And I used to assemble the family to hear because I thought that they were so good that even from the point of view of enjoyment people shouldn't miss them, and I got every word of his that I could, and I could see by hard argument there was only the one way for it.

She was the first woman to receive the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1955 and was appointed a CBE in 1979 to honour her many contributions to English literature. In 1974 Ruth Pitter was named a "Companion of Literature" the highest honour given by the Royal Society of Literature.