Performance poet Dr John Cooper Clarke explores his formative experiences of the British seaside, and the particular appeal of Frinton-on-Sea on the Essex coast. Interview: Alex Reece
I got the bug for the old sea very early on in my life. I had TB as a child and, when I was released from the hospital, I was sent to a holiday resort in North Wales called Rhyl. I was there in the holiday season and out of the holiday season, so it gave me a behind-the-scenes look at these places of pleasure and recreation.
My favourite coast is very close to where I live in Essex: a place called Frinton-on-Sea. Every resort has its Frinton. They always have an ultra-reactionary neighbour that wants to keep all that fun and noise at a bit of a distance. Blackpool has its Lytham St Annes, Brighton: Hove, and Essex is no different. That’s what Frinton’s relationship is to Clacton-on-Sea.
I like Frinton’s solitude, serenity and architecture. There’s a corner of it that looks like a scaled-down version of Miami Beach. It’s a whole kind of Art-Deco area – International Style with white stucco, nautical balconies and lavishly fenestrated.
Part of Frinton’s charm is its emptiness, and it is empty because it’s got that reputation for being snooty. I think the residents were on to something. And now I’m undoing their good work by shouting its virtues!
There’s not very much social glue any more, but I think everybody can share a happy memory of a coastal holiday. The things that people came up with for the The Nation’s Ode To The Coast [created with The National Trust] were great. It was nice to know I’d set a train of poetic thought in motion throughout the UK.
I’ve long held the belief that of all the arts, the one that everybody’s had a go at is poetry. Whereas they might not have painted a picture, learned a musical instrument or taken up ballet, every semi-literate person with a Biro can give it a go.
For more on The Nation’s Ode To The Coast, The National Trust in collaboration with Dr John Cooper Clarke, see nationaltrust.org.uk/features/our-coastal-poem.
Find out more about celebrities that love the coast here. Or keep up to date with 'My Coast' features in the magazine.
