Ian McMillan

Poet Ian McMillan was born in 1956, in Darfield, South Yorkshire, England and was educated at North Staffordshire Polytechnic. He has been a poet, broadcaster, commentator and programme-maker for over 20 years. He founded Versewagon (later re-named Circus of Poets), a performance poetry group with John Turner and Martyn Wiley, and appears regularly in schools, arts centres, prisons and at literary festivals. He appears regularly on television and radio and contributes articles to the Mail on Sunday, The Guardian, the Barnsley Chronicle, Q, Mojo, Poetry Review and the Yorkshire Post. His poems have been published in many magazines and newspapers including The Observer and the Evening Standard, and broadcast on numerous television and radio shows, including BBC1’s Football Focus. He also hosts BBC Radio 3’s arts programme, The Verb.

His poetry and prose collections for adults include Dad, the Donkey’s on Fire (1994), I Found This Shirt: Poems and Prose from the Centre (1998) and Perfect Catch (2000), a collection of poems, plays and other writings. His poetry for children includes Elephant Dreams (1998). His most recent book for children is The Invisible Villain (2002). In 2005, his play, Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit, based on the work of Jake Thackray was first performed. Talking Myself Home: My Life in Verses was in 2008.

About the film
End of the Street takes the original 19th century Beaufort wind force scale and conjures a response, incrementally turning up the strangeness.

On one level, End of the Street is about language – language that builds. On another level, it’s about the weather and our emotional responses. Taking the lead from McMillan’s abstraction of language, it drifts in and out of literal interpretation while maintaining the visual trajectory. The resulting film bears all the usual Andy Martin/Ian McMillan hallmarks: good story, well told, neatly interpreted with a rich montage of illustrative action.

Credits
A film by Andy Martin
Written and Narrated by Ian McMillan
Music and Sound Design by Robert Worby
Technical Assistant Tom Hadley
Camera Malcolm Hadley
3D Assistant Tom Mitchell
Performers Gwen Zayac & Kevin Power

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