Tiny In All That Air

In this episode, Lyn talks to Dr James Underwood, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Huddersfield and Deputy Director of the Ted Hughes Network. James's book  Early Larkin (2021) reveals so many aspects of Larkin's less well known writing and charts Larkin's growth into the towering poet he eventually became. We look at poems, letters and prose, and how Larkin shaped his world through his writing. Larkin poems referred to- -Livings, Dockery and Son, The Whitsun Weddings, Afternoons, The Mower, Dublinesque, The Winter Palace, I See A Girl Dragged By The Wrists, Femmes Damnes, A School in August. Other writers and references: Maeve Brennan The Philip Larkin I Knew (2002), James Booth Philip Larkin, Life, Art and Love (2014),Selected Letters of Philip Larkin 1940-1985 (1992 ed. Anthony Thwaite), Trouble at Willow Gables and Other Fictions by Philip Larkin (2002 ed. James Booth), W. B. Yeats, “Sailing to Byzantium” from The Poems of W. B. Yeats: A New Edition. Nick Cave The Red Hand Files, The Vampires Wife blog Our favourite Larkin poem. Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

This episode welcomes three Larkin100 trustees to look back on 2022; Graham Chesters, Phil Pullen, and teacher, writer and poet Vicky Foster who has a very particular connection to Hull and the work of Philip Larkin. Vicky Foster Poet Hull Please watch and subscribe; https://www.youtube.com/@thephiliplarkinsociety1930/featured PLS Membership and information: The Philip Larkin Society – Philip Larkin Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

This episode features Belfast arts manager Hugh Odling- Smee and PLS trustee Philip Pullen who, as part of his centenary lecture tour, took part in the 2022 Belfast International Arts Festival with a talk on Larkin in Belfast. Hugh and Phil discuss the literary heritage that Belfast enjoys and Larkin’s life in Belfast between 1950 and 1955. Books and writers discussed: A Rumoured City: New Poets from Hull by Douglas Dunn (Editor), Philip Larkin (foreword), (Bloodaxe, 1982) Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse ed. Philip Larkin (OUP, 1973) Andrew Motion- Larkin A Writer’s Life (Faber, 2018) Belfast poets: John Hewitt (1907-1987), Louis MacNeice (1907-1963) Brian Moore (1921-1999)- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (HarperCollins 1955),  (Harper Perennial Modern Classics series, 2007 re-issue)/film version dir. Jack Clayton (1987) Odd Man Out (1945)- FL Green The Importance of Elsewhere- Richard Bradford (Frances Lincoln, 2015) Letters to Monica by Philip Larkin ed. Antony Thwaite (Faber, 2011) Larkin poems: The Less Deceived (Faber 1955) The Importance of Elsewhere, Maiden Name, Absences, Single to Belfast (unpublished during lifetime), Water, Church Going, Mr Bleaney, Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album, Reasons for Attendance Philip Pullen ‘s Belfast talk : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxbKmDJUOH4 The Importance of Elsewhere - Philip Pullen presentation, Belfast International Arts Festival 2022 Larkin100 events: https://philiplarkin.com/news/larkin100-whats-coming-up/ Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here -

Daniel Vince joined the PLS board of trustees earlier this year and is currently studying for a Masters by research on the post-war novel at the University of York having graduated from Canterbury Christ Church University earlier this year. He is also an antiquarian book seller and can often be found hunting down rare and wonderful books. When the Barbara Pym Society invited a member of the PLS to present a paper at their AGM in Oxford this year, Daniel bravely took up the challenge. Daniel speaks to Lyn and reads his talk A Few Green Leaves: Pym, Larkin and Rural Retirement. Larkin texts referenced: Aubade, Money, Spring, Here, Toads, The Mower, Cut Grass, High Windows, The Importance of Elsewhere,  A Girl In Winter (Faber 1947) Barbara Pym novels: A Few Green Leaves, A Quartet in Autumn, The Sweet Dove Died Other writers/references:  Ending Up by Kingsley Amis, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, Hippopotamus by TS Eliot, Further reading: The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (2021) A Very Private Eye: The Diaries, Letters And Notebooks Of Barbara Pym ed. Hazel Holt (Macmillan 1984) Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

