T. S. Eliot’s Gloucester

The earliest surviving letter from T. S. Eliot was written in Gloucester, Massachusetts in June 1898. In the letter, addressed to his “Papa”, 9-year old Eliot writes of the coolness of the house in the morning, a broken microscope, butterfly and spider specimens, and hunting for birds with his sister, Charlotte. READ

First broadcast of ‘Practical Cats’

This Christmas sees the 80th anniversary of the first broadcast of a selection of T. S. Eliot’s Practical Cats poems. The poems, which weren’t published until almost two years later, were read by Eliot’s friend, Geoffrey Tandy – a writer, broadcaster and scientist who worked at the Natural History Museum. READ

T. S. Eliot becomes a British citizen

 

 

‘I have applied for Naturalisation and been accepted, having pulled a few strings with the Home Secretary’ – T. S. Eliot in a letter to his brother, 25th October 1927.

 

On the 2nd of November 1927 T. S. READ

Happy Birthday Mr Eliot

To celebrate T. S. Eliot’s 129th birthday, we take a look at how he spent some of his birthdays, the gifts he received and a special birthday cake tradition …

 

Eliot’s letters suggest that he did not make much of his birthday in his twenties and thirties: other than the occasional letter to thank his mother for a birthday cheque, there are no thank-you letters to be found for birthday greetings, gifts, or a shared celebratory meal. READ

‘I have taken to the vice of Dining Clubs’

T. S. Eliot in a letter to Virginia Woolf, 27 April 1937.

 

 

A look through Eliot’s letters and personal papers reveals that he was a member of several clubs – quiet, private places where he could meet or play host to business and personal acquaintances and friends. READ

For the love of cheese

Included in the latest volume of the Letters of T. S. Eliot is a letter to the Editor of the Times entitled ‘Stilton Cheese’, written on 25 November 1935 and published a few days later. Eliot is replying to a letter from poet and literary editor J. READ