Simon Armitage

What’s your first Yorkshire memory?

That’s quite difficult as I’ve spent pretty much all of my life in Yorkshire. It was always there right in front of my eyes. I suppose the village I grew up in, Marsden, I always think of as the epicentre of Yorkshire, even thought it’s right on the Lancashire border, and all my waking memories were Marsden memories really, both in the village and then up on the hills around it.

What’s your favourite part of the county – and why?

West Yorkshire. I’m not just saying that because I’m obliged to, but it’s a real place where people live, and people work, so you get that interface with industry and community, but at the same time, on the other side of the house, there are these really wild moors, and they’re my favourite places up there, and you’re usually on your own. I’ve described them before as a “blank canvas”. They’re a great place to think.

What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire?

If I was going out in Yorkshire I think I’d head towards North Yorkshire. I think of that a a prettier place, easier on the eye. I like the limestone scenery you get around the Dales. I’d probably head off towards Helmsley and if we were making a weekend of it, strike out for the coast after that. We used to spend a lot of family holidays in Bridlington.

Do you have a favourite walk – or view?

My favourite view is from the top of West Nab, a summit above Meltham. There’s this 360 degree view and I tend to think of that as being my orbit, and my compass. I can see lots of places that people come from who I really admire. It’s a good emotional “trig-point” up there as well as being really panoramic.

Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present, would you like to take for lunch?

I’d probably go for Brian Clough, I know he was born in Middlesbrough, but I went to college with some lads from Middlesbrough who were adamant that it would always be Yorkshire. I think that would be a very entertaining meal. I wouldn’t mind taking Jessica Ennis either, she probably needs a bit of cheering up at the moment.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, or past or present, would you like to take for dinner?

James Mason. He was from Huddersfield. When you’re from Huddersfield, you’re indoctrinated with this litany of achievements, and famous people who have come from the town, and James Mason is at the top of that. I do think he was a fantastic actor, both as a villain and as a leading man. He’s also a really interesting man, I think he did an architecture degree, was a conscientious objector during the war and wrote a book about cats... you can’t go wrong with that can you?

If you had to name your Yorkshire hidden gem, what would it be?

I’ve thought of somewhere, but I can’t possibly tell you. If I did people might go there.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

I think it’s variety for one thing, there is so much of it, and it’s all very different. You’re talking about really densely populated areas of heavy industry, you’re talking about breathtaking scenery, you’re talking about dales, you’re talking about moors, you’re talking about mountains, you’re talking about coastline... there’s enough of it there that some people think of it as a country, sometimes I think of it as a continent. Because of that variety it’s got a strength of character, a sense of independence.

Do you follow sport in the county, and if so, what?

I follow Yorkshire cricket, but it’s hard work following county cricket. It’s a bit like the stock exchange, it just ticks over with no-one watching it and I think it’s doomed, sadly.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?

My favourite pub is a working men’s club called Puleside Working Men’s Club. It’s the place where I went drinking before I was old enough to go drinking. It’s where my dad and his mates hang out, I was in there the other day, my dad got an MBE, and we went to a party in there to celebrate. It’s a very modest place but very intimate. To eat I like going to the Feversham Arms in Helmsley, but I need to save up for a year to do that.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

There’s a shop in a village near here called Honley, the food shop’s called Taylors. It’s like a Yorkshire village deli, family run, been there forever and a day. They also do a very good line in snow shovels.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it?

It’s cleaner, definitely. My dad used to tell me that when he was a kid you’d go playing up on the moors and you’d come home, and you’d be filthy, and that was just the soot, and there are more trees, certainly in West Yorkshire. We’ve got buzzards now in West Yorkshire, we didn’t have them when I was growing up. I think it’s a more tolerant place, more integrated, I think it’s a much more welcoming place than it used to be.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

God I suppose... My dad always used to say that God must be a Yorkshireman, so I’d be daft not to admire Him.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.

Ted Hughes has been the most important artistic presence in my life. I wouldn’t be writing if it wasn’t for his poems and his encouragement at various points in time. But I also look to people like Alan Bennett and Alan Ayckbourn, and David Hockney and Tony Harrison, WH Auden and Barbara Hepworth,. They all seem to be people who had very thorough artistic ideals, but also have that common touch as well.

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, it would be?

Malham Cove, at midnight, on a full moon. When the limestone has that luminosity, when it seems to “give back light”.

* Simon Armitage is performing at the festival opening of the Ilkley Literature Festival on Friday, September 30 at 7.20pm at the Kings Hall in Ilkley.