London
The arty pubs and clubs of Fitzrovia were the perfect location for Dylan; somewhere he could mix with artists, musicians, poets and writers; and within walking distance of his regular workplace, the BBC. It was in one of these pubs, the Wheatsheaf, where he had a chance meeting with an extraordinary Irish woman called Caitlin MacNamara, who would become his wife. He lived in London for much of the Second World War writing propaganda films and serving as a “Fire Watcher’ observing, at first hand, the horrific consequences of the Blitz.
Oxford
Dylan and Caitlin lived in Oxford and also in the small Oxfordshire village of South Leigh. While in Oxford, Dylan considered the possibility that, had he been more focused at school, he may have been a student at the university. However, he concluded that, perhaps, the academic environment may not have suited him.
During this period of his life, Dylan wrote, narrated or took part in over a hundred BBC radio programmes, worked on three film scripts for Gainsborough Films and a new collection of poems was published, Deaths and Entrances.
Cornwall
When thinking about Dylan Thomas, the South West of England does not always spring to mind, but in this area he found a contrast to the chaos of London, retreating to a more tranquil place where he could relax and feel at home. He was once again close to the sea and in a community where he felt at home. During one of his visits to Cornwall he married Caitlin Macnamara.
Image © Jak Stringer
Rest of England
In this section you can discover a few of the other parts of England that were influential for Dylan, many of which remain important for his family. They include a friend’s house where he worked in collaboration on a detective story, the area where his mother in law lived and his first son was born, to a sanctuary away from the London blitz during the Second World War.
Image © Saffron Blaze and licensed for reuse under this creative commons license.