Dr Sam Perry teaches English Literature at the University of Hull, where he is a member of the Philip Larkin Centre for Poetry & Creative Writing. He is the author of Chameleon Poet: R.S. Thomas and the Literary Tradition (Oxford University Press) and is currently working on a long- term project exploring the representation of children and childhood in modern poetry. Other writers discussed/mentioned: WB Yeats/Ted Hughes/Edward Thomas/ RS Thomas/Seamus Heaney/ William Wordsworth/William Blake/ Thomas Hardy/ Dylan Thomas /Charles Dickens/JD Salinger/Virginia Woolf/Kingsley Amis/Sylvia Plath/Ann Thwaite Larkin poems discussed: Sunny Prestatyn/ Essential Beauty/The Large Cool Store/ Mr Bleaney/Aubade/Home is So Sad/ Wild Oats/ Dockery and Son/Ignorance/Afternoons/An Arundel Tomb/ I Remember, I Remember/ This Be The Verse/High Windows Other references: Jim Sutton’s letters to Philip Larkin/The art of Rene Magritte (1898-1967)/Larkin’s Doodles/Letters to Monica Ed. Anthony Thwaite (Faber 2011)/The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgson Burnett (Heinemann 1911)/The Image of Childhood- Peter Coveney (Penguin 1967) Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

Welcome to a very special episode of Tiny In All That Air, celebrating Philip Larkin's 100th birthday. This episode has been made with the generous help of many of our fantastic honorary vice presidents, who have many different connections with Philip Larkin, the man and the writer: former secretary of State for Health and Social care, Alan Johnson; Larkin biographer, friend and literary executor Andrew Motion; writer David Quantick; writer Ann Thwaite; academic and magician Dale Salwak; artist Grayson Perry; poet Imtiaz Dharker; sculptor Martin Jennings; writer Blake Morrison; Professor James Booth; founding chairman Professor Eddie Dawes; and our current chair Rosie Millard. Thank you so much to all our HVPs past and present for all their support of the society and thank you to you for listening. Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

This is the King Henry VIII School, Coventry takeover! Led by the school's Librarian and Archivist Helen Cooper, and introduced by former Head of English Sheila Woolf, the pupils of Larkin's former school in Coventry have recorded a fascinating short fictional play written by Fred Holland that explores the Larkin family during Word War II. Helen Cooper and Phil Pullen (Chair of Larkin100 and Larkin researcher) join Lyn to discuss the writing and performance of the play, as well as exploring the play's many themes- family life, gender identity, jazz music, the destruction of Coventry, the rise of fascism and pre-war Germany. The performance also includes full readings of three very relevant Larkin poems. Also profound thanks to Dan Balcam, the School’s Performing Arts Technician who recorded the performance and added the sound effects, and Sheila Woolf for her help with the adaptation of the play and her introduction explaining its history. Most of all, however, thank you very much indeed to the cast of Year 12 and Year 13 pupils who found time in their busy schedules to perform the play: Clemi Andrews: Eva Larkin Leong Yi Au: Narrator #2 Ben Cartwright: Philip Larkin Simran Cheema: Narrator #1 Aston McKeown: Captain Stanley Hector, Chief Constable of Coventry Ocean: Sydney Larkin, Coventry City Treasurer Adam Price: Roger Smythe Poems: Ultimatum, This Be the Verse, Snow In April, For Sidney Bechet Other texts and references: Sir Oswald Mosley, Sir Barry Domvile, Diana Mitford, Peaky Blinders (2013-2022 BBC), James Booth Life, Art and Love (2014, Bloomsbury), Trouble at Willow Gables and Other Fictions (Faber & Faber 2015),  Andrew Motion Philip Larkin A Writer's Life (Faber 1993) Selected letters of Philip Larkin (1993, Faber & Faber)  Barbara Pym Some Tame Gazelle (1950, Virago Modern Classics), Julia Boyd Travellers in the Third Reich  (2018,Elliott & Thompson Limited) John Kenyon's article about Philip Larkin can be read here https://philiplarkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/larkin_at_hull_jkenyon.pdf This podcast is one of the many Centenary events that celebrate 100 years since the birth of Philip Larkin, run by the Philip Larkin Society and Larkin 100. <><><><> Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

