Pam Ayres on Animals

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In March 2021 a new edition of Pam’s book, With These Hands, was re-issued by Ebury Press/Penguin Books. First published in 1997, this book includes many of Pam’s most popular earlier poems including Yes I’ll Marry You My Dear, Will I Have To Be Sexy at Sixty, The Wonderbra, and How Can That Be My Baby? I do now have a beautiful grandchild, Arthur,” she grins. “After my performances, I do a book-signing where people come up and have a word. They always used to ask, ‘Have you got any grandchildren yet?’ and say things I thought were rather sugary and saccharine. One lady said, ‘Oh, you wait! It’s like falling in love.’ And I thought, ‘Where’s the exit?’ It didn’t seem like me at all. In June 2022, at the grand age of 75, Pam was delighted to appear in the Glastonbury Festival. Also in June, as part of filming for her Channel 5 TV series about the Cotswolds, Pam had the opportunity to interview HRH The Prince of Wales, now King Charles, at his Highgrove country home to talk about his garden, and their shared love of wildlife and natural history. The interview featured in Pam’s second TV series for Channel 5, The Cotswolds & Beyond, which was originally broadcast in Autumn 2022. This definitive collection brings to life the charming characters and voices of all creatures great and small through Pam’s poetry over the past five decades and is perfect for all animal lovers.

I didn’t like the Grand National very much because I hated to see the horses hurt. I know it’s improved now and safer, which I’m glad about, but I always dreaded the green screens going up and the shot that rings out. I do love this poem, though. It’s one of my favourites.” For your chance to WIN one of FOUR copies of Pam Ayres on Animals, please submit your details via the Competition Entry form below. If you don’t want to eat meat, then I respect that very much. But this is such a better way of doing it than going into a supermarket and buying any old lump of meat that might have come from Kazakhstan.” Many of her poems are in school textbooks around the world including the UK, USA, China, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, South Africa, Ireland and Singapore. Pam’s autobiography, The Necessary Aptitude, was the UK’s bestselling female autobiography of 2011.

Yes I’ll Marry You My Dear

It’s interesting you say that because, when I sent the poem to my editor, Charlotte, she said she has to take a photograph of her tongs turned off before she goes out.” Pam laughs. “That does seem to be taking it a bit far!” I think, 'If this is affecting me, it probably affects everyone else', and I try to express it in as few well-chosen words as possible. It might be the stress of giving a dinner party, getting depressed about the news and current affairs, or those irritations like restaurants and pubs serving food on pieces of slate, not plates. It's impractical because there's no edge, so the food falls off - and I worry about the hygiene. Hidden beyond the bluebell woods and babbling brooks, there is great unrest in our countryside. In this lyrical satire, Pam Ayres highlights the undercurrents simmering beyond the patchwork of fields. We meet the angry fishermen who can't afford to live in their own villages, the indignant farmers who get the blame for everything and the old man grieving for the unspoilt village of his youth. The animals have their say too, from the persecuted grey squirrel who didn't want to leave America anyway, the barn owl mourning his now-converted ancient barn, and the humble maligned mole, all of whom come together and demand to know: Who Are You Calling Vermin? Read more Details

Pam is the author of several best-selling poetry collections, including The Works, With These Hands, Surgically Enhanced, You Made Me Late Again!, and Up In The Attic. We’ve teamed up with Ebury Press to offer this fabulous book prize. For your chance to WIN one of FOUR copies of the wonderful Pam Ayres on Animals simply enter your details below.Famous circles: Pam Ayers and comedian Tommy Cooper chat to the Duke of Edinburgh at the Royal Variety Gala in 1977

Having said all that, this collection is hugely enjoyable, and it’s been great bedtime reading at the end of yet another pandemic day. Not only funny and giving plenty of opportunity for reader identification but also poignant and moving at times. Thank you Pam!But I’ll never forget the day my daughter-in-law came home from hospital and we went over to see the baby. There was my son, with his darling little baby in the crook of his arm; it was very emotional. So I have been overwhelmed and I can’t see enough of my grandson: he smiles and he beams and is a sunny little boy.” I think we should all have smaller families: we should all just replace ourselves. Nobody wants to talk about that because it’s such a controversial subject; but if we limited the size of our families, we wouldn’t need so much food and we wouldn’t need to make this horrible slime in laboratories – but that doesn’t fit in with everybody’s culture. I’ve got two sons and I’ve loved having two sons and they were enough. I’m one of a family of six but times have changed since then.” While she's thought of as a writer of humorous poetry, Ayres says not all the work she pens is funny. Much-loved poet and broadcaster Pam Ayres has brought together all the verse she has written about animals over the last five decades for a wonderful new book of poetry. Of course, those performances are enlivened by her distinctive accent, which happily she's never seriously considered changing.