Many Cornishmen wanted him for their official Poet Laureate, cocking a deliberate snub at their long-felt colonisation by Anglo-Saxons.

ECONOMIST: Charles Causley

Carol Ann Duffy, the poet laureate, has written the words for a new song with music by composer Orlando Gough.

BBC: Organisers unveil 1,000-boat Diamond Jubilee flotilla

The Mattatuck Museum now has an exhibit dedicated to Fortune, including a poem, called The Manumission Requiem, by Connecticut Poet Laureate Marilyn Nelson.

NPR: Hidden Museum Treasures: Fortune's Bones

The late Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes, has won the TS Eliot prize for his work, Birthday Letters, a personal collection of verse letters to former wife and poet Sylvia Plath.

BBC: Hughes wins TS Eliot poetry prize

Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who is the chair of the judges, said: "In a year which saw a record number of submissions, my fellow judges and I are delighted with a shortlist which sparkles with energy, passion and freshness and which demonstrates the range and variety of poetry being published in the UK".

BBC: Jorie Graham leads TS Eliot prize nominations