farmdoc's blog post number 393

I was 11-years-old in 1958 when Collingwood won its 13th premiership. It took 32 years to win its 14th – in 1990 when I was 43. A long time between drinks. But nowhere near the 126 years the America’s Cup remained in the New York Yacht Club – from 1857 until 1983 when Australia II triumphed, so ending the longest winning streak in sports history. And though poetry’s not sport – at least not to me – that 126 years pales into insignificance compared with the hundreds of years the position of Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom has been a male preserve. It’s unclear when that position (or its equivalent) began – perhaps 1189. It became a Royal Office in 1670. All its incumbents have been men. Until 1 May 2009, when Carol Ann Duffy, a 53-year-old Glaswegian, became only the 23rd UK Poet Laureate in the past 410 years. She’s also the first Scottish, and the first openly bisexual, appointee. The pay’s only A$11,800 a year, plus 650 free bottles of oloroso sherry. I don’t know how or why the sherry tradition began; but in 1389 Poet Laureate Geoffrey Chaucer was granted an annual wine allowance. As I previously wrote, Poet Laureate was a job for life until Ms Duffy’s predecessor, Andrew Motion, was appointed in 1999 for 10 years. Ms Duffy’s term’s for 10 years too. Will Collingwood win its 15th premiership during her tenure? Unlikely.