2021 – The Philip Larkin Society

Tiny In All That Air – Honorary Vice-Presidents

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.

To access the podcast click here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/49LYkkM7KmkUD5HCnY0Cfs?si=a0f2c3f96e844400

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.

For Sidney Bechet – A ‘Tiny In All That AIR’ Podcast

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.

Anthony Thwaite 1930-2021

We are deeply saddened by the passing of the President of the Philip Larkin Society, Anthony Thwaite. Anthony has held that role since the foundation of the Society in 1995 and only last year renewed his appointment for a further five years. To the presidency, he brought his reputation as a poet, his Larkin scholarship and his influential role as a Larkin executor. But he also brought his experience, his wisdom and his charm. Until ill health intervened in recent years, he was an incredibly loyal chair of the Annual Distinguished PLS lecture. He himself gave presentations and was a skilful interviewer at the launch of important Larkin books. He played a key part in two of the most joyous PLS moments: the unveiling of the Larkin statue in Hull and the memorialisation of Larkin in Poets’ Corner.

He leaves behind Ann, herself a distinguished author and powerful ally to Anthony in his presidency. To her we have offered our deepest condolences.

In due course, the Executive Committee will bend its mind to finding a successor. Quite some task.

Podcast – Zachary Leader

On this month’s podcast, Zachary Leader discusses the Larkin-Amis friendship: “…deprivation and restriction powered a really violent, mocking satire. They made fun of all kinds of folly and vice, but did so with Juvenalian raillery and bite.”

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.

Podcast – Philip Pullen and Rachael Galletly

In our latest podcast Philip 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 in 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)

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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 production by Simon Galloway.

Podcast – Greg Morse (writer and railway historian)

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.

Access via this link

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 1970https://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)

Podcast – Anne O’Neill and Julian Henry

Our latest podcast features Anne O’Neill and Julian Henry.

Anne and Julian are newer members of the Philip Larkin Society team and many people will have already been feeling the benefit of their fantastic work on the PL Instagram page. Julian is also a trustee and is now supporting the society committee and its planning and events work. Anne is based in County Kerry and Julian in Oxford. We got together to talk about Larkin in the media, Twitter, Instagram, radio and television and Anne and Julian talk about their route into Larkin, their favourite poems, cancel culture, Hull University, Beatrix Potter, Larkin’s legacy and much more.

For a full details and a link to the podcast click here.

COMING SOON….

Watch out for February’s Tiny In All That Air featuring Greg Morse. Greg is the writer of John Betjeman: Reading the Victorians (Sussex Academic Press) and John Betjeman (Shire Library) as well as a range of books about railway history. He joins Lyn to discuss Betjeman’s particular brand of Englishness and his life and poetry, as well as his many links to Philip Larkin. Available to stream or download for free from Apple Podcasts. Spotify, Anchor or wherever you get your podcasts on February 19th 2021.