The Wheatsheaf, Fitzrovia Explained

The Wheatsheaf is a pub in Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London, that was popular with London's bohemian set in the 1930s. Its customers included George Orwell, Dylan Thomas, Edwin Muir and Humphrey Jennings, who were known for a while as the Wheatsheaf writers [1] Other habitués included the singer and dancer Betty May, and the writer and surrealist poet Philip O'Connor, Nina Hamnett, Julian Maclaren-Ross, Anthony Carson and Quentin Crisp.[2]

Dylan Thomas

In spring 1936, the poet Dylan Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara (1913–1994), a 22-year-old blonde-haired, blue-eyed dancer of Irish descent. She had run away from home, intent on making a career in dance, and aged 18 joined the chorus line at the London Palladium.[3] Introduced by the artist Augustus John, Caitlin's lover, they met in The Wheatsheaf.[4] [5] [6] Laying his head in her lap, a drunken Thomas proposed.[3] [7] Thomas liked to comment that he and Caitlin were in bed together ten minutes after they first met.[8] Although Caitlin initially continued her relationship with John, she and Thomas began a correspondence, and in the second half of 1936 were courting. They married at the register office in Penzance, Cornwall, on 11 July 1937.

References

51.5177°N -0.1341°W

Notes and References

  1. Book: Inwood, Stephen.. Historic London: An Explorer's Companion. 2008. Pan Macmillan. London. 978-0-230-75252-8. 229.
  2. Web site: Strange Flowers guide to London: part 2. Strange Flowers. 3 March 2011 . 3 August 2014.
  3. News: Race to put the passion of Dylan's Caitlin on big screen . Observer.guardian.co.uk. 26 November 2006. 3 August 2014. Vanessa. Thorpe.
  4. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/55871 Paul Ferris
  5. Book: von Zweigbergk, Britta.. Tony's War: The life and times of a WW2 Typhoon pilot. 2007. Vanguard. Cambridge. 978-1-84386-291-8. 58.
  6. Web site: Obituary: Caitlin Thomas. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220620/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-caitlin-thomas-1380886.html . 20 June 2022 . subscription . live. Glyn . Jones. Glyn Jones (Welsh writer) . The Independent . 2 August 1994. 3 August 2014.
  7. Web site: Dylan Thomas revival proves death has no dominion. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220620/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/dylan-thomas-revival-proves-death-has-no-dominion-811781.html . 20 June 2022 . subscription . live. 19 April 2008. 3 August 2014. Arifa. Akbar. independent.co.uk.
  8. FitzGibbon, 1965, p. 205.

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