harrison's film-poem as "magnificent" and suggests that Harrison is trying to tell his audience: "To avoid falling prey to the collective mirage of a new order, to stay wide awake while others succumb to thelethe of the group mind, to resist the gaze of modernGorgons".[36]
Following his death on 26 September 2025, his obituary inThe Times said, "The 'Bard from Beeston' had not only mastered the cultural heights but had produced a poetry touching people and places few others ever could."[32]
The Gaze of the Gorgon: poem-film for television (1992). Examines the politics of conflict in the 20th century using the Gorgon as a metaphor. The imaginary narration of the film is done through the mouth of Jewish poetHeinrich Heine. Located inCorfu the film describes the connection between the Corfu Gorgon at theArtemis Temple of Corfu andKaiser Wilhelm II.[41][42]
Prometheus: television film, also directed by the author (1998).[18]
The Prince's Play, National Theatre, London (1996). A translation and adaptation ofVictor Hugo'sLe roi s'amuse. The play was subsequently published byFaber & Faber.[46]
Craig, Cairns (1982),Giving Speech to the Silent, which includes a review ofContinuous: 50 Sonnets from The School of Eloquence, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.),Cencrastus No. 10, Autumn 1982, pp. 43–44,ISSN0264-0856
^Locarno Film Festival (2011)."Prometheus (1998)". Movies & TV Dept.The New York Times. Archived fromthe original on 9 May 2011. Retrieved12 May 2013....where he sees a Prometheus statue fashioned from the bodies of unemployed Yorkshire miners. As the statue makes a journey in an open truck through the countries of the former Eastern Europe, it brings forth memories of the past and WWII horrors (Auschwitz, Dresden)
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