Identity area
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Person
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Dyment, Clifford, 1914-1971
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Description area
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History
Clifford Henry Dyment (1914-1971), poet and writer, was born 20 January 1914 in Alfreton, Derbyshire, the son of William Clifford Dyment (1888-1918) and his wife Bessie (née Riding, 1888-1982), both of South Wales. Dyment spent his early childhood in Caerleon, Monmouthshire, but following the death of his father, in action in France on 22 May 1918, he moved with his mother and sister to Nottingham. He attended Loughborough Grammar School, Leicestershire, and for some time ran a cycle shop. Following the publication of his first volume of poetry, First Day (London, 1935) he moved to London. There followed Straight or Curly (London, 1937), The Axe in the Wood (London, 1944), Poems 1935-1948 (London, 1949), Experiences and Places: New Poems (London, 1955) and (with Marcella Dyment) Fur, Feather, and Fin (London, 1968), together with Selected Poems (London, [1945]) and Collected Poems (London, 1970), this last volume including a section of previously unpublished 'dream poems'. Other works included the biography C. Day Lewis (London, 1955) and The Railway Game: An Early Autobiography (London, 1962). Dyment also worked as a journalist and critic, wrote and directed documentaries for the Ministry of Information and other bodies during the Second World War, and worked for BBC radio and television as a broadcaster and writer of commentaries. In 1947 he married Marcella Salzer (d. 1968). Dyment died in London, 5 June 1971.