Also known as: Bard Of Salford.

Where, when and why in York? Grand Opera House, June 1 at 7.30pm, presenting his Saturday Night Live show.

Occupation: Punk’s stick-insect poet laureate. Performance poet and raconteur who specialises in satirical social observations on British society’s foibles, eccentricities and pop culture, delivered in rapid-fire nasal monotone.

The look: Tall and thin – 5ft 11in, chest 32in, waist 27in – with bouffant hair, buttoned suit jacket, drainpipe trousers, dark glasses and Cuban-heeled boots.

Why is he so thin? Suffered tuberculosis as a child; “they said my skeletal frame never developed properly,” he says.

Age: 64.

Born: Hope Hospital, Salford, to engineer George and unpublished poet Hilda, on January 25 1949.

Past jobs: Apprentice engineer; tailor’s assistant; lab technician; lead type compositor; firewatcher on Salford Docks.

Impact on pop culture part one: Opened for Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks, The Fall and Elvis Costello in punk 1970s. Later Joy Division and New Order opened for him.

Impact on pop culture part two: Arctic Monkeys featured Cooper Clarke’s poem Out Of Control Fairground on inside cover of Fluorescent Adolescent single. Band leader Alex Turner not only cites him as an inspiration but apparently has Cooper Clarke tattoo.

Impact on pop culture part three: Cooper Clarke recorded Last Resort duet with frontman John McClure for The Reverend And The Makers’ B-side to Heavyweight Champion Of The World.

Impact on pop culture, part four: Keen fan Plan B asked Cooper Clarke to appear in his 2012 directional film debut, Ill Manors.

Albums: Ou Est La Maison De Fromage, S’il Vous Plait?, 1978; Disguise In Love, 1978; Walking Back To Happiness, 1979; Snap, Crackle & Bop, 1980; Me And My Big Mouth, 1981; Zip Style Method, 1982; Word Of Mouth – The Very Best Of, 2002. Best-known recordings made with Invisible Girls and producer Martin Hannett.

Books: Directory, 1979; Ten Years In An Open Necked Shirt, 1983 and now reprinted.

Television: Cooper Clarke’s Evidently Chickentown was used in closing scene in Stage 5 episode of The Sopranos. His film Evidently… John Cooper Clarke was shown on BBC4 last June.

Radio: Featured on BBC Radio 4’s Chain Reaction in August 2011; interviewed by New Order’s Peter Hook. John then interviewed actor Kevin Eldon one week later. Presents shows on digital new music station BBC 6Music.

Film: Appeared as his younger self in Control, Anton Corbijn’s 2007 biopic of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis.

Play: Not by Cooper Clarke, but written about him by Acomb playwright Tom Wilson. Tom’s play The Secret Life Of John Cooper Clarke was staged by Naloxone Theatre Company at Reel Cinemas, York, in November 2009.

Advert: Sugar Puffs’ Tummy Time.

Preferred cigarette: Lucky Strike Not too cool for school: Three Cooper Clarke poems are on GCSE syllabus, including T*at. Studied by A-level students too and on British and Irish university courses.

What happened to John in 1980s? Heroin addiction; kicked habit after 16 years in 1992. Shared house with former Velvet Underground chanteuse and fellow “Chinaman’s nightcap” addict Nico in Brixton in mid-1980s. Now lives in Essex with partner Evie, a language teacher, and daughter Stella .

Cooper Clarke today: Continues to write new work from Colchester home, building up plethora of poems and monologues to perform solo alongside Beasley Street, (I Married A) Monster From Outer Space. Kung Fu International etc. Performs at Glastonbury, Latitude, The Green Man and Electric Picnic festivals and tours throughout Europe and Australia.

Last time he played in North Yorkshire: Harrogate Theatre, July 2012. “John Cooper Clarke doesn’t speak words. He forks them, he chews them and he spits them out with bile,” wrote The Press reviewer Matt Clark.

What next? Hopes to produce first new book for more than 25 years ago.

York gig tickets: £19.50 to £28.50 on 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york