Reed, Henry

Henry Reed was both in 1914 in Erdington on the northern edge of Birmingham and attended University of Birmingham in the 1930s, graduating with first class honours before being awarded his Master of Arts for a much acclaimed thesis on Thomas Hardy.

Reed began his working life as a freelance journalist and had only just taken up a teaching post at King Edward VI Grammar School, Aston when the Second World War intervened. He was then conscripted into the Royal Army Ordnance Corps where he was rather incongruously given the role of drill instructor. Ill health, and perhaps the Army's realisation that Reed's linguistic abilities could be better utilised, secured his transfer to Naval Intelligence in the Code and Cypher School at Bletchley, where he was to spend the rest of the war.

Reed's writing talents had lain particularly in the composition of poetry and this he continued to pursue throughout his military service. As the war entered its final stages in 1944 Reed's poetry was brought to the attention of the Drama and Features Department of the British Broadcasting Corporation. This was at a time when the BBC were looking to restructure their radio service in preparation for peacetime audiences, and were intent on searching out new writers to enhance their more intellectual programmes.

From then onwards, Reed became a major contributor to BBC radio: as poet, critic, playwright, and translator/adaptor. His last play for the BBC in 1979 was a reworking of the first one he had written for them in 1944: an adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick .

Reference: Linda J Curry, The University of Birmingham: Research Libraries Bulletin (Number 6, Autumn 1998).

From the guide to the Papers of Henry Reed, [1940s] - [1980s], (University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department)