In this episode, Lyn talks to Emeritus AC Bradley Professor of Modern Literature at Liverpool University Kelvin Everest and writer, lecturer and poet Dr Jane Bluett, who is the poetry editor for English In Education.  Monica and Philip met in Leicester in 1947, and although Philip soon left Leicester for Belfast and then Hull, Monica stayed as a lecturer at Leicester University for the next 34 years until her retirement. Their life long love affair was a source of great joy and great anguish for both of them. Kelvin tells us about his two years working alongside Monica as a young lecturer in the late 1970s. Jane reflects on Monica’s role as the woman in the background - like Emma Hardy or Viv Eliot - and discusses her influence on Larkin’s poetry. Monica was born on 7th May 2022 and so this podcast marks her centenary which, of course, she shares with Philip Larkin. Having met through their shared background of poetry and education, Lyn and Jane also read their own poems about Philip Larkin. References: Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica ed. Anthony Thwaite (2011), Andrew Motion: A Writer’s Life (1994), John Sutherland: Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and Me: Her Life and Long Loves (2021), Martin Amis: Inside Story (2020), Philip Larkin: Selected Letters ed. Anthony Thwaite (1993) George Crabbe: The Borough (1810), Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes (1943), Dennis Telford: Monica Dearest Bun, A Haydon Bridge Love Story (2014) Kingsley Amis: Lucky Jim (1954). Haydon Bridge blue plaque: http://www.haydon-bridge.co.uk/larkin.php Larkin poems referred to: An Arundel Tomb, Annus Horribilis, Show Saturday, Talking In Bed, Wild Oats. Monica reads One More Quadrille by Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802-1839). More information can be found here https://literarywoolgatherings.wordpress.com/2020/07/04/winthrop-mackworth-praed-part-1/ and The End of the Episode by Thomas Hardy (1909). Kelvin Everest: Keats and Shelley Winds of Light (2021) Keats and Shelley: Winds of Light combines unrivalled textual knowledge, biographical and contextual expertise, and profoundly insightful close readings of the poetry in a selection of outstanding essays from a leading critic of English Romantic Poetry. (OUP). This podcast is one of the many Centenary events that celebrate 100 years since the birth of Philip Larkin run by the Philip Larkin Society and Larkin100. <><><><> Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

In this episode, Lyn talks to Deb Fisher, Chair of the Barbara Pym Society and writer and actor Triona Adams, also a member of the Barbara Pym Society.  We discuss how it was Larkin who initiated the friendship between the two writers in 1961 when he wrote a letter to Pym admiring her novels.  Both Oxford graduates, and resolutely unmarried, they communicated by letter for 14 years until they finally met in person at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford.  In 1977, the Times Literary Supplement printed an article where contributors named who they considered the most underrated writers of the previous seventy-five years. Pym was the only living writer to appear on the list twice, chosen by  Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin. Larkin praised her “unique eye and ear for the small poignancies and comedies of everyday life.” Their friendship, although mainly on paper, was remarkably kind and supportive, underpinned by their love of tradition, domesticity and of each others’ work. We talk about the qualities of Pym's writing, her life and loves, and her lasting legacy, with loyal readers and researchers all around the world today. References: The novels of Barbara Pym from Crampton Hodnet (written 1940)  to A Few Green Leaves (1980), BBC R4 Women’s Hour, Andrew Motion A Writer’s Life (1994), Paula Byrne The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym (2021), Hazel Holt  A Lot to Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym  (1990), Barbara Pym A Very Private Eye: An Autobiography in Diaries and Letters (1984) Oliver Ford Davies as Philip Larkin Theatre review: Larkin with Women at Orange Tree, Richmond Theatre review: Larkin with Women at Orange Tree, Richmond Larkin poems referred to: Church Going, Ambulances The Barbara Pym Society https://barbara-pym.org/ 2022 Spring Meeting; 30 April 2022: University Women's Club, Mayfair, London 'We Used To Correspond 'The Pym-Larkin letters, featuring Triona Adams and Ben Willbond (Horrible Histories/Ghosts) – please see the website for full details. <><><><> Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

