Interview: Former Stranglers singer Hugh Cornwell

Cornwell follows the likes of Jeff Beck and Chris Difford hosting a workshop and he's looking forward to it, even if he's not quite sure how he's going to go about it.

He said: "To be honest I don't really know what I'll be doing, although it's not going to be a straight lecture. It's going to be a bit of cheating really, more interactive, getting people to ask me questions because that's the best way for them to find things out. I'll do my best to point them in the right direction.

"Talent is talent and you can't teach that. But what you can do is have a voice of experience offering pieces of advice people will find useful. It's up to them to then use it."

Cornwell, 60, knows a thing or two about knocking out a decent tune. In 15 years with the Stranglers he penned a string of hits including No More Heroes, Peaches and Golden Brown.

He said: "The Stranglers was a great apprenticeship. I did a lot of writing with bass player JJ Burnel to start with, but then began writing separately.

"For me, Golden Brown is the best of the lot, I love that song. It was a big hit in 1982 and what's been lovely is it's still popular. A fan emailed me to say it's been used on a new film called Away We Go, and the fact its soundtrack has people like Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground on it makes me very proud."

Film is one of Cornwell's big passions, along with cricket, and he's keen to hear more of his work on the big screen.

He said: "Peaches was used in Sexy Beast, the film with Ray Winstone, and I nearly fainted when I saw that because no-one had told me it was being used, and there it was being played right at the start of the film.

"I'm a movie fanatic and I would love to be invited to do a soundtrack at some point, so fingers crossed it will happen at some point."

Cornwell has pursued a successful solo career since leaving The Stranglers in 1990, although it's two years since his last release, Hooverdam. He's ready to get back in the studio to record new material.

He said: "At the moment I've got about 12 songs I'm working on. But I've not been idle. I've written a novel, which I hope will be published next year, and also been touring a lot.

"We're back out on the road in May with Hooverdam and also the whole of The Stranglers' Rattus Norvegicus. We're playing the whole album in order, which we never did in the Stranglers. That's really in vogue now, and it went down fantastically on the dates we did last year.

"But when the tour's over I'll be getting into the studio. I've got the framework for all these new songs, so I'll be knuckling down to finsh them."

Hugh Cornwell will be presenting a songwriting masterclass at the British Music Experience on February 25. For details visit britishmusicexperience.com.