I write this out of pig ignorance. Who is Roger's author?

Hairy Porter... Joanne...wizard...

I'm sure I don't know...

But then I thought the Invisible Man was HG wells.

Thank you Ann. Truth makes all things plain.

Ho ho, Ann. Roger doesn't do subtlety either. And yes, The Invisible Man was H G Wells. Ralph Ellison's title lacks the definite article.

There's something about this bloody comp that seems to stifle humour (aside from John's chuckleworthy entry). I still haven't the ghost of an idea. Back to the cat videos.

That Whitsun, I got away early, catching the 9.27 train. Not early enough to avoid the usual Bank Holiday passenger list; frowsy Mums in floral frocks, Dads bereft without the toad work, squalling kiddies demented having been promised freedom and delivered confinement. Thank Christ, I’d brought a book. Damn Christ; it was an Iris Murdoch. Smiled thinly at, in lieu of murdering, a kiddie who spilt cloudy lemonade on my trousers. Then, a spry old character – I mean bore - sat opposite and asked ‘D’you think we’ll see any weddings this early?’
‘Weddings?’ I said. ‘On a train?’
‘Wedding parties, rather. Sending off the brides and grooms on honeymoon. Afternoons you tend to see them; proud parents, drunk Uncles and the like.’
I’d sooner parties of schoolgirls, but didn’t say so. ‘No.’ is what I actually said.
‘The confetti, the ribald joshing – well, you can imagine.’
Eventually. extraordinarily, I could.

Oh, that's funny, especially the Iris Murdoch joke.

Yes it is. But what was he doing with a Iris Murdoch novel in the first place? And Larkin's taste sometimes surprises you. Who would have thought he would be a fan of Stevie Smith? Or, to a certain extent at least, of Bob Dylan's lyrics?

In fairness to Iris Murdoch, she wrote a few very good books - especially her first one, 'Under the Net'.

Indeed she did. But it's true they wouldn't be to Larkin's taste. I've got about ten up on my bookshelf on my right.

Larkin loathed Iris Murdoch's novels. He and Monica Jones used to have a game where they defaced lines in Murdoch's The Flight From The Enchanter, rendering every line of the text obscene in some way. See page 319 of Andrew Motion's superb biography of Larkin.

I've never read any Murdoch; the fact that she was also a philosopher rather puts me off.