In this episode, Lyn is joined by PLS Treasurer Thomas Gordon, writer and musician Robin Allender and writer, comedian and BBC radio presenter John Robins. The conversation focuses on some of Robin and John's favourite Larkin poems, such as Deceptions and I Remember, I Remember and their huge knowledge and love for Larkin's work. Poems discussed: Sad Steps, High Windows, The Whitsun Weddings, Absences, Here, Livings, The Building, How, Dockery and Son, An Arundel Tomb, Deceptions, Afternoons, Mythological Introduction, I Remember, I Remember, Vers de Societie, The Life With a Hole in It, Toads, Toads Revisited, Home is So Sad, For Sidney Bechet, Going Going, The Mower Larkin prose: All What Jazz, Required Writing Other texts and references: Faber Book of Modern Verse- ed. Peter Porter, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein (1937), On The Road, Hamlet, Yeats, John Betjeman, DH Lawrence, Iain Banks, Somewhere Becoming Rain by Clive James (2019), The Waste Land by TS Eliot (1922), Jackson Pollock, Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce (1939), Lennon Ono- The Wedding Album (1969), Queen, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart Safe As Milk (1967), Spin Magazine, Melody Maker, Bjork Venus as a Boy, Howl by Allen Ginsburg (1965), In Love With Hell by William Palmer (2021), The Thirsty Muse by Tom Dardis (1991), Kingsley Amis, Peter Cook, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (1943), Tom Paulin, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (1951), Joe Rogan (podcaster) The Moon Under Water BBC Radio 5 live - Elis James and John Robins The Moon Under Water All Episodes — Your Own Personal Beatles This episode contains discussion of rape and alcohol misuse which some listeners may find upsetting, so please take care. <><><><> Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

In this episode, PLS trustee and Larkin100 Chair Philip Pullen and PLS trustee and merchandise officer Rachael Galletly join Lyn to reflect back on 2021, look ahead to 2022, read some poetry and talk Larkin. Larkin poems/novels discussed- Toads, Toads Revisited, The Whitsun Weddings, Show Saturday, High Windows, The Old Fools and Dockery and Son. Other writers and references: Philip Larkin In New Orleans from Anthony Thwaite’s Selected Poems 1956-1996 (Enitharmon Press, 2002), John Sutherland Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and Me: Her Life and Long Loves (W&N 2021) Larkin100 partners: Back To Ours Back to Ours We Made This (Hull) - https://wemadethishull.wordpress.com/ First Story https://firststory.org.uk/ Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

In this episode, Joe James from the Right In The Schoolies podcast and PLS Trustee Alex Howard talk to Lyn about their definitions of horror and where they see horror in Larkin's writing. Larkin poems/novels discussed- High Windows, Sunny Prestatyn, The Old Fools, At Grass, Aubade, Mr Bleaney, Ambulances, The Building, If, My Darling, Jill, Love Again. Other writers and references: Paradise Lost by John Milton (1667), the work of Stephen King, the Metaphysical Poets, Oscar Wilde, 'the Seven ages of man' speech from As You Like It (1599), MR James, Wuthering Heights (1847) By Emily Bronte, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson, Hannibal Lector (Red Dragon by Thomas Harris 1981), Steve Coogan's The Reckoning (in production), The Theatre of the Absurd, Bertolt Brecht, Cannibal Holocaust ( dir.Rugero Deodato,1980), Basil (1852) by Wilkie Collins, Alice in Wonderland (1865) By Lewis Carroll, Exclusive setting of If, My Darling by Wes Finch, featuring Jools Street and John Parker. Editorial assistance from Ben Haines. Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

