I think it's a question which particularly arises over women writers: whether it's better to have a happy life or a good supply of tragic plots.

Five years later Wendy Cope became a freelance writer and was a television critic for The Spectator magazine until 1990. Cope was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Carol Ann Duffy succeeded Motion as Poet Laureate.

She read history at St Hilda's College Oxford. Wendy Cope OBE (born 21 July 1945) is an award-winning contemporary English poet.