Rory Bremner

The most concise distillation of why poetry matters is in Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys. When one of the boys complains that most poetry is about things that haven’t happened to them yet, \ Hector replies: “It will. And then you will have the antidote ready. Grief. Happiness. Even when you’re dying. We’re making your deathbeds here, boys.”

Jeanette Winterson

I’m a walking poetry book; I learn a poem off by heart every two weeks. My friends often ask me to recite a poem to cheer them up. If I find myself on a long train journey with nothing to read, it doesn’t matter because I have it all in my head. Learning poetry is central to a healthy brain and a happy life — it gives you a whole library to draw from.

Jilly Cooper

When I was at school, we learnt about 40 lines from the Bible and about 50 lines of poetry every week and, God, it’s a gold mine later in life. The lines rise up like goldfish in the water to comfort and cheer you. I remember dozens of poems but I particularly like the Kipling poem that starts: “I keep six honest serving-men / (They taught me all I knew); / Their names are What and Why and When / And How and Where and Who” — because that’s the very basis of writing.

Terry Wogan

I’m from that generation where you had to learn poetry off by heart — I think it’s still very important for children to do this. I still read a lot of poetry — everything from Browning and Tennyson to Shakespeare.

Joanna Trollope

Knowing poems by heart is extremely pleasurable. Poetry, particularly the more traditional kind, has much the same effect on people as music because of the rhythm. I suppose it has got something to do with the heartbeat. A favourite poem? Well, I like Browning’s My Last Duchess because it has a slightly dark edge, the idea that everything in life comes at some kind of cost.

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