Today Carol Ann Duffy became the first female Poet Laureate, breaking the tradition of the male orientated nominations.  She takes over from Andrew Motion who has just completed his 10yr stint.  Prior to this, the Poet Laureate was for life. 

She was nominated 10 yrs ago, but her nomination was dismissed by Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister, with the excuse that a lesbian poet would not be accepted in Middle England (our green and pleasant land, where the priviliged reside)... but little did he know that she would become the most read living poet of all time.  Her contemporary poetry is widely read in schools and she spends much of her time visiting schools.

One of the most famous and popular Poet Laureates was Sir John Betjaman, whose statue adorns St Pancras Station, London.  Others include Wordsworth and Ted Hughes.  Read more here

The poet laureate is chosen by the government and the tradition goes back to the times of Charles II and they are supposed to produce poetry for state occasion and for the Monarch.

A sample of her poetry........

Oh great Libralady Andrew Motion gave a lecture and read some of his work at our uni! I liked his autobiography .

Here is Andrew Motions last poem as poet laureate about the recession in the UK.

Andrew Motion´s ´Recession´ poem:

Poor Alistair Darling´s new budget

Invites us to listen and judge it

As though we´d agree

It was better to be

Au fait with hard truth and not fudge it.

But some difficult questions remain

When our pensions are all down the drain

Dole figures sky high

Debt figures awry

And high tax on what extras we gain.

Whose fault can we honestly say

Must it be for things being this way?

Banker pigs in the trough?

MPs? Sure enough.

And ourselves – what role did we play?

I´ll just finish this short doggerel

With a personal comment as well

The duty of writing

Lines sharp and exciting

On this – it ain´t mine, but my heirs as ´PL´.