Vernon Scannell (1922-2007) was a unique link between the poets of the Second World War and the post-war literary world – Fitzrovia in the late 1940s, the Mavericks in the 1950s, the jazz and poetry scene of the 1960s. During a long and sometimes chaotic life, he earned his living as a boxer, teacher, broadcaster, critic and poet. Poet Martin Reed talks about the life and work of the poet who made Yorkshire his home.

Martin Reed is a film-maker, winner of the National Poetry Competition and author of The Two-Coat Man. One of Vernon Scannell’s literary executors, he recently co-edited Farewell Performance: the Collected Later Poems of Vernon Scannell, published earlier this year.