National Poetry Day asked authors, poets, politicians and more to tell us about their poetry heroes. We asked them: who is their poetry hero and why? What is their favourite poem by their hero? And who would they like to see immortalised in a poem? Read some of their answers below.

	David Cameron MP, Conservative Party Leader, chose Wilfred Owen I still remember the first time I read his poems and the incredible power and anger about the First World War. For me, they were literally an eye-opener, and I still find them moving when I read them again today.
	Nick Clegg MP, Liberal Democrat Leader, chose William Blake My poetry hero is William Blake, partially because he’s so hard to classify as a poet! My favourite poem by him is Eternity - it’s a fantastic way of saying “seize the day” and the perfect poem to read in times of trouble, really uplifting. The person who I would like to see immortalized in a poem is Václav Havel. He was an inspiration to people of my generation, who admired his courage and that of other dissidents in Eastern Europe. Even though he spent many years in prison, he remained determined to change his country for the better. I was also lucky enough to meet him in his presidential palace in Prague!
	Olivia Cole, journalist and poet, chose Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath is my poetry heroine. What first made me addicted to her writing was her extraordinary, vibrant capacity to use language. Any time you pick up her collected poems there's something new and dazzling that strikes you. For me, her poems are a circus of colour, sensuality and verbal acrobatics. Even when she contemplates pain, suffering, or even her own death, it's with an intensely seductive lyricism that most poets never match even when they try to celebrate life. My favourite poem is Crossing the Water - to me this is one of Plath’s great love poems. For someone who devoted, perhaps at the greatest cost of all, her life, to words, it seems deeply touching that this is a love poem celebrating silence. I would say I would like to see Sylvia Plath immortalized in a poem, but one of the most extraordinary things about Ted Hughes’ Birthday Letters was the amazingly vivid portrayal it gave of her. If I had to pick one…I’m not sure that he deserves eulogising in poetry but personally I wouldn’t mind having a go at Silvio Berlusconi - even if he's more a poetry villain than a hero! I’ve become gripped by the saga of his public life, scouring the papers every day for the latest farcical plot twists. You really couldn’t make it up. Olivia’s first collection of poetry, Restricted View, is published by Salt on 2 December.
	Linda Grant, Journalist and novelist, chose George Szirtes My poetry hero is George Szirtes. Arriving in Britain as an eight year old refugee in 1956, after the Hungarian Uprising, he learned English, went to art school and began an extended meditation on the life of the outsider. His work restored me to the long-forgotten pleasure of poetry because while it is never didactic, he always has something to say. My favourite poem of his is the title poem in his collection Reel, about his return to the city of his birth, Budapest. In it we see a European sensibility moving through the English language. He is interested in cities, sees everything and can unsettle without showing off. I would have liked Keats to immortalise Coco Chanel, though it’s not of course possible. I can’t think of anyone else who could have done it.
	Robert McCrum, writer and journalist, chose Edward Lear My favourite poem of his is The Owl and the Pussycat - this is the perfect nonsense/bedtime poem for children. It has a sweet melancholy and a metre that lingers in the memory.
	Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, chose Homer He was the first and greatest of them all. The Iliad is my favourite poem, it teaches you everything you need to know about man’s place in the universe.
	Ed Vaizey MP, Shadow Minister for Culture, chose John Betjeman John Betjeman is my poetry hero, as he lived in Wantage [Ed Vaizey’s constituency]. My favourite poem is Wantage Bells. I would most like to see Muhammed Ali immortalized in poetry, because he was a great man.