Tiny In All That Air

'He [Ted Hughes] writes about the Humber as this mythical creature in a way, that consumes all of the outpouring of the people of Hull.'Dr Anna Stevenson is a Trustee of the Philip Larkin Society- she also works at the Brynmor Jones Library and was born and grew up in Holderness, so she has a very special affinity with Philip Larkin as well as Ted Hughes. This episode was recorded in Larkin's office in the library, which is great for atmosphere, but a little echoey at times.In this discussion we talk about Hughes' poem The Road to Easington and its links to Philip Larkin's poetry. Poems discussed:Larkin- Here,Show Saturday, High Windows, A Bridge for the LivingHughes- Mayday in Holderness, SongSylvia Plath- The Bee MeetingWe also mention TS Eliot, Shakespeare and John Betjeman along the way.

To mark Halloween, Lyn takes us on a walk around her local cemetery and reads Ghosts by Philip Larkin.Thank you to Joe Riley for inspiration - please listen to his excellent in situ poetry podcast Sketch Poetryhttps://open.spotify.com/show/4Ubm0zfLmjrOqVqMWulgf0Spooky music- thank you to https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/royalty-free-music/download/ghost-stories/1291Read the poem here:https://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/comments/ernxrt/poem_ghosts_by_philip_larkin/orhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Poems-Philip-Larkin/dp/0571240062The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin ed. Archie Burnett (Faber and Faber, 2012)Theme music:The Horns of the Morning by Wes Finch and the Mechanicals Bandhttps://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazzProduced by Lyn Lockwood and Gavin Hogg

Lyn and Chris discuss the recent writing workshop run by the Philip Larkin Society called Drafting a World: a Poetry Writing Workshop inspired by the poetry of Philip Larkin, with Nottingham based writer Jane Bluett at the Avenues in Hull on Saturday 11th October at ArtLink. Chris reads his  new Larkin poem from the workshop, Father of the Bride and we talk about the power of using Larkinalia and Larkin’s words to inspire us. We also discuss the treasures to be found in About Larkin, Maurice Rutherford,  the upcoming PLS Book Club and Jill, and the upcoming Stage4Beverley music and literature festival, for which Chris is festival poet, our shared love of yarnbombing and the (very small) PLS Makers Society. We also look ahead to the 2026 PLS Conference March 19-20th.Larkin texts discussedThe Whitsun Weddings, High Windows, Water, Toads Revisited, Jill, A Girl In Winter, Required Writing, For Sidney BechetOther writers/texts mentioned:Dylan Thomas Under Milk Wood (1954), Maurice Rutherford Here 2012, (from Under Travelling Skies ed. Cliff Forshaw) (2012) An Enormous Yes (Peterloo Poets, 1986), Wendy Cope Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis (Faber and Faber 1986), Barbara Pym,Ted Hughes,  Kingsley Amis, TS Eliot, Saltburn (dir. Emerald Fennell, 2023), Brian Bilston, Simon Armitage, Alan JohnsonReading/references:'Fifty Years On: Bringing 'The Whitsun Weddings' to Life: A performance by Ensemble 52: 6 June 2014. A report is on page 14 of this pdf of the society's journal: About Larkin...About-Larkin-38.pdf. Wendy Copethe poem, Mr Strugnell, is featured in Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis (Faber & Faber, 1986)Wendy Cope - Poetry ArchiveAbout Larkin 15- featuring article by Sean O’Brien and Wendy Cole’s interview with Larkin’s neighbours at 32 Pearson Parkhttps://philiplarkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/About-Larkin-15.pdfMaurice Rutherfordhttps://www.thehullstory.com/allarticles/maurice-rutherford-obituaryStage 4 BeverleyFestival Poet - Chris Sewart – Stage 4 Beverley Festival Poet, in association with The Philip Larkin Society - Stage 4 BeverleyTickets and line-up -  Stage 4 BeverleyArtlink.Venue for PLS poetry Writing Workshops: Artlink HullChris Sewart Society of Authors profile page:Chris Sewart - The Society of AuthorsSome of Chris's recent poems can be found/purchased at:Echoes - 20 years of Write Out Loud | Write Out LoudThe Fig Tree - Issue 9 - by Tim Fellows - The Fig Tree   The Fig Tree - Issue 10 - by Tim Fellows - The Fig TreeThe Fig Tree Coal Mining Anthology - Shop – Crooked Spire PressThe Leaf, issue 2 - The Leaf issue 2 | Three Blue BeansPlease register to attend the PLS Conference 2026 here (currently at an Early Bird rate)https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1727992314529?aff=oddtdtcreatorHull History Centre Larkin event on November 15th- art workshop followed by talk on Ted Tarling- please purchase your tickets here and come alonghttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1761076670729?aff=oddtdtcreatorMusic:Henry Allen Feeling Drowsy (1929)Theme music:The Horns of the Morning by Wes Finch and the Mechanicals Bandhttps://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazzProduced by Lyn Lockwood and Gavin Hogg and https://www.podmachine.com/Please email Lyn at ⁠[email protected] ⁠ with any questions or commentsPLS Membership, events, merchandise and information: philiplarkin.com

