For the second half of his long life, Christopher Logue (1926-2011) - political rebel, inventor of the poster poem, pioneer of poetry and jazz - was at work on a very different project: a rewriting of Homer's Iliad. The volumes that appeared from War Music (1981) onwards were distinct from translations, in that they set out to be a radical reimagining and reconfiguration of Homer's tale of warfare, human folly and the power of the gods, in a language and style of verse that were emphatically modern. As each instalment, from Kings to Cold Calls, was published, it became clear that this was to be Logue's masterpiece. Sadly, illness prevented him from finishing it. Enough, however, of his projected final volume, Big Men Falling a Long Way, survives in notebook drafts to give a clear sense of its shape, as well as some of its dramatic high points. These have been gathered into an appendix by Logue's friend and one-time editor, Christopher Reid. The result comes as near as possible to representing the poet's complete vision, and confirms what his admirers have long known, that Collected War Music is one of the great poems of our time.

The arrangement of these Selected Poems demonstrates the consistency of Christopher Logue's vision as it matured through a varied career. He published his first books in the early 1950s, in Paris, where he was associated with Alexander Trocchi, Samuel Beckett and Maurice Girodias. Returning to London in time for the sixties, he wrote plays and a musical for the Royal Court, began the vogue for public poetry readings, recorded Red Bird, the most successful British poetry/jazz disc, and invented the poster poem. He published his poems in many forms, including - again his own invention - New Numbers, a constantly changing collage, which appears here in its final form. The selection culminates in an early treatment of a passage from his version of Homer's Iliad - 'the best . . . since Pope's' (New York Review of Books) - and it illustrates Logue's belief in the power of poetry as a social force - dissident, sensual and humorous.

Selected Poems gives the reader a proper idea of Christopher Logue's lyrical gifts, as well as his irrepressible outspokenness and sense of artistic adventure. It contains fine poems which have been out of print for too long and others now regarded as classics.

Prince Charming is the story of Christopher Logue: one of our great poets and literary mavericks, part of a circle that included Kenneth Tynan and Richard Ingrams. It tells, in frank detail and with eloquent relish, of its author's South England childhood and schooldays; his post-war stint in the army, which ended in disgrace and imprisonment; his years in Paris, during which he was involved in publishing Beckett and wrote pornography; his return to England, where he grew serious about politics, was imprisoned for the second time (as a member of the anti-nuclear Committee of 100), offended T. S. Eliot, participated in the new satire movement, promoted the public performance of poetry, and invented the poster poem. These pages give us unofficial glimpses of the likes of Alexander Trocchi, Maurice Girodias, Lindsay Anderson, Nell Dunn, Peter Cook and the charismatic Pauline Boty. There are enough characters among the less well-known - from the author's father to the Portobello Road street-trader 'Minky' Warren - to stock a lively novel.

In this series, a contemporary poet advocates a poet of the past or present whom they have particularly admired. By their selection of verses and by the personal and critical reactions they express, the selectors offer intriguing insight into their own work.

Collection of TV dramas by the acclaimed British film maker Ken Loach. 'The Big Flame' (1967) and 'Rank and File' (1971) are trademark Loach dramas, detailing with sympathy the plight of workers caught up in industrial disputes at the Liverpool docks and the Pilkington glassworks, respectively. 'Three Clear Sundays' (1965) tells the story of Danny (Tony Selby), a young man facing up to the death penalty after an attempt to help reduce the sentence of two other prison inmates goes badly wrong. 'Days of Hope' (1975) is an epic four-part series starring Paul Copley, Pamela Brighton and Nikolas Simmonds as members of a working class family whose fortunes are depicted from the end of WWI to what they perceive as their betrayal in the General Strike of 1926. 'The End of Arthur's Marriage' (1965) offers something of a departure from Loach's conventional films, an adaptation of a musical scripted by Christopher Logue. 'In Two Minds' (1967) stars Anna Cropper and examines the plight of those suffering from schizophrenia. 'Up the Junction' (1965) raised the issue of abortion, at the time illegal, and played a major role in shaping public debate on the issue. Its influence in this regard was possibly only surpassed by Loach's most famous TV drama 'Cathy Come Home' (1966), which follows the struggles of young bride Cathy (Carol White) as she struggles to keep a roof over herself and her children in a housing system that seems constantly to be working against her. 'The Price of Coal' (1977) is a two-part drama set in a Yorkshire mining village which contrasts the humour of the working men (many played by actual comedians, including Duggie Brown) with the dangerous conditions in which they are forced to earn a living.

"Setting down her topaz saucer heaped with nectarine jelly, "
"Emptying her blood-red mouth--set in her ice-white face--"
"Teenaged Athena jumped up and shrieked: "
""Kill! Kill for me!"
"Better to die than live without killing!""
"Who says prayer does no good?"
Christopher Logue's work in progress, his Iliad, has been called "the best translation of Homer since Pope's" ("The New York Review of Books"). Here in "All Day Permanent Red "is doomed Hector, the lion, "slam-scattering the herd" at the height of his powers. Here is the Greek army rising with a sound like a "sky-wide Venetian blind." Here is an arrow's tunnel, "the width of a lipstick," through a neck. Like Homer himself, Logue is quick to mix the ancient and the new, because his Troy exists outside time, and no translator has a more Homeric interest in the truth of battle, or in the absurdity and sublimity of war.