Tiny In All That Air

Alan Plater was enormously generous with his time, and made

Thank you so much to Alexandra Cann who is the agent for the

If you are interested in seeing an Alan Plater play this

https://sjt.uk.com/events/blonde-bombshells-of-1943

References:

Alfred Bradley https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/about/successes/alfred-bradley-award/

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Matthew Arnold, Ogden Nash, Dylan Thomas, Alan Bleasdale,

Pubs mentioned – (in Leeds and Hull) The Bluebell, The Bull,

Philip Larkin judging poetry competition for the Hull Arts

The loss of the three Hull trawlers in winter of 1967, 59

Produced by Lyn Lockwood and Gavin Hogg

PLS Membership and information: The Philip Larkin Society – Philip Larkin

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

At the time of recording this podcast we received the sad news that our founding chairman Professor Eddie Dawes had passed away on the 3rd March 2023 at the age of 97. Gavin and I were very privileged to be able to record the very first Tiny podcast with Eddie at his home in Hull. Eddie was so open to new ideas and ways of doing things. He was so supportive of my crazy idea to have a society podcast and was extremely patient as I fussed around with my microphone and notes. But I knew that Eddie had to be our very first guest- he was- and still is- the world’s leading authority on the history of magic, a pioneering biochemist, the PLS chairman for over 20 years and  good friends with Philip Larkin himself. A remarkable lifetime and a really lovely, gentle person who, as current chair Graham Chesters said, did indeed wear his exceptional gifts lightly.

Our guests this week are Clarissa Hard, PLS trustee and editor of About Larkin, and Francesca Gardner, who join me to talk about things and objects- objects in Larkin’s poetry and the significant objects in Larkin’s life; cigarette packets, socks, lawnmowers, vases, photo albums and more.

Francesca Gardner Larkin’s Meditating Machines (PLS Conference 2022) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHFDxFakbq4

Clarissa Hard Larkin: Churchgoer? (PLS Conference 2022)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PARTGcDGyq8

Home is So Sad, from 1st April to 13th May at Beverley Art gallery.

Home is So Sad presents newly commissioned paintings and installation art by Seoul-based artists Yeonkyoung Lee and Sam Robinson. Their work reflects a long-standing interest in the life and work of Philip Larkin, the details of everyday life, and the idea of ‘home’ as a fluid concept. Alongside this, the artists have selected pieces from the permanent collections of East Riding Museums and the Philip Larkin Society. During the exhibition there is an additional display of Larkin artefacts on show in the red gallery and there is a beautiful vase used as the main image on the publicity poster of course.

https://www.eastridingmuseums.co.uk/whats-on/?entry=home_is_so_sad

A Joyous Shot Friday 14th April, East Riding Theatre, Beverley

An evening of Larkin inspired words and music  with Hull writer Vicky Foster, Beverley poet Chris Sewart and The Mechanicals Band- all of whom are old friends of the podcast. Please come along and enjoy what I’m sure will be a wonderful evening.

https://www.eastridingtheatre.co.uk/philip-larkin-a-joyous-shot/

Larkin poems discussed:

High Windows, The Mower, Aubade, Wires, Aubade, Reference Back, Ambulances, Afternoons, Self’s The Man, Dockery and Son, Here, The Whitsun Weddings, Home Is So Sad.

Other books and references:

Rime of the Ancient Mariner by ST Coleridge, Ozymandia by PB Shelley, The Mower by Andrew Marvell, Richard Bradford, The Importance of Elsewhere (Francis Howard Publishing, 2015), J. H. Prynne Acquisition of Love,  Mark Waldron I wish I loved lawnmowers, Bill Brown Thing Theory, Gaston Bachelard The Material Imagination.

Podcast produced by Lyn Lockwood and Gavin Hogg

PLS Membership and information: The Philip Larkin Society – Philip Larkin

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

Anne Fine gave our Distinguished Guest Lecture at the PLS AGM in 2004 and here we reproduce her talk in its entirety. Anne muses on how she discovered Larkin as a teenager who couldn't resist poems with swear words in, but also how she came to see the connections between Larkin’s poetry and her own life- especially The Trees- as well as her admiration for Larkin the professional writer as a fellow member of the ‘business.’

Anne is best known for children's books,  but she also writes for adults. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and she was appointed an OBE in 2003. She has won the annual Carnegie Medal twice and she also won the Guardian Prize, Smarties Prize, two Whitbread Awards, and she was twice Children's Author of the Year. From 2001 to 2003, Anne was the Children's Laureate in the UK. In 1987, Anne published Madame Doubtfire, which became the classic Twentieth Century Fox movie Mrs Doubtfire, starring Robin Williams.

Thank you to Anne for kindly giving us permission to use this talk on the podcast.

This episode’s guests are Gavin Hogg and Bruce Lindsay and we are discussing Ivor Cutler, poet, writer, teacher and musician, who was born Jan 15th 1923 and so is a close chronological contemporary of Philip Larkin, although their paths never crossed. We look at their surreal sense of humour, their different experiences of World War II, their approach to poetry, letter writing, jazz, public performance and the cultural landscape of Britain in the twentieth century.

Bruce Lindsay, Ivor Cutler: Life Outside the Sitting Room (Equinox, 2023)

https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/ivor-cutler/

Gavin Hogg and Hamish Ironside, We Peaked At Paper An Oral History of Fanzines (Boatwhistle Press, 2022)

https://www.boatwhistle.com/we-peaked-at-paper

Ivor Cutler poems referenced:

A Flat Man; Is that your Flap, Jack?; Creamy Pumpkins; Cycling; Giant: I Believe in Bugs; Mud; Pass the Ball, Jim ; Pickle Your Knees, Sleepy Old Snake; Life in A Scotch Sitting Room Vol 2

John Peel Sessions: https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/Ivor_Cutler

Philip Larkin poems referenced:

Bridge for the Living, Aubade, Essential Beauty, Mr Bleaney, Church Going

The Sunday Sessions (Faber and Faber, 1980)

The Selected Letters of Philip Larkin ed. Anthony Thwaite (Faber, 1993)

Letters to Monica by Philip Larkin ed. Anthony Thwaite (Faber, 2011)

Read more about Brunette Coleman in Trouble at Willow Gables and Other Fictions ed. James Booth (Faber and Faber, 2002)

Other cultural references

Centipede (band), John Peel, The Fall, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Albert Ammonds, Miles Davis, Robert Wyatt, Spike Milligan, The Goons, John Betjeman, John Cooper Clark, Van Morrison, Linton Kwesi Johnson Forces of Victory (1979), Harold Pinter, Charlie Parker, Neil Ardley, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Sidney Bechet.

Interludes – Thelonious Monk (Round Midnight and Thelonius)

Produced by Lyn Lockwood and Gavin Hogg

PLS Membership and information: The Philip Larkin Society – Philip Larkin

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

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.

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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/