The Society is looking forward to the Centenary celebrations next year, but we wanted to mark what would have been Larkin's 99th birthday this year by reading his poems. The readings have been recorded and submitted by PLS society members, trustees, honorary vice presidents and podcast listeners from across the world. Larkin was famously reluctant to read his poems in public, but we hope listeners enjoy hearing his words being read out loud. Please raise a glass and join us with our birthday celebrations! This is the second of two parts. Poems and readers featured as follows. The Challenges of Life Reasons for Attendance - Alex Howard Continuing to Live - Adam Crawford Reference Back - Philip Watts Sad Steps - Richard Johnston Home is So Sad - Carmel Morgan The Darker Side of Life Faith Healing - Robert Johnson A Study of Reading Habits - Tim Holmes Aubade – Roy Evans Love and Compassion An April Sunday - Sue Mendus The Mower – Maureen Docherty Places Loved Ones - Rich Tuner The Old Fools - Michael Farman At Grass - Julian Wild Experience Long Sight in Age - Clarissa Hard Started to Say - Martin Locock I Remember I Remember - Nigel Mc Bride Wild Oats - Wes Finch Dockery and Son - Jim Moliski Celebration To the Sea - Daniel Gallimore The Trees - Philip Watts High Windows - Tony de Kok Here  - Rosie Millard 1952-1977 - Chris Sewart Broadcast - Charlie Connolly The Mower - Belinda Garry Please also have a listen to Charlie Connolly's wonderful podcast Coastal Stories and Philip Watts's fascinating work at https://elizabethgaskellhouse.co.uk/. Thank you to Rob White and the team at Retford Library for contributing the video reading of Places, Loved Ones that we have featured on our Twitter account. You can also find more readings of Larkin's poetry by Julian Wild on YouTube. Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

The Society is looking forward to the Centenary celebrations next year, but we wanted to mark what would have been Larkin's 99th birthday this year by reading his poems. The readings have been recorded and submitted by PLS society members, trustees, honorary vice presidents and podcast listeners from across the world. Larkin was famously reluctant to read his poems in public, but we hope listeners enjoy hearing his words being read out loud. Please raise a glass and join us with our birthday celebrations! This is the first of two parts. Poems and readers featured as follows.  The Challenges of Life This Be the Verse - Helen Cooper Life with a Hole in It - Wade Newman First Sight - Gregg Walker Days - David Quantick Reasons for Attendance - Richard Johnston The Darker Side of Life The Building - Anne Gibson Sunny Prestatyn - Wes Finch Afternoons - Rachael Galletly Mr Bleaney - Martin Duckworth Love and Compassion The Mower - Yuanyou Zhang An April Sunday Brings the Snow – Hans Rutten Places, Loved Ones - Laura Wilson Love Songs in Age - Hugh Lester Born Yesterday - Carmel Morgan An Arundel Tomb - Ann Thwaite Experience Wires - Gregg Walker Wild Oats – Cath Sked New Eyes Each Year - Tony Peyser This is the First Thing - Graham Chesters Lines on a Young Ladies Photograph Album - Ingrid Keith Toads Revisited - Tim Whitaker Celebration The Trees - Polly McMullan The School in August - Casey Allen Skin - Bert Molsom To The Sea - Sally Button Coming - Paul Evans Is It For Now or For Always? - Lorna Simes Here - Nick Smales Please also head over to the Right In The Schoolies podcast for more Larkin poetry and check out Alan Johnson (honorary vice president of the Philip Larkin Society) reading Friday Night at the Royal Station Hotel on our Twitter feed. Thank you to all our contributors. Keep an eye out for Part 2 and many more readings. Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

The Philip Larkin Society has a formal structure which helps us to run effectively. This has allowed us to appoint a President (Anthony Thwaite 1930-2021) and a number of honorary vice-presidents. HVPs support the charity both publicly and behind the scenes and generously lend their name to our work. Recently we have been able to appoint some new HVPs, three of whom we speak to in this episode. Rosie Millard, journalist and University of hull Alumnus, sculptor Martin Jennings and writer David Quantick. They all reflect on their love of Larkin and their thoughts about the PLS. We also have a reading of The Whitsun Weddings by another new HVP, writer Ann Thwaite, OBE. Philip Larkin Collected Poems, edited by Anthony Thwaite, 1988 Faber Hull: City of Culture | British Council https://martinjennings.com/ https://davidquantick.com/ David Quantick reads MCMXLXIX from About Larkin No. 50 (October 2020) Ann Thwaite | Authors | Faber & Faber Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

