The Toads are Here...

Philip Larkin's Toads have arrived in the City and have been spotted in and around Hull.

A local news report said lots of children wanted their picture taken with them, but give the vandals a little time and ill bet the toads get croaked but i believe humberside police have a cunning plan to surround each toad with cardboard cut-out police officers,sorted.

If there is an afterlife where those who have gone before can spy on those who are left, I bet Larkin is gazing sourly down on this city of ours, which was not even his birthplace, by the way, and a place he confessed to despising on many occasions and thinking that the local dignitaries who arranged the toads display needed their bumps feeling. Why the bloody hell are we celebrating a librarian who wrote a few mediocre verses and only lived here because that is where his job dictated that he should. There are far more people from this wonderful city who deserve to be lionised than this man of dubious morals who has managed to con the city he was forced to live in into believing he was something special. And before the Larkin for sainthood brigade start bleating at me that he was a wonderful poet try reading the poems of Masefield, Byron, Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, etc etc and then when you have seen what real poets can do, speak softly about Larkin.

Mr Mackinnon, you read my mind! Larkin leaves me totally under-whelmed. I can only think his notoriety comes from the infamous four-letter-word poem. As for the toads (they look more like frogs to me anyway) I am only glad that the council tax payers of this city didn't fund them.

It was on the cards though, medsec, that the council tax payers would fund these monstrous carbuncles (sorry Prince Charles) until MiniMinns woke up to public outrage and made the council reverse its decision to fund the frogs. I am uncertain as to the precise amount of money our wonderful council had allocated to the project but I have a feeling in my water that it was in the region of £30,000.00.

When you think what that money and other money thats gone down the drain could do for cancer research and other worthy causes

I managed to get about 25 of the amphibian terrors on film, just uploading them to the computer and I will post a link to the pictures here. The number of kids climbing on them was quite amusing, especially when the mothers were stood screaming at them. I must say, the Larkin toad really does look like him.

My word Fozz, you've certainly changed

Here are my Hull Toads in technicolor glory!!

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=186113&id=586989665&l=eee793f4f0

Well I may be in a minority of one but I like the toads. Especially with the clipper race ending today and the tourism thats bringing in. With the right sort of promotion they could bring some much needed money to the area.

The toads were really busy, with quite a few people walking around with the maps, taking photos and reading the little plaques on the base plates.

Hey, Mike, you are right. The Larkin toad does look like him. Same supercilious sneer on his face, same "don't bother me, I'm special" look. And, Tiger, I am not against the frogs, per se. My only regret is that they had to be linked to this horrible racist non-person. Still, with all the luck in the world Larkin will now be put back into storage and not trotted out again until Larkin50 when I shall happily be dead and gone. Hearing Larkin referred to as a great poet is rather akin to fingernails being drawn across a blackboard for me.

I don't think many will make the link with Larkin.But they are colourful and the kids seemed to love them

Apart from the Larkin toad, none of them make any mention of him. You can pick up a free brochure from Hull's Tourist Information Office at City Hall, it features maps and locations, names of the artists, sponsorship information, toad facts, and information on events in the City.

What about poor Andrew Marvell.

At least he has a proper statue.

Why "poor" Andrew Marvell, Kal-el? I have to confess to not being very well up on this particular guy, except that he was what was known as a metaphysical poet, whereas I prefer the Romantics.

I can't say I'm over-fond of these toads but it's a great shame that they have already been vandalised. Not unexpected of course but you do wonder what exactly goes on in the minds - if any - of these idiots. Do they only know how to destroy?

Telephone boxes,public toilets,parks,even peoples gravestones,vandalism effects us all in some way or other i think these toads are like a red rag to a bull,and whoever paid for them would have gained more respect by putting the money into the save the lincoln castle fund,so all im left with at the end of the day is the thought that while the vandals are croaking the toads,perhaps they will be distracted from our cemeteries.

Steve, Hull City Council did not fund the toad trail. The money was raised from private subscription after public backlash against the HCC's proposal to pay for them.