Overview

• He died peacefully at 10:55pm on 29 September at Torbay hospital, according to his agent citing his wife, Linda Cookson.
• He rose to prominence with 1967’s The Mersey Sound alongside Roger McGough and Adrian Henri, a collection reported to have sold more than a million copies.
• His work spanned adult and children’s writing, from Little Johnny’s Confession and Armada to Gargling With Jelly and the novel Mr Moon’s Last Case.
• He was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2003.
• Tributes arrived from collaborators and publishers, including McGough’s message “May he Rest In Poetry” and a remembrance from his longtime editor.