[John Whitworth]

You see, Brian. For the outlay of a fiver I can lord it over you. And vote for Alicia as the Oxford Professor of Poetry. But there ain't no cigar, if the bookies are right, and they usually are. We will know on the night.

[Ann Drysdale]

I've just fallen into my ergonomic chair with a hastily-poured pre-prandial beaker full of the warm south (of Australia). I finally gathered the guts to go into the betting shop (Ladbrokes) on the high street and put a bet on Alicia. It was fraught with difficulty. I am a husk.

Thrice have I peered in and crept away, but today there were fewer folk lurking between me and the desk lady, so I went in and asked, all bold and off-hand, whether I might place a bet on the Oxford ballot. "On what?" asked the desk lady, albeit quite kindly. I explained and said that I had heard that they were giving odds on the result and the lady had heard of no such thing.

She was charming and listened to my babbling about having read of their involvement and of the poem (Matt's post #123) but was interrupted by sweating punters who rushed from the TV screens brandishing crispies with seconds to spare. She said she'd check. I kept going out and coming back, each time with no result but less apprehension, until I finally went back to my house, dropped off the groceries and printed out the relevant page from the Sphere. The lady read it, laughed aloud, phoned head office and eventually said she could take my bet - at the current price. I handed over a modest stake and have a ticket to prove it.

I can now tell you that, today at 10:55:01, the odds were 2/1 and the kind, patient desk lady was called Hayley.

Both are on the little toilet-paper ticket, the crinkly proof that I actually went into a betting shop all by myself. Yeah! Bring on the Space Station!

[A. E. Stallings]

Bless you Ann! I wish I could bet on myself, but they don't seem to allow from Greece.

By the by, do you remember any other odds, or who is ahead?

grateful for this info,

Alicia

[Matt Q]

Alicia,

William Hill's current odds are here and it seems possible to place a bet by clicking on the candidate you want to bet on -- although whether that works from Greece I don't know. Perhaps you tried already?

Did you see this article on William Hill's site a few days ago?

Oxford Professor Of Poetry: Stallings’ Odds Cut To Bag Role

William Hill have cut the odds of A.E. Stallings from 3/1 to 2/1 to be named as the next Oxford Professor of Poetry although she remains behind the favourite Wole Soyinka whose odds have been pushed out from Even money to 11/8.

“There has been a surprising amount of interest in this market already and it is A.E. Stallings who has proved the most popular as her odds have come in,” said William hill spokesman Joe Crilly.

Oxford Professor of Poetry: 11/8 Wole Soyinka; 2/1 A.E. Stallings; 4/1 Simon Armitage; 6/1 Sean Haldane; 8/1 Ian Gregson

-Matt

[A. E. Stallings]

Apparently the WH odds are holding steady.

But I'd love to learn all the odds right now at Ladbrokes. Will they have to update their poem I wonder?

Alas, cannot bet as am in Greece.

alicia

[David Anthony]

Soynika's now at 13/8 and Alicia at 7/4, adjusted following a (modest) bet I just placed on her.

[Bill Carpenter]

Great news, David. Close to a tie! English online betting sites are blocked here. I could only find a cached June 5 Ladbrokes sheet, which has the odds previously reported.

[Julie Steiner]

I was wondering whether Wole Soyinka even wanted the job, as he didn't submit a candidate statement, but apparently that can be ascribed to modesty. Oookay....

I found the following snippet from a Spectator-affiliated blog interesting:

Wole Soyinka seems to be the frontrunner, which is fair enough: none of the other candidates have ever won the Nobel Prize, been sent to prison for their writing, or produced over 50 years’ worth of serious and influential reflection about culture and politics. Soyinka’s prose can, admittedly, be hard going. ‘One of the tribulations of an eclectic approach to creativity – which I consider the only reliable antidote to the ever-changing establishment monomania of the artistic world – is that genuine eclecticism manifests itself in awareness more than in application.’ Once you’ve read that three times, it turns out to be a useful thought. But – well, Oxford students, you have been warned.

Among the other candidates, there is a strong case to be made for A.E. Stallings. Not only does she write graceful, melancholic and ingenious poems, she’s also a natural communicator who can give a mean TED Talk.