Larkin 25
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Larkin 25 was an
arts festival An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and is not solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lit ...
and cultural event in
Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...
, England, organised to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of the poet and
University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...
librarian,
Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (194 ...
. 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.


Philip Larkin

Larkin was born in
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
and lived in Hull while he was head librarian at the
Brynmor Jones Library The Brynmor Jones Library (BJL) is the main library at the University of Hull, England. In 1967 it was named after Sir Brynmor Jones (academic), Brynmor Jones (1903-1989) who initiated research in the field of Liquid Crystals (LCD) at Hull and ...
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 a flat in Pearson Park in Hull near the university, and later in a house at Newland Park.


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 souvenir (French language, French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memory, memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collecte ...
. A compilation of Larkin's favourite jazz recordings titled "Larkin's Jazz" was released in conjunction with the festival. 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.


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 Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...
) 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 is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is use ...
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 Museums 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.


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
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
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 A ''maquette'' is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture or work of architecture. The term is a loanword from French. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', a diminutive of the Italian word for a sketch. Sculpture A 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 was gifted to the people of Hull by the Philip Larkin Society. On 2 December 2011, a year since the original unveiling ceremony, five additional slate roundels containing inscriptions of Larkin's poems were installed in the floor space around the statue. The sculpture has become a popular subject for photography at the Interchange. In December 2012 a memorial bench was installed around a pillar near the statue.


Reception

''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' opined that the reclusive Larkin would be unimpressed by the event and Stephen McClarence in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' 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 The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
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".


References


Further reading

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External links


Larkin 25 Festival – official website BBC Humberside slideshow of Larkin with Toad trailLarkin 25 on Flickr.com 'Larkin with Toads' Education informationLarkin with Toads design galleryMap of Larkin with Toads city trail
{{Philip Larkin Philip Larkin University of Hull Culture in Kingston upon Hull Literary festivals in England Festivals in the East Riding of Yorkshire 2010 in England 2010s in Kingston upon Hull