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Poet laureate says goodbye to role at former independent school

Posted on 6th May 2009

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Former independent school pupil Andrew Motion returned to his roots in his final day as poet laureate.

The poet first caught the bug for his art while a pupil at Radley College in Oxfordshire from 1966 to 1971, when his first published work appeared in the school's magazine.

And according to the Abingdon Herald, on the last day of his decade as the chosen poet for the royals, Mr Motion spent time with pupils from the creative writing group at the college.

He then made his final public speech at his alma mater to students from schools around Oxfordshire.

Mr Motion attributed the start of his career to his former English teacher Peter Way and noted: "The idea of a living poet coming to school and talking about their work was absolutely unimaginable when I was growing up," the paper reported.

The new poet laureate is Carol Ann Duffy, who features on many GCSE and A-level English literature syllabuses and is the first female to take up the role.