170611 Captain Keith Castellain DOUGLAS, RAC : 09/06/1944, Battlefield poet

https://podbay.fm/p/we-have-ways-of-making-you-talk/e/1654736401

SHOW NOTES
James Holland follows the journey of the Sherwood Rangers through Normandy to find where poet Keith Douglas was killed and buried.

 

BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, Unicorns, Almost

Unicorns, Almost
Drama on 3
An adaptation for radio of a new stage play by the writer Owen Sheers. Unicorns, Almost portrays the short life of World War Two poet Keith Douglas, from his childhood through four engagements to his fighting in the Western Desert, his accelerated education as a poet and his early death three days after the Normandy D-Day landings at the age of 24. It is the story of his Faustian pact with a war that would nurture his unique poetic voice before abruptly snatching it away. It is also the story of his desperate race to see his poems in print before his time on earth ran out.
Widely recognised as the finest poet of World War II, Keith Douglas was championed by Ted Hughes as an important influence. Hughes wrote the introduction to Douglas's The Complete Poems, published by Faber.
Welsh playwright, poet and novelist Owen Sheers introduces this audio version of his stage play.
Keith Douglas ..... Dan Krikler
Written by Owen Sheers
Sound design by Jon Nicholls
Directed by John Retallack
Produced by Emma Balch for The Story of Books

 

Some of the early instances of Keith Douglas's poetry being read on UK national radio can be found via this...

Search - BBC Programme Index

Nb. There was also a far more famous (then) Orchestral Conductor active in the 1930's called Keith Douglas who also "shows up" giving concerts etc.

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For example -

Keith Douglas
BBC Radio 3 : First broadcast: Sun 10th Mar 1974, 21:40 on BBC Radio 3
1920-1944
Vernon Scannell introduces a portrait of Keith Douglas who is regarded as one of the best poets of the Second World War.
Contributors include
JOHN BETHELL-FOX , J. C. HALL
BETTY JESSE and DESMOND GRAHAM Reader GARY WATSON
Producer GEORGE MACBETH followed by an interlude
Contributors: Introduction: Vernon Scannell
Unknown: Keith Douglas
Unknown: John Bethell-Fox
Unknown: J. C. Hall
Unknown: Betty Jesse
Reader: Desmond Graham
Reader: Gary Watson
Producer: George MacBeth

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KEITH DOUGLAS - Third Programme
First broadcast: Thu 31st May 1962, 20:55 on Third Programme
1920-1944
A selection of poems introduced and read by Ted Hughes
Mr. Hughes believes that by the time Keith Douglas was killed in Normandy he had produced ' a more inexhaustibly interesting body of poetry than anyone of his generation has produced since, in England or America.'
Contributors - Read By: Ted Hughes
Unknown: Keith Douglas.

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A POET IN PEACE AND WAR
Third Programme : First broadcast: Tue 9th Oct 1951, 19:40 on Third Programme
J. C. Hall reviews the Collected Poems of Keith Douglas
Contributors : Keith Douglas.