Larkin 25
Encyclopedia
Larkin 25 was an arts festival
and cultural event in Kingston upon Hull
, England, organised to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of the poet and University of Hull
librarian, Philip Larkin
. The festival was launched at Hull Truck Theatre
on 14 June 2010 and concluded on 2 December 2010, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the poet's death, with the unveiling of a statue in his likeness at Hull Paragon Interchange.
and lived in Hull while he was head librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library
from 1955 until his death in 1985. Larkin was a jazz critic for The Daily Telegraph between 1961 and 1971. He lived for much of this time in Newland Park in Hull near the University and later in a flat at Pearson Park
.
In June, Sir Tom Courtenay
visited the University of Hull to perform a one-man play, Larkin Revisited, and repeated the performance at Hull Truck Theatre in November 2010. A Hull city bus was named "Philip Larkin" by Sir Andrew Motion
in honour of the poet. On 7 October 2010, "Poetry on the Buses" was launched in Hull and East Yorkshire to coincide with National Poetry Day. Forty of Larkin's poems were displayed on East Yorkshire Motor Services
vehicles until the end of the festival in December 2010.
) and a "Typographical toad" adorned with Larkin's poetry.
The toads were auctioned for charity at the end of the event, though there were calls to make them a permanent feature. Most of the sculptures have been removed and transported to their new owners but some remained in situ
after the sale. On 26 September 2010 it was reported that the toads had been auctioned for £60,000 though some had hoped their popularity could have made them a permanent feature.
The Larkin toad trail covered many locations in the city centre, such as Hull Paragon Interchange, Hull Truck Theatre, the Museum Quarter and The Deep
. There were toads in the St Stephen's
, Princes Quay
and Prospect shopping centres. Other toads were located in outlying areas, such as The Avenues and the university, with some beyond Hull's boundaries in areas of the East Riding of Yorkshire familiar to Larkin, including one in Beverley
.
By late July 2010 the Hull Daily Mail
reported that over 30,000 guides had been distributed and a marketing company was employed to manage the high level of public interest.
During the festival some Larkin toads were vandalised and stolen. A 'punk toad' near Hull Truck Theatre had its mohican hair ripped off, and an 'astronaut toad' outside the railway station was damaged. The organisers repaired the damage and made the toads more resilient to vandalism. The Magenta Toad was stolen from Melton
.
It was later found dumped by the A63
and recovered for repair.
A report after the event has suggested that the toad trail brought about £1 million in to the local economy.
statue at Hull Paragon Interchange by the Lord Mayor. Funding for the £100,000 statue was raised during the festival. The unveiling was accompanied by Nathaniel Seaman's Fanfare for Larkin, specially composed to mark the occasion.
Martin Jennings produced the sculpture using photographs from the University of Hull's Larkin Research Centre and researched his poems and biography to "get a sense of the man." He worked on the maquette
for the finished casting at his studio in Coombe, Oxfordshire.
Professor James Booth of the Philip Larkin Society
described the statue as, "magnificent, poetic, refined, exactly the Larkin I'm familiar with." The statue has been gifted to the people of Hull by the Philip Larkin Society.
opined that the reclusive Larkin would be unimpressed by the event and Stephen McClarence in The Times
observed that "the city is celebrating this year's 25th anniversary of his death in fine style." Plans for the sculpture trail were initially criticised because of concerns about expenditure during the late-2000s recession but the event went ahead. Artists were invited to design a toad and sponsorship invited. When the toads were displayed the Hull Daily Mail reported that opinion had shifted in favour of the sculptures and an online poll recorded a majority of readers favouring the event. In December 2010 the Hull Daily Mail described the exhibition as "hugely successful".
Arts festival
An arts festival is a festival that focuses on the visual arts in all its forms, but which may also focus on or include other arts.Arts festivals in the visual arts are exhibitions and are not to be confused with the commercial art fair. Artists participate in the most important of such festival...
and cultural event in Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, England, organised to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of the poet and University of Hull
University of Hull
The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...
librarian, Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
. The festival was launched at Hull Truck Theatre
Hull Truck Theatre
The Hull Truck Theatre is a theatre in Kingston upon Hull, England which presents high quality drama productions.It also tours its productions on a regular basis....
on 14 June 2010 and concluded on 2 December 2010, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the poet's death, with the unveiling of a statue in his likeness at Hull Paragon Interchange.
Philip Larkin
Larkin was born in CoventryCoventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
and lived in Hull while he was head librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library
Brynmor Jones Library
The Brynmor Jones Library is the main library at the University of Hull. In 1967 it was named after Sir Brynmor Jones who initiated research in the field of Liquid Crystals at Hull and became Head of the Department of Chemistry in the 1930s...
from 1955 until his death in 1985. Larkin was a jazz critic for The Daily Telegraph between 1961 and 1971. He lived for much of this time in Newland Park in Hull near the University and later in a flat at Pearson Park
Pearson Park
Pearson Park was the first public park to be opened in Kingston upon Hull, England. It is situated about northwest of the city centre of Hull with its main entrance on Beverley Road and its western boundary adjoining Princes Avenue. It provides a range of popular leisure facilities for local...
.
