Philip Larkin was an English novelist, librarian and celebrated poet, who has been awarded numerous honours including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Born in Coventry in 1922, he was educated at King Henry VIII School and Oxford University. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published in 1945, followed by The Less Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974). He also wrote two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), as well as two books of collected journalism: All What Jazz: A Record Library and Required Writing: Miscellaneous Prose. Larkin worked as a librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 until his death in 1985. In 2003, he was chosen as Britain's best-loved poet of the previous 50 years by a Poetry Book Society Survey; in 2008, The Times named him Britain's greatest post-war writer; and in 2016, a memorial was unveiled at Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Philip Larkin was an English novelist, librarian and celebrated poet, who has been awarded numerous honours including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Born in Coventry in 1922, he was educated at King Henry VIII School and Oxford University. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published in 1945, followed by The Less Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974). He also wrote two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), as well as two books of collected journalism: All What Jazz: A Record Library and Required Writing: Miscellaneous Prose. Larkin worked as a librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 until his death in 1985. In 2003, he was chosen as Britain's best-loved poet of the previous 50 years by a Poetry Book Society Survey; in 2008, The Times named him Britain's greatest post-war writer; and in 2016, a memorial was unveiled at Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.