McGonagall was born in Perth, Scotland, and now lives in Stroud in South West England.[4] His stage name combines a reference to the notoriously bad poet William McGonagall with 'Elvis' "because it’s just so wrong, the wrongest name I could think of to go with McGonagall".[5][6]
Poetry
Slam performances
McGonagall first performed publicly at the UK Allcomers' Slam at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in 2003, finishing runner-up: he went on to win the slam the following year.[7] His career saw significant progress in 2006, in which year McGonagall won the Spokefest UK Slam Championship and the World Slam Championship at the Rotterdam Poetry International Festival.[7]
McGonagall performs at poetry events nationwide, as well as compering at the Blue Suede Sporran Club.[8]
Media performances
McGonagall has regularly appeared on BBC Radio 4'sSaturday Live, beginning with contributions to the premiere episode. He has appeared frequently on other BBC Radio 4 programmes, including Today, Last Word and Off the Page as well as starring in two series of his own sitcom Elvis Mcgonagall Takes A Look On The Bright Side, Radio 4 Comedy of the Week stand-up special "Full Tartan Jacket" (2021) and a documentary "My Name Is Elvis" (2021).[7]