This year we celebrate Larkin’s birthday and the 70 year anniversary of the publication of The Less Deceived with a full reading of Larkin's second collection.We begin with an introduction to the collection with regular attendees of the podcast, our chair Graham Chesters and trustee Philip Pullen, and we reflect on some of the history of the publication of The Less Deceived.Thank you to all the people that have helped produce this podcast.A special thank you to our chair Rosie Millard, who was of enormous help with making the recording of Sir Tom Courtenay reading Church Going. Readers:Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album Philip PullenWedding-Wind Lynn HarrisonPlaces, Loved Ones Julia MunrowComing Brian BilstonReasons for Attendance Daniel WainDry Point Michael EganNext, Please Dr Andrew PalmerGoing Greg SesteroWants Joe MalagoMaiden Name Mary MccollumBorn Yesterday Cate BlanchettWhatever Happened? Melissa DennisonNo Road Hannah SullivanWires David Biespiel Church Going Sir Tom Courtenay Age Dr Jane BluettMyxomatosis Daniel VinceToads Justine GaubertPoetry of Departures Prof Douglas BellTriple Time Jacqueline BaronSpring Cate BlanchettDeceptions Hannah SullivanI Remember, I Remember Brian BilstonAbsences Sinead MorrisseyLatest Face Gerry SkeensIf, My Darling Alex Howard Skin Marco PirroniArrivals, Departures Jeremy WikeleyAt Grass Julian WildReferences:Early Larkin by James Underwood (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021)Pretending to Be Me by Tom Courtenay (2003) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pretending-Be-Me-Philip-Portrait/dp/1405500824Jean Hartley- Philip Larkin, The Marvell Press and Me (Faber, 2011)Philip Larkin, Life, Art and Love by James Booth (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014)TS Eliot- The Four Quartets (Faber, 1941)On First Looking into Larkin’s The Less Deceived A T Tolley 2 The paper first delivered at the 2003 Conference https://philiplarkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/About-Larkin-18.pdfThe background to the article in the Beverlonian that Graham refers to is referenced in Philip Pullen’s  piece in About Larkin 45 about the Beverley walkhttps://philiplarkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/About-Larkin-45.pdfhttps://rosiemillard.substack.com/p/what-will-survive-of-usMusic: Home Cooking by Eddie Condon and his Orchestra from the Larkin’s Jazz box set, 2010  https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jul/22/various-artists-larkins-jazz-reviewTheme music:The Horns of the Morning by Wes Finch and the Mechanicals Bandhttps://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazzProduced by Lyn Lockwood, Simon Galloway and Gavin HoggPlease email Lyn at ⁠[email protected] ⁠ with any questions or commentsPLS Membership, events, merchandise and information: philiplarkin.com 

Our guest today is writer  Ralph Dartford who works for the National Literacy Trust and is the poetry editor of literary journal Northern Gravy.   Ralph kindly made the journey from Bradford to the Lockwood residence in Sheffield, and we settled down in my living room with mugs of tea and a plate of biscuits, surrounded by books and looked down upon by at least three pictures of Larkin. Ralph also co-organises the fantastic Louder Than Words festival that takes place in Manchester every autumn, and is a celebration of writing about music. They gather together amazing writers, broadcasters and musicians to discuss, explore and debate all things music and music industry related.  I hope we will continue to see Ralph at more PLS events.Larkin poems mentioned:The Whitsun Weddings, Dockery and Son, Mr Bleaney, For Sidney Bechet, High Windows, Cut Grass, To The Sea, MCMXIV, Here, BroadcastAll What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961-1971 (1985) by Philip LarkinThe Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse - ed.  Philip Larkin (1973) I am happy to see Mr. Larkin's taste in poetry and my own are in agreement ... I congratulate him most warmly on his achievement. - W. H. Auden, The GuardianPoets/writers/musicians mentioned by RalphKae Tempest, Joelle Taylor, Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Vicky Foster, Steve Ely, Chris Jones, Ian Parks, John Betjeman, John Cooper Clarke, John Hegley, Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Michael Stewart, Blake Morrison, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Alan Bennett, Stewart Lee, David Quantick, Ray Davis, Blur,  Van Morrison,  Hang Clouds, Evelyn Glennie, Kingsley Amis, Andrea Dunbar, Helen MortOther references:Adlestrop (1914) by Edward Thomas https://www.edwardthomaspoetryplaces.com/post/adlestropArthur Scargill:  “Arthur Scargill, the miners’ leader and socialist, once told The Sunday Times, ‘My father still reads the dictionary every day. He says your life depends on your power to master words.” Martin H. Manser, The Penguin Writer's ManualBob Monkhouse https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/dec/30/guardianobituaries.artsobituariesLongbarrow Press https://longbarrowpress.com/Valley Press https://www.valleypressuk.com/Kes (1968) by Barry HinesRalph is Poetry Editor for Northern Gravy https://northerngravy.com/Ralph reads Geese and England’s Dreaming from House Anthems  https://www.valleypressuk.com/shop/p/house-anthemsGareth Southgate https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57816651 Simon Armitage Larkin Revisited Radio 4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m0019yy2Nick Cave- Honorary Vice President for the Philip Larkin Society- Desert Island Discs https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0027cglLyn’s English teacher 1982-1989 https://petercochran.wordpress.com/remembering-peter/The Ted Hughes Network https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/tedhughes/James Underwood https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/early-larkin-9781350197121/Albums mentioned:OK Computer (1997) by Radiohead , Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and The White Album (1968) by The Beatles, Park Life (1994) by BlurSummertime in England by Van Morrison https://www.vice.com/en/article/summertime-in-england-a-monologue-on-van-morrison/Events:https://louderthanwordsfest.com/"My Friend Monica": Remembering Philip Larkin's Partner Monica JonesSat 22 Mar 2025 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Ken Edwards Lecture Theatre 2, University of Leicester, LE1 7RHhttps://www.tickettailor.com/events/literaryleicester/1538331A celebration marking 70 years of Philip Larkin's 'The Less Deceived'For World Poetry Dayhttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-celebration-marking-70-years-of-philip-larkins-the-less-deceived-tickets-1235639173029?aff=oddtdtcreatorProduced by Lyn Lockwood and Gavin HoggPlease email Lyn at ⁠[email protected] ⁠ with any questions or commentsPLS Membership, events, merchandise and information: philiplarkin.com