Globe columnist and part-time performance poet Peter Grant meets literary legend Brian Patten to talk about his forthcoming anniversary show with fellow wordsmith Roger McGough.

LAST year the arts had something to celebrate - 150-year anniversaries of the Liverpool Empire and Liverpool Playhouse theatres.

2017 has just celebrated the 60th birthday of The Cavern.

Now it's time to applaud the mould-breaking book The Mersey Sound, one of the best-selling poetry anthologies of all time.  The celebrations begin at the Playhouse on Saturday, January 28.

Brian and Roger will be performing a selection of vintage, classic and surprising poems set to music.

Sadly, the third of the trilogy - Birkenhead's Adrian Henri - died in 2002, but his great poetry friends continue to keep the legacy alive with sell-out performances of their work which recorded the 1960s with passion, humour and raw energy.

It made them synonymous with the city and inspired storytellers, writers and aspiring poets.

One of the UK's most distinctive and popular poets Brian, 71 next month, has been delivering meticulously crafted, heart-breakingly honest, funny and uplifting poems for nearly five decades.

His readings are always memorable.

Later this year his classic book The Story Giant will also be brought to life on stage at the Everyman. It is a tale for families of a giant who lives off new stories from around the world.

Brian tells me he is hoping to do a lot more stand-up poetry this year.

Speaking exclusively to the Globe, he said: "When The Mersey Sound was written I was a teenager.

"I was editing a poetry magazine called Underdog when I was 16.

"I was 20 when The Mersey Sound was first published in 1967.

"Now I am still reading them on stage 50 years on.

"I am pleased that our the poetry is still read by new generations."

I tell him it was to me the Sgt Pepper of Poetry.

He smiles and says modestly, "oh, thank you - if only..."

Brian says he hasn't yet decided just what he will read from his 'greatest hits' set list but he may include some recent 'darker work'.

"It's always good to hear that many people regard the poems at timeless.

"Looking back they were always meant to be performed."

He is genuinely pleased that the show is already looking like a sell-out. He enjoys meeting fans at book signings.

As for his partner-in-rhyme - Roger, 2017 also has McGough milestones to celebrate.

His work Summer With Monika, is to be republished and will also be performed at Liverpool Philharmonic where he is also hosting a Sgt Pepper celebration.

Roger has a significant birthday, too, in November.

He will be 80 when his New And Selected Poems is published by Penguin.

Says Brian, now living in Devon: "It's always great for the two of us coming home.

"In the '60s, we often performed in the Everyman Bistro and we did appear at the Cavern, too. Amazing days.

"I recall Julie Walters in one of my plays at the Everyman called The Pig and the Junkle - she played a forgetful elephant. Amazing days."

In this special Playhouse one-off gig, Brian and Roger will read from their celebrated collection and perform others set to music by Little Machine. There will be a book signing following the performance.

"It will be so good seeing some old friends and some new ones," says Brian feeling a little nostalgic.

Happy Birthday - Brian, Roger and absent friend Adrian - creators of The Mersey Sound - the best poetry book I ever found.

Now, that rhymes...but I won't be giving up my day job.

Brian Patten and Roger McGough: The Mersey Sound 50th Anniversary with Little Machine is at the Liverpool Playhouse on Saturday, January 28.

Tickets for the performance, which starts at 7.30pm, are from the box office on 0151 709 4776 or www.everymanplayhouse.com