Philip larkin
Kingsley goes to the toilet
In 1978, I gave a poetry reading at Hull University. Philip Larkin was glumly, politely, in attendance. I was duly…
Extremes of passion: What Will Survive of Us, by Howard Jacobson, reviewed
On first meeting, Sam and Lily both suffer a coup de foudre and embark on an affair involving submission and sado-masochism. But where will it lead?
Hogging the limelight
Contemplating ‘hedgehog philosophy’ with Sarah Sands, Rowan Williams, Greta Thunberg and other luminaries would test anyone’s patience after 150 pages
Father figures
In a second memoir, Motion focuses on how he became a poet, and his search for father figures, including W.H. Auden and Philip Larkin
The intense Englishness of Philip Larkin
The English language has a curious feature, called the phrasal verb. It consists of a plain verb plus a preposition;…
Wild life
Delayed, on Southern Rail Home From the Hill is a 1987 documentary by Molly Dineen about Hilary Hook, an elderly…
Letters
Don’t blame the banks? Sir: Kate Andrews struggles to disentangle the causes of the developing cost-of-living crisis (‘Cold truth’, 19…
This be the curse
Philip Larkin’s big problem
Time to dust off my old records
In the introduction to an anthology of his jazz record reviews, the poet Philip Larkin imagines his readers. They’re not…
Low life
‘Willie or bum?’ I said to Catriona on the motorway. Everything in my recent medical career has been introduced via…
Less than angelic
Vicars, tea parties and village fetes were a far cry from Barbara Pym’s early enthusiasms, Philip Hensher reveals
Globally and locally, we need stronger business models for survival
When I wrote last week about business-to-business pain-sharing for survival, I was naturally thinking first about UK companies. I say…
The touching traces of the past in church visitors’ books
I am memorialised twice in my village church. Not in some premature lapidary way, but in the visitors’ book. The…
The upsides of dementia: Forgetfulness can be a blessing
My 91-year-old father-in-law has always had a terror of hospitals. This dates from his time as a Royal Marine when,…
How Philip Larkin f****d me up
I first came across Philip Larkin’s poem ‘This Be the Verse’ when I was 18 in the late 1970s. You…
A biographer’s tale: beware of meeting your literary heroes
Germaine Greer described biographers as ‘vultures’. I prefer to think of myself as a version of Philip Marlowe or Sam…
Every day is mother’s day for writers: most have strong feelings about their mothers, though not always of love
You attempt to write a review with a stiff dose of objectivity, but it’s hard not to start with a…
Show me the Monet
Philip Larkin once remarked that Art Tatum, a jazz musician given to ornate, multi-noted flourishes on the keyboard, reminded him…
Shock and awe in Coventry, 14 November 1940
On 14 November 1940, at seven in the evening, the Luftwaffe began to bomb Coventry. The skyline turned red like…
How cool is Britannia?
Is it true that, having lost an empire, we reinvented ourselves as an island of entertainers? Do we channel the…
Cats, curates and cardigans
Anyone who has ever listened to the thump of a rejected manuscript descending cheerlessly on to the mat can take…
Out of this world
I’m willing to bet it’s only on the BBC’s Radio 3 that you’ll find yourself listening to a programme quite…
Gone with the wind turbine
City skylines are protected from careless building. Why should country views be different?
