John Tripp: Crewe Blues

A revised typescript draft, 1977-1978, of a poem entitled 'Crewe Blues' by John Tripp.
The draft has numerous manuscript revisions and annotations and has the typescript title 'British Rail Blues (The Junction of Despair)' crossed through and replaced with 'Crewe Blues' in ink. A heavily revised version of the poem (see NLW MS 24013D, f. 136) was published as 'Northern Railway Blues' in John Tripp, The Meaning of Apricot Sponge, ed. by Tony Curtis (Cardigan, 2010), pp. 162-163. The poem was apparently written after a Christmas visit by Tripp to his friend the philosopher Allen Phillips Griffiths in Coventry.

John Tripp (1927-1986) from Bargoed, Glamorgan, journalist and poet, worked at the BBC and as Press Officer at the Indonesian Embassy and information officer at the Central Office of Information in London during the 1960s. After returning to Wales in 1969 he became a freelance journalist and was the literary editor of Planet from 1973 until 1980. He wrote poems and short stories, including The Province of Belief, The Inheritance File and Collected Poems.

Mr Ned Thomas; Aberystwyth; Donation; October 2012; 006337508.

John Tripp (1927-1986) from Bargoed, Glamorgan, journalist and poet, worked at the BBC and as Press Officer at the Indonesian Embassy and information officer at the Central Office of Information in London during the 1960s. After returning to Wales in 1969 he became a freelance journalist and was the literary editor of Planet from 1973 until 1980. He wrote poems and short stories, including The Province of Belief, The Inheritance File and Collected Poems.

Title based on contents.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 23981E, f. 56.

Usual copyright laws apply. Information regarding the ownership of John Tripp copyright can be found at http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/ (viewed July 2013).

For other drafts of 'Northern Railway Blues' see NLW MS 24013i-iiD, f. 136, and NLW, John Tripp Papers 21.

Published