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A film biography by David Jones with Freddie Jones as John Clare "I am - yet what I am, none cares or knows" (John Clare) John Clare (1792-1864), farm labourer, had three obsessions: his youthful love for Mary Joyce, the countryside of his native Northamptonshire, and the need to celebrate both in his poetry. Clare cracked under the increasing strain of poverty and neglect, and spent the last 23 years of his life in Northampton General Lunatic Asylum. He imagined himself to be Lord Byron, a bigamist, and a prize-fighter; but the poems of his madness are perhaps the most remarkable he ever wrote. "Clare's asylum foretells our need for an asylum, his deprivation foretells our deprivation" (Geoffrey Grigson) Commentary spoken by Tony Church (from BBC Midlands) (David Jones and Patrick Stewart are members of the Royal Shakespeare Company; Tony Church appears by permission of the Northcott Theatre, Exeter)
as John Clare
as Parker, Clare's Father
as Anne, Clare's Mother
as Young Clare
as Mary Joyce
as Patty Clare
as Marquis of Exeter
as Taylor, Clare's Publisher
as Cyrus Redding
as WF Knight
as Shylock
as Schoolteacher
as Granny Bains
as Mr Drury
as Mr Newcombe
as Dr Allen
as Dr Skrimshire
as Agnes Strickland
as Narrator