15 Facts About Adrian Henri

Adrian Henri was a British poet and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group the Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology The Mersey Sound, along with Brian Patten and Roger McGough.

Adrian Henri was described by Edward Lucie-Smith in British Poetry since 1945 as the "theoretician" of the three.

Adrian Henri was influenced by the French Symbolist school of poetry and surrealist art.

Adrian Henri's grandfather was a seaman from Mauritius who settled in Birkenhead, Cheshire, where Henri was born.

Adrian Henri studied art at Newcastle and for a short time taught art at Preston Catholic College before going on to lecture in art at both Manchester and Liverpool Colleges of Art.

Adrian Henri was closely associated with other artists of the area and the era including the Pop artist Neville Weston and the conceptual artist Keith Arnatt.

Adrian Henri was president of the Merseyside Arts Association and Liverpool Academy of the Arts in the 1970s and was an honorary professor of the city's John Moores University.

Adrian Henri's career spanned everything from artist and poet to teacher, rock-and-roll performer, playwright and librettist.

Unlike McGough and Patten, Adrian Henri turned his back on the trendier London scene, and chose to remain in Liverpool, saying there was nowhere he loved better.

Adrian Henri was the leading light of a band, the Liverpool Scene, which released four LPs of poetry and music.

Adrian Henri was a firm believer in live poetry reading, and read his poetry at many and varied venues as well as holding poetry workshops at schools and colleges.

In 1986 Adrian Henri became the first President of the National Acrylic Painters' Association, a post he held until 1991, after which he became its first Fellow and Patron until his death in 2000.

Adrian Henri died in Liverpool, aged 68, having never properly recovered from a stroke that he had suffered two years previously.

Adrian Henri received an honorary doctorate from the University of Liverpool.

Adrian Henri was at the centre of a distinctive yet highly connected counter-culture, providing an opportunity to consider his embrace of total art as a template for interdisciplinary art practice.