Step two above is exactly what I wanted but I wasn't quite sure exactly what was required but I am now so for others for future reference: 
   # use proxy (comment out if not)
   my %proxy = ( host => 'http://proxy:8080' );

   use LWP::Simple qw(mirror RC_OK RC_NOT_MODIFIED $ua);

   $ua->proxy(http => "$proxy{host}") if (defined $proxy{host});

[download]
You can see I'm just interested in using mirror.

In reply to Re: Re: LWP::Simple request through a proxy by Anonymous Monk
in thread LWP::Simple request through a proxy by freak

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