Henry Normal is a writer, poet, TV and film producer, founder of the ManchesterPoetry Festival and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. In June 2017 he was honoured with a special BAFTA for services to television. He set up Baby Cow Productions with Steve Coogan in 1999, and was its managing director until his retirement in 2016.
Career
When living in Chesterfield, Normal chanced upon a local fanzine writer and knocked on the bedsit door of editor Faye Ray. The fanzine editor played Normal tapes of 'ranting' poets he had recently received including Steven 'Seething' Wells, Little Brother and Joolz Denby. Normal went on to be a central figure in the localmusic scene and the performance poet was a regular fixture at local gigs. Early in his career Normal toured with the band Pulp. With Mark Atwood he helped form the Live Poets Society, whose motto was "poetry so good you can actually understand it". Established in Manchester, they performed in pubs and clubs throughout the north of England. Normal had an eccentric delivery style, and at a 1987 poetry convention in Corby performed with a paper bag over his head. Also in the 1980s, Henry Normal had short prose pieces published in small press magazines such as Peace & Freedom. He released a live album, Ostrich Man, in 1987. In 1991 he starred in Channel 4's late night series, Packet of Three, which blended stand-up comedy with a peculiarly solipsistic sitcom about the staff working at a variety theatre called the Crumpsall Palladium. As the beleaguered, depressed theatre owner, Normal was assisted by stage manager Frank Skinner and kiosk attendant Jenny Eclair. Henry co-wrote and script edited the multi-award-winning Mrs Merton Show and the spin-off series Mrs Merton and Malcolm. He also co-created and co-wrote the first series of The Royle Family with Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash. With Steve Coogan, he co-wrote the BAFTA-winning Paul and Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan's Run, Tony Ferrino, Doctor Terrible, all of Steve's live tours, and the film The Parole Officer. Setting up Baby Cow Productions in 1999, Henry executive produced all, and script edited many, of the shows of its seventeen-and-a-half-year output during his tenure as MD. Highlights of the Baby Cow output during this time include Oscar-nominated Philomena, Gavin and Stacey, I Believe in Miracles, Moone Boy, Uncle, Red Dwarf, The Mighty Boosh, Marion and Geoff, Nighty Night, Camping,Hunderby and Alan Partridge. Since retiring in April 2016, Normal has written and performed six BBC Radio 4 shows, A Normal Family, A Normal Life, A Normal Love, A Normal Imagination, A Normal Nature and A Normal Universe, combining comedy, poetry and stories about bringing up his autistic son, Johnny. In 2018, Two Roads published A Normal Family: Everyday adventures with our autistic son, which Henry co-wrote with his wife, screenwriter Angela Pell. Henry has several poetry collections published by : Travelling Second Class Through Hope, Raining Upwards, Staring Directly at the Eclipse, This Phantom Breath, The Department of Lost Wishes, Swallowing the Entire Ocean, Strikingly Invisible and The Escape Plan. Born in St. Ann's, Nottingham, Henry now lives in Brighton. He regularly performs poetry at literature festivals around the UK and was recently given honorary degrees by both Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent University. He is a Patron of Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature. He has also had a beer and a bus named after him in his home city.
