Buzzcocks frontman Steve Diggle has revealed he was inspired by Thomas Hardy’s tale of Jude the Obscure.
The legendary punk rocker was speaking after headlining the Barnstomper Festival in Cerne Abbas.

His spirited and energetic set rolled back the years to when Buzzcocks hit the music scene in the late 1970s.
The Mancunian said afterwards it was a joy to drive through the Wessex countryside that he had imagined when reading Hardy as a youngster.
He said: “It was a barnstomping festival and a barnstomping crowd. We’ve a new album out called Sonics in the Soul and the crowd really enjoyed the new songs as well as the old ones.

“I read Thomas Hardy as a youngster and imagined the countryside as he described it, so it was a pleasure to visit Dorset again.
“I was inspired by Jude the Obscure because he was an outsider looking in – like I was. He could see the glow of what was Oxford and had ambition to go there.
“I also loved Hardy’s poems and my song Mad Mad Judy was inspired by Hardy’s poem ‘Mad Judy’ – I added an extra ‘mad’.”
Diggle’s new song Manchester Rain was selected by Elton John to play on his Apple Music Show.
The two-day Barnstomper Festival is held at the Cerne Abbas Brewery and has gained a cult following. More than 20 bands played across two stages.