John Ormond (3 April 1923 – 4 May 1990), also known as John Ormond Thomas, was a Welsh poet and film-maker.

Biography

John Ormond Thomas was born on 3 April 1923 in Wales, at

Dunvant Dunvant (, and ) is a suburban district and Community (Wales), community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, and falls within the Dunvant (electoral ward), Dunvant ward. It is situated in a valley some 4.5 miles west of Swansea city ce ...

, near

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

. He studied philosophy and English at

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

, and at the same time studied painting at the Swansea School of Art. His early verse appeared in various periodicals, including Poetry Folios as Ormond Thomas. As John Ormond Thomas, his work appeared with that of

James Kirkup James Harold Kirkup (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009) was an English poet, translator and travel writer. He wrote more than 45 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays. He wrote under many pen-names including James Falconer, Aditya Jha, ...

and John Bayliss in ''Indications'' (1943), published by the Grey Walls Press. After graduation in 1945, on the strength of a portfolio of poems sent to the editor Tom Hopkinson, he was offered a three-month trial at

Picture Post ''Picture Post'' was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,000,000 copies a week after only two months. ...

in London, after which he was made a staff writer. He returned to Swansea in 1949, as a sub-editor on the ''South Wales Evening Post''. During this time, friendships forged with Daniel Jones,

Vernon Watkins Vernon Phillips Watkins (27 June 1906 – 8 October 1967) was a Welsh poet and translator. His headmaster at Repton was Geoffrey Fisher, who became Archbishop of Canterbury. Despite his parents being Nonconformists, Watkins' school experience ...

, Alfred Janes and other members of Dylan Thomas's Kardomah gang, including Thomas himself, would be a formative influence. However, Watkins' advice that he should not publish a further collection until he was 30 made him hyper-critical of his own poetry. He also destroyed much of it. In January 1955, Tom Hopkinson, now features editor of the News Chronicle, invited him to write verses for the Saturday Picture. Publishing these as John Ormond, thus establishing that as his professional name, he continued to contribute weekly verses for two and a half years. In July 1955 Ormond began a career with

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Wales in Cardiff, working with the fledgling news-service. In 1957 he became head of the BBC Welsh Film Unit where in due course he began his first documentaries. The success of Borrowed Pasture (1960), his portrait of two Polish exiles struggling to eke out a living on a derelict farm in Carmarthenshire, immediately established him as a film-maker. It is still regarded as a classic of its time. In 1961, he was appointed as a director and producer of documentary films, which included studies of Ceri Richards, Kyffin Williams, Dylan Thomas, Alun Lewis and

R. S. Thomas Ronald Stuart Thomas (29 March 1913 – 25 September 2000), published as R. S. Thomas, was a Welsh poet and Anglican priest noted for nationalism, spirituality and dislike of the anglicisation of Wales. John Betjeman, introducing ''Song at the ...

. Ormond 'returned' to poetry in the mid-1960s, publishing in the periodical ''Poetry Wales''. His first major volume, ''Requiem and Celebration'', was published in 1969. His reputation was enhanced in 1973 by the appearance of ''Definition of a Waterfall'' and his inclusion in Penguin Modern Poets. In 1975, Ormond received the

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards ( ) are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...

for poetry. A volume of selected poems was published in 1987. He died in 1990, aged 67.

His publications

* ''John Ormond: Collected Poems, edited by Rian Evans, with an Introduction by Patrick McGuinness (2015)'' * ''Cathedral Builders'' (1991) * ''Selected Poems'' (1987) * ''Definition of a Waterfall'' (1973) * ''Requiem and Celebration'' (1969) * ''Indications'' (1943)

References

University of Wales Press

External links

*
Borrowed Pasture
' (1960)

programme page. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ormond, John British poets British filmmakers 1923 births 1990 deaths People from Swansea 20th-century Welsh poets British male poets 20th-century British male writers

Biography

His publications

Further reading

References

External links