Spectator competition winners: poems for Betty Boothroyd

In Competition No. 3292, you were invited to provide a poem to mark the death of Betty Boothroyd.

The formidable Lady Boothroyd – the Guardian obituarist’s description of her exuding ‘warmth and wit’ and ‘a whiff of glamour’ was spot-on – brought out the best in you. There were neat acrostics from David Silverman and David Shields, and head–turning double dactyls from Richard Spencer and Alex Steelsmith. Here are Mr Steelsmith’s final two quatrains:

Eulogists speak of her
Honourability;
Countless admirers, while
Raising a cup,

Picture her shattering
Paradisiacal
Ceilings of crystal where
Time’s never up.

It was a struggle to whittle down a large and stellar field, and Janine Beacham was only just nudged out of the prizewinning line-up. The following five earn their authors £30 each.

The tolling bell now sounds its sad farewell.
No more we’ll hear the steely referee
Who ‘Order! Order!’ cried to cast a spell
And quell the Commons’ wild cacophony.

She was no flower born to blush unseen
Nor mute was she but, destined for success,
From Tiller Girl, the lively dancing queen,
She rose to be a noble baroness.

Trained as a Whip, she learned to crack the whip,
Became first woman Speaker of the House,
She’d crush the mighty with a cutting quip
And rule more like a lioness than mouse.

‘Time’s up!’ is called. The death knell ends her day.
She’s breathed her last and given up the ghost.
To heaven now she’ll doubtless wing her way
And call to order the angelic host.

Alan Millard

So farewell then, Betty Boothroyd,
She who, born in darkest Yorkshire,
Joined a troupe of dancing ladies
Till a fateful foot infection
Possibly a disguised blessing
Like unto an April shower
Germinating summer flora
Made of her a politician,
Speaker of the House of Commons
Where her honoured elevation
Proved unique, unprecedented,
Landmark, breakthrough and historic.
Thus the press and public hailed it.
Thus she called for ‘Order! Order!’
Thus she carries on, still wigless,
Sorting stroppy backbench angels.

Basil Ransome-Davies