Curating Class 3: Beth Hughes on Class Biases in Curatorial Practices

John Nicholson takes an epic trip through space and time in his first book of poetry, Airedale in Ancient Times. Amid riots and shootings in Bradford, The Bingley Byron also seems to have perfected the knack of writing for more than one audience at a time. His celebrations of beer and the outlaw life satisfy the pub crowd, while he courts a wealthy mill owner with his sensational morality tales. But how long can he keep them all happy? We’ll return with Season 2 of Death of a Poet in March 2027, leading up to a symposium to mark what would have been Tony Harrison’s 90th birthday, and the anniversary of John Nicholson’s death, in April.

The Bingley Byron is the toast of the Bradford arts scene, but trouble’s brewing as he sets out his stall as an establishment rhymer. And back in the present, a descendant of the poet meets his likeness at the University of Leeds. Also known as The Orpheus of Bradford and The Airedale Poet, John Nicholson was a Methodist preacher and a tormented drinker, a rambler on Rombald’s Moor and a champion of industry, a conservative and a radical, a woolsorter and a classically-inclined poet. He got arrested in London for arguing with a bust of Shakespeare; became a pawn in one of the great political scraps of the 19th century; played the oboe; fathered nine children; and ad-libbed untold quantities of rhyme for his pals in the pub, most of which has been lost to intoxication and the passage of time. In 1993 Northern Broadsides legend Barrie Rutter brought him back to life on the stage in Tony Harrison’s play Poetry or Bust. We’ve used Harrison’s archive, held here in Cultural Collections at the University of Leeds, to retrace his steps, in the steps, in turn, of John Nicholson. Only a brief biography on The Bingley Byron survives, but we’ve gathered a cast of poets, actors, artists, bellringers, historians, enthusiasts – and a direct descendant – to return to the poems that Nicholson did write down, and the places where he lived and died, to unearth his chaotic, charismatic story. Through his life and work, we think about art, joy, memory, grief, and what we leave behind us. From the meadow pipits, skylarks and standing stones of Ilkley Moor to the river at Saltaire where he met his end, join us in the footsteps of The Bingley Byron.

Grief pulls John Nicholson back to his family’s devout Methodism – for now – as The Bingley Byron turns the loss of his young bride into art that retains the power to console the bereaved. Also known as The Orpheus of Bradford and The Airedale Poet, John Nicholson was a Methodist preacher and a tormented drinker, a rambler on Rombald’s Moor and a champion of industry, a conservative and a radical, a woolsorter and a classically-inclined poet. He got arrested in London for arguing with a bust of Shakespeare; became a pawn in one of the great political scraps of the 19th century; played the oboe; fathered nine children; and ad-libbed untold quantities of rhyme for his pals in the pub, most of which has been lost to intoxication and the passage of time. In 1993 Northern Broadsides legend Barrie Rutter brought him back to life on the stage in Tony Harrison’s play Poetry or Bust. We’ve used Harrison’s archive, held here in Cultural Collections at the University of Leeds, to retrace his steps, in the steps, in turn, of John Nicholson. Only a brief biography on The Bingley Byron survives, but we’ve gathered a cast of poets, actors, artists, bellringers, historians, enthusiasts – and a direct descendant – to return to the poems that Nicholson did write down, and the places where he lived and died, to unearth his chaotic, charismatic story. Through his life and work, we think about art, joy, memory, grief, and what we leave behind us. From the meadow pipits, skylarks and standing stones of Ilkley Moor to the river at Saltaire where he met his end, join us in the footsteps of The Bingley Byron. Series credits Presented by Dr RJ Wade with Paul BennettDr Adam BridgenDr Vic ClarkeFelix CryerAlex DuxburyTom DuxburyKarl GraveAllan MirfieldConrad NelsonHadley NicholsonSarah PrescottCatherine RobinsonElaine RobinsonHarold RobinsonBarrie RutterSiân ThomasDom Basil Watkins OSBGlyn WatkinsProfessor John Whale The Bellringers of All Saints Church, BingleyJane CallaghanAnn CossavellaKarl GraveJane LynchHelen Mitchell-HallMary PickenGary PickenPeter Tedder Hydrophone recordings made on location in the River Aire, Saltaire by Daniel Skevington Produced and edited by Rowland Thomas Music The Farmer’s Boy(Traditional) Air: ‘O, much lov'd Son, if Death’, from Artaxerxes(Thomas Arne) Arranged and performed by Alice Gilmour and The Infernal CauldronSound design by The Infernal Cauldron Trailer edit by Alex Ramseyer-Bache. Wildlife footage by Tom Duxbury.

Also known as The Orpheus of Bradford and The Airedale Poet, John Nicholson was a Methodist preacher and a tormented drinker, a rambler on Rombald’s Moor and a champion of industry, a conservative and a radical, a woolsorter and a classically-inclined poet. He got arrested in London for arguing with a bust of Shakespeare; became a pawn in one of the great political scraps of the 19th century; played the oboe; fathered nine children; and ad-libbed untold quantities of rhyme for his pals in the pub, most of which has been lost to intoxication and the passage of time. In 1993 Northern Broadsides legend Barrie Rutter brought him back to life on the stage in Tony Harrison’s play Poetry or Bust. We’ve used Harrison’s archive, held here in Cultural Collections at the University of Leeds, to retrace his steps, in the steps, in turn, of John Nicholson. Only a brief biography on The Bingley Byron survives, but we’ve gathered a cast of poets, actors, artists, bellringers, historians, enthusiasts – and a direct descendant – to return to the poems that Nicholson did write down, and the places where he lived and died, to unearth his chaotic, charismatic story. Through his life and work, we think about art, joy, memory, grief, and what we leave behind us. From the meadow pipits, skylarks and standing stones of Ilkley Moor to the river at Saltaire where he met his end, join us in the footsteps of The Bingley Byron. Series credits Presented by Dr RJ Wade with Paul BennettDr Adam BridgenDr Vic ClarkeFelix CryerAlex Duxbury Tom DuxburyKarl GraveAllan MirfieldConrad NelsonHadley NicholsonSarah PrescottCatherine RobinsonElaine RobinsonHarold RobinsonBarrie RutterSiân ThomasDom Basil Watkins OSBGlyn WatkinsProfessor John Whale The Bellringers of All Saints Church, BingleyJane CallaghanAnn CossavellaKarl GraveJane LynchHelen Mitchell-HallMary PickenGary PickenPeter Tedder Hydrophone recordings made on location in the River Aire, Saltaire by Daniel Skevington Produced and edited by Rowland Thomas Music The Farmer’s Boy (Traditional) Air: ‘O, much lov'd Son, if Death’, from Artaxerxes (Thomas Arne) Arranged and performed by Alice Gilmour and The Infernal CauldronSound design by The Infernal Cauldron Trailer edit by Alex Ramseyer-Bache. Wildlife footage by Tom Duxbury.

Chaired by writer and broadcaster Nick Ahad, a panel of AI specialists explores the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the urgent questions the technology is raising about skills, ethics, the future of work and what it means to be creative. Who controls the pace of its evolution? What can we expect to see in the coming months and years? How can we keep human judgement and imagination at the centre of creative practice?