The Mr Fletcher Poet

In 1951, a Leicestershire builder, J.P. Fletcher, born into a mining community in 1907, won a Commonwealth Poetry Prize for his long poem, `Tally 300`, about mining life. In this programme Mr Fletcher remembers and revisits scenes from his childhood and adult life, including an extraordinarily vivid account of the slaughter of a pig.

This documentary was made by the acclaimed radio producer Piers Plowright, who died earlier this year, and is being repeated on Radio 4 to commemorate his life and work in radio. First broadcast in 1986, the programme is a remarkable first person account of life in a mining community in the first half of the 20th century, and a fine example of the craft of Piers Plowright.

Piers Plowright described himself as a 'radio man'. He had grown up in a home where the wireless was moved into the living room of an evening for family listening. Others have called Piers the Godfather of the British Radio Feature. In a 30-year BBC career, which began in 1968 as a trainee in English By Radio, after which he migrated via drama to documentaries, his programmes received radio's highest accolade, the Prix Italia, on three occasions. Yet he remained always modest, a practised listener, a supporter of colleagues, a composer of sound, silence and word, and - for all his erudition and love of culture - a mischievous spirit.

Research: Valery Hovenden

Location Recording: Ray Bravo

Producer: Piers Plowright

(Photo credit: Lucy Tizard)

1986 documentary about mining community life by acclaimed radio producer Piers Plowright.