Larkin has a rather curious place in the academic world- a little bit on the edge of things (maybe that’s how he would have liked it?). Lyn chats to Dr Alex Howard, Dr Kyra Piperides and Clarissa Hard who are all at different stages of their doctoral studies on Larkin’s writing. Alex and Clarissa have recently become new trustees of the Philip Larkin Society. We also have a reading of Church Going from PLS member Joe James. Poems discussed: Aubade, High Windows, Take One Home for the Kiddies, Myxomatosis, At Grass, The Whitsun Weddings, Here, The Mower, The Old Fools, The Winter Palace Topics discussed: Teaching and studying Larkin, Larkin and landscape, younger readers of Larkin, Ted Hughes, TS Eliot, Down Cemetery Road (BBC) Larkin’s Travelling Spirit, The Place, Space and Journeys of Philip Larkin Alex Howard, 2020, Palgrave Macmillan (https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030534714) The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin   Philip Larkin  (Author), Archie Burnett (Editor), 2012, Faber and Faber Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Audio editing by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

Philip Larkin was not just a poet, he was also a jazz journalist. His collected articles can be found in All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–1971. (Faber and Faber. 1985). Larkin's love of jazz was less prominent in his poetry, but one poem stands out as a startling 'love song' to New Orleans  - For Sidney Bechet, (to be found in The Whitsun Weddings, 1964). In this episode we tell the fascinating story of saxophonist Sidney Bechet and how his life and music interwove with that of Larkin's. We have some amazing jazz to accompany us and some voices of the time, opening with Philip Larkin himself. For Sidney Bechet from The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin (1964, Faber)- reading taken from The Sunday Sessions (2009) Philip Larkin, Life, Art and Love by James Booth (Bloomsbury 2015) Tracks from Larkins’ Jazz (Properbox 55): · Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Footwarmers- Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning and Blue Horizon · Frankie Traumbauer and his Orchestra- Way Down Yonder in New Orleans Other jazz tracks: Sidney Bechet- Sheik of Araby and Petit Fleur Monty Sunshine – Petit Fleur Charlie Parker – A Night in Tunisia Thom Yorke on Desert Island Discs https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008qg3 La La Land (dir. Damien Chazelle, 2016) Treat It Gentle by Sidney Bechet (Cassell, 1960) Sidney Bechet The Wizard of Jazz by John Chilton (Macmillan 1987) An Enormous Yes In memoriam Philip Larkin (1922-1985)(Peterloo Poets, 1986) Leonard Bechet clip from ‘Jelly Roll Morton Godfather of Jazz’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFpkgZBf-mc https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz Presented by Lyn Lockwood. Audio production by Gavin Hogg, mastering by Simon Galloway. Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/

Professor Zachary Leader is Professor of English Literature at the University of Roehampton. He grew up in California but has lived in Britain for over forty years. He was educated at Northwestern University, Trinity College, Cambridge and Harvard and is the author of several books including Reading Blake's Songs, Writer's Block, Revision and Romantic Authorship. In 2000 Harper Collins published his edited Letters of Kingsley Amis followed by a highly regarded biography of Amis before he turned his attention to Saul Bellow, with the second part of acclaimed two-volume biography published in 2019.  He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.  Professor Leader’s work on Amis is filled with insights into the lifelong friendship between Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin and this is what we’ll be discussing today. References: Kingsley Amis novels; Lucky Jim (1954), Take a Girl Like You (1960), The Anti-Death League (1966), The Alteration (1976), The Old Devils (1986) Larkin poems: Church Going ( published 1954), Posterity (published 1976) Kingsley Amis poem: Drinking Song (published in The New Statesman in 1978) The Letters of Kingsley Amis, edited by Z. Leader, London: HarperCollins, 2000; New York: Talk/Miramax, 1208pp. (2001) The Life of Kingsley Amis, Hardcover, New York: Random House, 1008 pp. (2006) Presented by Lyn Lockwood and Julian Henry.  Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz  Audio production by Simon Galloway.  Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air  Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/ 

