By Andy Kershaw Broadcaster and BBC Radio 3 presenter

Laconic Ivor Cutler once said he spent most of his time "bored stiff"

Andy Kershaw, who knew poet and musician Ivor Cutler for more than 20 years, pays tribute to the performer, who has died aged 83.

Listening to Ivor Cutler gave me a love for language and the use of words.

I first got to know him back when I was booking the student concerts at Leeds University in the early 1980s.

He shared my sense of humour and we became friends.

Ivor was exactly in real life what you got on the radio. You just never knew what he was going to come out with.

He was a true original.

I was so thrilled that not only did he do the Peel sessions but when I joined BBC Radio 1 and later Radio 3, he did 20 years of recordings for me.

Ivor was a remarkable man and was still performing live until the age of 81.

Musical legacy

His last session for me was only about two years ago.

BBC Radio 3 presenter Andy Kershaw has won four Sony Awards

On my show this Sunday I am going to play a John Peel session that he did in February 1979 that I can still remember hearing when it was broadcast for the first time.

I was sitting in my student flat at Leeds University as a first year and it captures him at his very best.

When we went through the archives to pick a session, we could have picked any from the couple of dozen he did for Peel and the 15 or so he did for me.

They stand up very well to time.

Ivor's work should stand as a reminder to us all about the value of supreme silliness.