Now if the harvest is over, And the world cold, Give me the bonus of laughter, As I lose hold.

Topography is one of my chief themes in my poetry, about the country, the suburbs and the seaside. Then there comes love... and increasingly; the fear of death.

Hymn tunes are the nearest we've got to English folk music.

And I think it was the outline of that church tower at Belaugh against the sky which gave me a passion for churches so that every church I've past since I've wanted to stop and look in.

Oh Wasn't it naughty of Smudges? Oh, Mummy, I'm sick with disgust. She threww me in front of the judges, And my silly old collar-bone's bust.

People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors.

History must not be written with bias, and both sides must be given, even if there is only one side.