Phil Pullen (Larkin researcher and chair of Larkin100) and Rachael Galletly (PLS Trustee) join us to discuss Larkin poems that are either about or are directly addressed to specific people in his life; Eva Larkin, Kingsley Amis and Winifred Arnott. We also find out about Larkin’s attitude to summer, his favourite poetic phrase, Kingsley Amis’s wilder moments, what book Rachael nicked from a library, and who made Philip Larkin ‘yowl’.  Mother, Summer, I, Heads on the Women’s Ward, Reference Back, Hospital Visits, Love Songs in Age, Letter to a Friend About Girls, The Old Fools, Livings, Lines on a Young Ladies Photograph Album, Deceptions, Born Yesterday, Wild Oats, A Study in Reading Habits, Home is So Sad, The Mower, Maiden Name, Afternoons, Show Saturday, An Arundel Tomb, Broadcast, Poem about Oxford, Talking in Bed.  Letters Home (ed. James Booth, Faber and Faber, 2018)  Inside Story by Martin Amis (Jonathan Cape, 2020)  The Letters of Kingsley Amis (ed. Zachary Leader, HarperCollins 2000)  The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin (ed. Archie Burnett, Faber and Faber 2012)  The Poet’s Plight by James Booth (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2005)  ------------------------------------------- Presented by Lyn Lockwood.  Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band. Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz  Audio production by Simon Galloway.  Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air  Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/ 

The second of our two podcasts with a John Betjeman focus, our guest is writer and railway historian Greg Morse. Topics include Betjeman and Larkin’s relationship with the media, twentieth century architecture and cultural history and, of course, lots of poetry, both Larkin and Betjeman.  Larkin poems mentioned: Church Going, Whitsun Weddings, High Windows, This Be The Verse, Toads, Essential Beauty, Home is So Sad, High Windows.  Betjeman poems mentioned: Executive, A Lincolnshire Church, Death In Leamington, Croydon, Devonshire St W1, Summoned by Bells.  A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin (Faber and Faber, 1947)  The Real John Betjeman  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjQC0PdHit4, (Channel 4, 2000)  Railways Forever ( 7min documentary released 1970 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg4wpL2f2RE )  Metroland (BBC, 1973)  Summoned by Bells (1976) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsDb-dgXnU4  Time with Betjeman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDlG7_2puao ) (BBC2, 1983)  Railways Forever! https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-railways-for-ever-1970-online  Monitor: A Poet in London (BBC, 1959) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p022kr11  London’s Historic Railway Stations (John Murray, 1972)  Monitor: Down Cemetery Road (BBC, 1964) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Coe11pgoj8E)  Samuel West’s poetry readings ( https://soundcloud.com/user-115260978/sets/pandemic-poems-by-samuel-west)   Grayson Perry, Kingsley Amis, Evelyn Waugh, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath  Passport to Pimlico https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041737/ (1949, Ealing Studios)  The Righteous Jazz by The Mechanicals Band The Righteous Jazz | The Mechanicals Band (bandcamp.com) Betjeman Reading the Victorians by Greg Morse (2012, Sussex Academic Press) John Betjeman : Greg Morse (author) : 9781845195342 : Blackwell's Betjeman by Greg Morse (2011, Shire Publications) John Betjeman (Shire Library) Greg Morse: Shire Publications (bloomsbury.com) ------------------------------------------- Presented by Lyn Lockwood.  Theme music: 'The Horns Of The Morning' by The Mechanicals Band.  Buy 'The Righteous Jazz' at their Bandcamp page: https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz  Audio production by Simon Galloway.  Follow us and get it touch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiny_air  Find out more about the Philip Larkin Society here - http://philiplarkin.com/