The post of Poet Laureate has existed for around four hundred years. It’s been held by such luminaries as Wordsworth, Day Lewis, Betjeman and Hughes. Only twice are women known to have been serious contenders – Elizabrth Barrett Browning in 1850 – Tennyson got it. And U A Fanthorpe, who died yesterday, in 1998 when Ted Hughes was given the job. But this year, at last, the post has been awarded to a woman – Carol Ann Duffy. She joins Jenni to give her first interview as Poet Laureate.
