Fun Facts Friday: Philip Larkin

August 9, 2024

Philip Larkin (9 August, 1922 – 2 December, 1985) was an English novelist, and poet who is very highly regarded.

Fun Facts Friday: Philip Larkin
Books by Philip Larkin*

Fun Facts about Philip Larkin:

  1. Philip Arthur Larking was born in Coventry, England to Sydney and Eva Emily Larking. Sydney Larkin was a self-made man who rose to be the Coventry City Treasurer.
  2. Sydney Larkin was enamored with literature, introducing his only son to the works of his favorite writer D.H. Lawrence, as well as Ezra Pound, James Joyce, and T. S. Eliot.
    He was also enthused with the Nazi movement and attended rallies in the 1930s.
  3. Philip Larkin did not do well in school, but somehow passed the entrance exams for Oxford.
  4. Having failed his military medical exams, the year he entered Oxford, 1940, Mr. Larkin was allowed to continue his studies at the university. He graduated with a degree in English.
  5. The public library in Willington, Shropshire appointed Philip Larkin as librarian in 1943, a few months later he met an ambitious 16-year-old named Ruth Bowman.
  6. In 1948 Philip proposed to Ruth, and two years later he took a job at the Queen’s University of Belfast as a sub-librarian. Before he left for Ireland, the couple split up, probably because he developed a relationship with an English lecturer named Monica Jones.
  7. The five years Philip Larking spent in Ireland were the most content of his life.
  8. He got a job as the University Librarian at the University of Hull in 1955. Mr. Larkin held onto the position until his death.
  9. Philip Larkin was an excellent administrator, and made Hull’s library computerized, and the first in Europe install a Geac computer system which automated the circulation.
  10. In 1984 Philip Larkin was offered the position of Poet Laureate, but declined.

Books by Philip Larkin*

Zohar – Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books

Sources:

Philip Larkin | Wikipedia

Philip Larkin: British poet | Britannica

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/philip-larkin

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Fun Facts Friday: Philip Larkin
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Fun Facts Friday: Philip Larkin
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Philip Larkin (9 August, 1922 – 2 December, 1985) was an English novelist, and poet who is very highly regarded.
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Man of la Book - A Bookish Blog
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