Life is first boredom, then fear,
Whether or not we use it, it goes,
And leaves what something hidden from us chose,
And age, and then the only end of age.
Philip Larkin , one of the most highly regarded British poets since the war, died in December. Although he only published four books of poetry his bleak, but often humorous, verse sounded truer and more telling than any other poets of his generation. As a tribute to him, Ian Hamilton introduces Larkin's only appearance before the television cameras, in a film first broadcast in 1964 on the arts programme Monitor.
Monitor producer PARTICK GARLAND