Roger McGough, who has been made a CBE in the Queen's birthday honours, is one of the UK's most revered and popular poets.
McGough presents Poetry Please on BBC Radio Four
Born in Litherland, Liverpool, in 1937, the 66-year-old rose to prominence in the 1960s as one of the "Liverpool Poets".
His unique style of poetry, nurtured in the clubs and coffee bars of Liverpool's Toxteth district, made McGough, Adrian Henri and Brian Patten household names.
Their collective works, published as The Mersey Sound, sold over a million copies and became the best-selling poetry anthology on record.
McGough helped bring poetry into the mainstream as a member of The Scaffold, a pop group that also included Sir Paul McCartney's brother Mike.
Their upbeat singles included Thank U Very Much and the UK number one hit Lily the Pink.
His books for children include Bad Bad Cats and Defying Gravity
The writer's association with the Beatles continued when he worked on the script for their 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine.
McGough, who was made an OBE in 1997, is a two-time recipient of the Signal Poetry Award and won the Cholmondeley poetry award in 1999.
He also won a Royal Television Society award for his 1993 science programme The Elements.
In 2001, he was honoured with the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.
Some of his most recent books include The Spotted Unicorn, The Way Things Are and Ring of Words, an anthology of poetry for children.
He also enjoyed success as a playwright with his 1984 adaptation of The Wind in the Willows.
McGough lives in Twickenham in south-west London with his wife Hilary Clough, their two children Matthew and Isabel and his cat, Tricky.
His dog Bran, now deceased, was celebrated in his own right for being the son of Sir Paul's pet Martha.