The last twenty years as a poet, singer/songwriter, comedian, and tree impressionist have established Rory Motion as one of the most popular and innovative performers on the national circuit. Born in 1956, the son of a simple Yorkshire sales executive, Rory has delighted both natives and foreigners alike with his deceptively laid-back style, keen intelligence and quirky wit.

Rory learnt his stage skills on the stand-up comedy circuit in the late 80's and early 90's, being described by Time Out as a "a post-Hippie comic", which by way of cheerful response is how he described Time Out. Finding the increasingly gladiatorial nature of the stand-up world too limiting, he decided in 1992, following a successful national tour with Frank Skinner, to move to Bwlch y Cibau, a small village in Powys.

Rory's instinct for poetry, song and story found nurture in the bard-friendly hills and soon he was extending his engagements to include folk and literature festivals. A regular contributor to national radio, he has appeared on comedy shows, the literature panel game 'Booked' with Roger McGough and Miles Kington, and written and presented his own programmes on Radios 4 and 5. In 2001, Rory and fellow poet Matt Harvey created a series of programmes called 'One Night Stanza' which, in a victory for poetry lovers everywhere, made the coveted 6:30 Radio 4 comedy slot. In the same year Cassells published Rory's collection of poems, 'Neither is the Horse'.

Rory's fascination and evident facility with language has led him to perform in other tongues. In his French-speaking persona, Raymond Bizarre, Rory enjoyed a network radio hit in France with his epic homage to Eric Cantona, and in a triumphant accolade for the Englishman abroad, the disc was played before international matches at the Parc de Princes on several occasions.

In 2004 he travelled to the remote shores of Lake Malawi, in Mozambique, and performed to different villages in the local language of Chi Nyanja, an offshoot of Swahili. The results of this remarkable adventure were recorded in a half-hour programme called 'Hi Nyanja', for Radio 4 (which can be heard on his web-site).

Rory has performed at every Glastonbury Festival since 1989, his unique blend of wit and wisdom appealing to a wide range of generations and political leanings. In the space of one week in 1996, Rory appeared on radios 2 and 4, performed at an anthroposophical conference, and followed a benefit gig for the anarchist magazine Squall by being guest speaker for the Harrogate Rotarians.

Rory also paints landscapes, interiors and text-pieces and in 2006 exhibited at the Peter Pears gallery in Aldeburgh, in conjunction with a reading at the Aldeburgh poetry festival. His most recent works are satirical pastiches of Brit-art, which he creates under the name 'Damien Shirt'.

He also writes a regular 30,000 hits-a-month blog, 'My life as a Artist', on his website, rorymotion.com.

Rory's first book, 'Neither is the Horse', was published in November 2001 by Cassell, available new and used from Amazon. Book review on Ciao.com.

REVIEW from northener@ayup.co.uk (on line magazine)
The Stand comedy club Edinburgh

"A double helping of comedy from south of the border brought a fantastic night to the stand this weekend. First Rory Motion from Yorkshire strides onto the stage, guitar strapped firmly to his chest and exuding confidence, despite the less than enthusiastic reception from the overheated Stand audience.

His stage performance is absolutely astounding- calm,collected, and always on the ball.With original material and an altogether unique perspective on the world, the audience was quickly won over with stories of his childhood.Moving on to his music, Motion wheeled out a marvellously Welsh Bob Dylan.

His poetry is reminiscent of John Hegley's work,if John Hegley had had a more misspent youth. Motion's concise, yet deceptively meandering delivery and directly warm stage presence embraces the audience with insightful material carried off with a personal touch that is quite rare."

T.V. and Radio work

T.V.
James Whale Show ITV
Cryers Crackers, Richard Whiteley Show and many other naff shows on Yorkshire television
Whitby TV (watch the video)

Radio
BBC Radio 2, Martin Kelner Show, The Stand -Up Show
Radio 4, Stanza on Stage, Booked, Kalaedoscope, National Poetry Day, and contributions to many others.
Radio 4, Hi Nyanja (listen to the audio)
Radio 5, wrote and presented ' Four wheels bad two wheels good' (a programme about bicycles)
Rory has performed at Folk festivals, Literature festivals and has been an ever-present at the Glastonbury festival since 1989.

New Rory Motion Publicity Photo