Festival
The Larkin 25 festival coincided with Hull's annual literature festival, 'Humber Mouth', and included walking tours, art and photography exhibitions, musical events and an exhibition of Larkin memorabilia. A compilation of Larkin's favourite jazz recordings titled "Larkin's Jazz" was released in conjunction with the festival.In June, Sir Tom Courtenay
Tom Courtenay
Sir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay is an English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner , Billy Liar , and Dr. Zhivago . Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre...
visited the University of Hull to perform a one-man play, Larkin Revisited, and repeated the performance at Hull Truck Theatre in November 2010. A Hull city bus was named "Philip Larkin" by Sir Andrew Motion
Andrew Motion
Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.- Life and career :...
in honour of the poet. On 7 October 2010, "Poetry on the Buses" was launched in Hull and East Yorkshire to coincide with National Poetry Day. Forty of Larkin's poems were displayed on East Yorkshire Motor Services
East Yorkshire Motor Services
East Yorkshire Motor Services is a large bus and coach operator which operates throughout Kingston upon Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire, the North Yorkshire coast and the North York Moors. In and around Scarborough, EYMS operates as Scarborough & District Motor Services...
vehicles until the end of the festival in December 2010.
Larkin with Toads
The centrepiece of the festival was a public art display and trail, "Larkin with Toads", launched in the city centre on Saturday 17 July. It consisted of 40 fibre-glass toad sculptures, each painted with a unique design created by artists and local people inspired by Larkin's poems about working life, Toads and Toads Revisited. Examples of the designs included a "Larkin toad", a "Punk toad", a "Tiger Toad" (based on the mascot of Hull City A.F.C.Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
) and a "Typographical toad" adorned with Larkin's poetry.
The toads were auctioned for charity at the end of the event, though there were calls to make them a permanent feature. Most of the sculptures have been removed and transported to their new owners but some remained in situ
Situ
The words situ and situs are Latin for "site" . They also have other meanings .Situ can refer to:* in situ, Latin phrase meaning on-site or in-place...
after the sale. On 26 September 2010 it was reported that the toads had been auctioned for £60,000 though some had hoped their popularity could have made them a permanent feature.
The Larkin toad trail covered many locations in the city centre, such as Hull Paragon Interchange, Hull Truck Theatre, the Museum Quarter and The Deep
The Deep (aquarium)
-External links:* in association with the University of Hull*...
. There were toads in the St Stephen's
St. Stephen's Hull
St. Stephen's shopping centre, Hull opened on 20 September 2007 and today it attracts more than 10 million visitors a year. The shopping centre is a brownfield site development in the city centre of Kingston upon Hull, England. It cost £200 million to build and was a key development in the...
, Princes Quay
Princes Quay
Princes Quay is a shopping centre in the heart of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The centre is unusual in that it is built on stilts over Prince's Dock after which it is named...
and Prospect shopping centres. Other toads were located in outlying areas, such as The Avenues and the university, with some beyond Hull's boundaries in areas of the East Riding of Yorkshire familiar to Larkin, including one in Beverley
Beverley
Beverley is a market town, civil parish and the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, located between the River Hull and the Westwood. The town is noted for Beverley Minster and architecturally-significant religious buildings along New Walk and other areas, as well as the Beverley...
.
By late July 2010 the Hull Daily Mail
Hull Daily Mail
The Hull Daily Mail is the local daily newspaper for Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire and is published along with the free weekly, Hull Advertiser. There used to be a weekly sports paper, the SportsMail, but this folded in 2006...
reported that over 30,000 guides had been distributed and a marketing company was employed to manage the high level of public interest.
During the festival some Larkin toads were vandalised and stolen. A 'punk toad' near Hull Truck Theatre had its mohican hair ripped off, and an 'astronaut toad' outside the railway station was damaged. The organisers repaired the damage and made the toads more resilient to vandalism. The Magenta Toad was stolen from Melton
Melton, East Riding of Yorkshire
Melton is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated about west of Kingston upon Hull city centre and lies to the north of the A63 road.With Welton and Wauldby, it forms the civil parish of Welton....
.
It was later found dumped by the A63
A63 road
The A63 is a major road in Yorkshire, England between Leeds and Hull.-Leeds – Howden:The route out to Selby is shadowed by the Leeds-Selby railway....
and recovered for repair.
A report after the event has suggested that the toad trail brought about £1 million in to the local economy.
Philip Larkin statue
On the 25th anniversary of his Larkin's death, Thursday 2 December 2010, the festival concluded with the unveiling of a life-size bronzeBronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
statue at Hull Paragon Interchange by the Lord Mayor. Funding for the £100,000 statue was raised during the festival. The unveiling was accompanied by Nathaniel Seaman's Fanfare for Larkin, specially composed to mark the occasion.
Martin Jennings produced the sculpture using photographs from the University of Hull's Larkin Research Centre and researched his poems and biography to "get a sense of the man." He worked on the maquette
Maquette
A maquette is a small scale model or rough draft of an unfinished architectural work or a sculpture...
for the finished casting at his studio in Coombe, Oxfordshire.
Professor James Booth of the Philip Larkin Society
Philip Larkin Society
The Philip Larkin Society is a charity dedicated to preserving the memory and works of the British poet, novelist and jazz critic Philip Larkin.-History:...
described the statue as, "magnificent, poetic, refined, exactly the Larkin I'm familiar with." The statue has been gifted to the people of Hull by the Philip Larkin Society.
Reception
The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
opined that the reclusive Larkin would be unimpressed by the event and Stephen McClarence in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
observed that "the city is celebrating this year's 25th anniversary of his death in fine style." Plans for the sculpture trail were initially criticised because of concerns about expenditure during the late-2000s recession but the event went ahead. Artists were invited to design a toad and sponsorship invited. When the toads were displayed the Hull Daily Mail reported that opinion had shifted in favour of the sculptures and an online poll recorded a majority of readers favouring the event. In December 2010 the Hull Daily Mail described the exhibition as "hugely successful".