Great Regulars: I'd written my graduate thesis and then

a book on Edward Thomas, who was killed at Arras in 1917. I'd visited the battlefields of that region several times - once with my father, on the 60th anniversary of the D-day landings. I'd edited an anthology of first-world-war poetry. Meeting Harry, I thought, would connect the writing to its circumstances in a uniquely powerful way.

And so it did. After a train-ride to Bristol, then a drive along the misty switch-back to Wells, I found Harry's nursing home among the suburbs. The staff told me how to get the best from him: he might be amazingly robust for someone 110 years old, but 110 was 110. I should speak up, talk slowly, repeat myself if necessary.

from Andrew Motion: The Guardian: Meeting Harry

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