# Murray Lachlan Young

Murray Lachlan Young (born 14 March 1969) is a British poet, stand-up performer, broadcaster, playwright and screenwriter, and he is also a children's author who has worked extensively in schools. He came to prominence during the Britpop era of the mid-1990s, when he became the only poet to sign a recording contract worth £1m.

## Personal life

Young graduated from University of Salford. In 1998, he married singer Zoë Pollock; they have two children.

## Performances

Live solo shows include:
* UK solo headline tours (2014 & 2016)
* Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts (1996–present, except 2015)
* MTV Music Awards, US (1997)
* T in the Park Festival (1998 & 2001)
* Port Elliot Festival (2005–present)
* Latitude Festival (2006, ’13 & ’15)
* Goodlife Festival (2013, ’14 & ’15)
* Brighton Festival (2014)
* The Wilderness Festival (2014)
* 6 Music Festival (2014–present)
* Festival No 6 (2015–present)
* Poet in residence at The Union Club, Soho, London (1997–present)
* Poet in residence at The Arts Club, Mayfair, London (2014–16)

## Books

* Vice & Verse (1997)
* Casual Sex and Other Verse (1997)
* How Freakin' Zeitgeist Are You? (2017)
* The Nine Dead Williams (2014)
* The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps (2018)

## Stage, film, dance and audio recordings
### Stage

* A Captive Audience (1992)
* The Fabulous Twister Brothers (1993)
* Modern Cautionary Tales for Children (2005)
* The Incomers (2013)
* Rehab (2016)

### Film

Features:
* Under Milk Wood (co-written, 2015)
* God’s Work (in development)
* The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps
* Summerset (writing)
Shorts:
* Desideratum (1992)
* Little Sucker Thumb (adapted, 1993)
* Plunkett and McClean (Gallows poem, 1997)
* Annie McClue (2011)
* The Story of Martin (animation, in production)
* Lycra Dad (in production)

### Dance

* Enjoy Your Stay (2010)
* Taste (2015)

### Audio recordings

* Live at Ronnie Scotts (1995)
* The Lost Album (1995)
* Simply Everyone’s Taking Cocaine (1997)
* Vice & Verse (1997)
* Casual Sex (1998)
* Murray Lachlan Young - Live (2011)
* The Alien Balladeer (2013)

## Broadcasting
### Radio

* Poet in residence, The Breakfast Show, LBC (1996)
* Poet in residence, BBC 6 Music (2011–present day)
* Poet in residence, Saturday Live, BBC Radio 4 (2006–14)
* Regular contributor to Loose Ends, BBC Radio 4 (1995–present day)
* Regular contributor to Kaleidescope, BBC Radio 4 (1995)
* Regular contributor to The Arts Show, BBC Radio 2 (2014–present day)
* Regular contributor to BBC Radio 5 Live, including special commissions for Test Match Special, Cheltenham Gold Cup and City v United (2012–15)
* Scotland meet Murray Lachlan Young, BBC Radio 4 (2013)
* Alien Balladeer, BBC Radio 4 series (2014)
* The Symphony of Medinah, Narrator, BBC Radio 5 Live (2014)
* Cern, BBC World Service (2015)

### Television

* Murray Lachlan Young, MTV USA, series (1996)
* Vice Versa, BBC 2 television special (1997)
* Regular contributor, The Wright Stuff, Channel (2014–present)
* Contributor, Newsnight, BBC 2, (2014)

## Hartnoll & Young

In 2021, Murray Lachlan Young teamed up with Orbital's Paul Hartnoll for a lockdown inspired album called The Virus Diaries under the name Hartnoll & Young. In June 2021, the pair released a single from the album called "Garden Centre (Push the Trolley)" as a follow-up to "I Need a Haircut".