Punk poet John Cooper Clarke awarded honorary degree

The Arctic Monkeys collaborator received the honour from the University of Salford

Poet John Cooper Clarke has been awarded an honorary degree by the University of Salford.

The honour was given to the punk figurehead earlier today (July 18) at a ceremony at The Lowry in Salford. The Salford native was awarded a doctorate of arts to pay tribute to his lengthy career. “What a thrill – who’d have thought it? Now I’m a doctor, finally my dream of opening a cosmetic surgery business can become a reality!” he said.

“There’ve been lots of positive changes in the city since I worked at Salford Tech in the seventies, and I’m pleased to be known as Salford’s Bard and to have helped put it on the map,” he added. Cooper Clarke toured with the likes of Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Fall and Elvis Costello and has released four LPs as well as 1979’s acclaimed poetry book, Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt, which went on to be one of the best selling poetry books of the following decade.

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The words of John Cooper Clarke feature on the forthcoming Arctic Monkeys album, ‘AM’, on a track called ‘I Wanna Be Yours’. Produced by James Ford, the album also features appearances from Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme plus former member of The Coral Bill Ryder-Jones and Elvis Costello’s drummer Pete Thomas.

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