Arthur Caddick: reading of his own poems 'Illusive Hour'

Arthur Caddick: CD 'Illusive Hour: a comprehensive selection of his own poems read by Arthur Caddick', originally released on cassette by Sentinel Records of Penzance, 1977, re-released on CD by Rod Humphries of St Ives, c 2005.

Arthur Caddick (1911-1987) was born in 1911 in Coatham in Yorkshire. He was educated at Sedburgh and Wadham College, Oxford, graduating in Jurisprudence. Caddick married his wife, Peggy, in 1938 and the couple went to live in Brittany, France, leaving when Germany invaded Poland. Arthur Caddick was employed at the War Office during the Second World War, before moving his family (eventually including five children) to Cornwall in 1945. For thirty-six years he lived in the same cottage, 'Windswept', above the village of Nancledra in West Penwith, until ill health necessitated a move to North Devon. Caddick arrived in Cornwall intending to pursue a writing career, and quickly found the inspiration he was searching for in the place and people of his adopted home. Much of his published work is deeply connected to Cornwall, where he mixed with artists and writers and became involved in the rise of the Cornish nationalist movement, an aspect of Cornish life which his writing both celebrates and satirises.

His published poetry books include 'The Ballad of Michael Joseph, the Captain of Cornwall' (1947), 'Alphabet of West Cornwall' (1963), 'A Croft in Cornwall' (1968), and 'Broadsides from Bohemia, in praise of painters, publicans and other Cornish Saints' (1973). His autobiography 'Laughter at Land's End' was published post-humously in 2005.

Usual EUL arrangements apply.

Donated to Special Collections, 23 Dec 2005.

One item only.

Description compiled by Rob Ford, 18 Dec 2006.

Usual EUL restrictions apply.

See also EUL MS 124: Papers of Arthur Caddick, 20th c. Other papers of Caddick are also held at the University of Exeter Library (EUL MS 256). Books originally forming part of the archive collection are shelved in the Reserve Collection and are listed on the Library's online catalogue.