Cecil Day-Lewis

Cecil Day-Lewis

Born(1904-04-27)27 April 1904
Ballintubbert, County Laois, Ireland
Died22 May 1972(1972-05-22) (aged 68)
Monken Hadley, Greater London, England
Resting placeSt Michael's Church, Stinsford, Dorset, England
Occupation
  • Poet
  • novelist
Nationality
  • British
  • Irish
Alma materWadham College, Oxford
Spouse
  • Constance Mary King
    (m. 1928; div. 1951)
  • (m. 1951)
Children4, including Tamasin and Daniel
Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
In office
2 January 1968 – 22 May 1972
MonarchElizabeth II
Preceded byJohn Masefield
Succeeded byJohn Betjeman

Cecil Day-Lewis CBE (or Day Lewis; 27 April 1904 – 22 May 1972), often written as C. Day-Lewis, was an Anglo-Irish poet and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake, most of which feature the fictional detective Nigel Strangeways.

During World War II, Day-Lewis worked as a publications editor in the Ministry of Information for the U.K. government, and also served in the Musbury branch of the British Home Guard.[1] He was the father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, and documentary filmmaker and television chef Tamasin Day-Lewis.

  1. ^ McKinstry, Leo, Operation Sealion: How Britain Crushed the German War Machine's Dreams of Invasion in 1940. London: John Murray Publishers, 2015, 201. ISBN 1848547048.