Find out more about the 50 greatest writers since 1945

A poet, Philip Larkin, took the top spot in The Times’s 2008 ranking of The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945 – beating stiff competition from talents as diverse as George Orwell, Iris Murdoch and J R R Tolkien.

Although Larkin’s collected works are slender, Sir Howard Davies, who chaired last year’s Man Booker judges, remarked: “Larkin struck a chord with many readers not normally enthusiastic about poetry. His number one position can be justified by an unusual combination of literary merit and popular appeal” but noted that, as to the list as a whole, “I am very surprised to see no mention of David Storey, David Lodge, Malcolm Bradbury or Angus Wilson, and astonished by the absence of R S Thomas. All of those would, to me, rank higher than Alan Sillitoe, who is at No 20.”

Kate Mosse, co-founder of the Orange Prize and author of the best-selling novels Labyrinth and Sepulchre, said: “I’m an enormous Larkin fan but his writing is very specific of a place and time, and it is poetry, whereas there are other authors who have written in a range of areas. Murdoch seems to me an all-rounder, and if you are going to put somebody in at No 1 then maybe that’s it.”

Last year’s Laureate for Literature, Doris Lessing, is at No 5 – it remains to be seen whether her reaction to that accolade is as deadpan as it was to the awarding of the Nobel. Tolkien, who has come top in earlier “best of” lists, is relegated to 6th place.

Aggrieved fans may take comfort from the remarks of the novelist Philippa Gregory, a judge of this year’s Orange Prize. “I loathe literary lists,” she said. “They are just like literary prizes only without the cheque or the party.”

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