I deeply adored my mum. She was an extraordinary person, even for the prejudice Im likely to have. She was beautiful, amusing, a tremendous elaborator of things into comic proportions and extravagant in her imagination. – Andrew Motion
In a general way, I want to be a kind of flag-waver, bunting hanger-up, drum-beater, you name it, for poetry. – Andrew Motion
Thanks partly to the kind of poets that we now have and partly to funding, theres been a gigantic shift in the way poetry is perceived… Poems on the Underground, poets in schools, football clubs, zoos. – Andrew Motion
I like eating out. I like buying beautiful paintings and being surrounded by beautiful things. I have to finance that life. I can barely afford a pension scheme because I dont make enough money. – Andrew Motion
My parents are very hard working people who did everything they could for their children. I have two brothers and they worked dog hard to give us an education and provide us with the most comfortable life possible. My dad provided for his family daily. So, yes, that is definitely in my DNA. – David Oyelowo