J. Clifford Ashby, generally known as Cliff Ashby, (10 November 1919 – 30 April 2012) was a British poet and novelist. He was born in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

in 1919, and left school aged 14, taking a job as a window dresser in Leeds. He was a conscientious objector in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, undertaking agricultural work in lieu of military service. In so doing he met several artists and poets, and began the path to his own literary career. As a poet he came to light through '' X'' magazine. His poetry collections include ''In the Vulgar Tongue'' (1968), ''The Dogs of Dewsbury'' (1976), ''Lies and Dreams'' (1980), ''Plain Song: Collected Poems'' (1985) and ''A Few Late Flowers'' (2007). His novels are ''The Old Old Story'' and ''How and Why'' (both 1969). He died at home on 30 April 2012. On Ashby's ''Few Late Flowers'' (2008)

Robert Nye The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, hono ...

says: "He has just published what must be the most remarkable swansong offered by a writer in their 89th year...A sequence of quietly original poems, it is the bittersweet distillation of a lifetime's experience" Robert Nye in The Scotsman
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Bibliography

*Old, Old Story ( / ), Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1969 *In the Vulgar Tongue ( / ), Hodder and Stoughton, 1968 *Howe and Why, Hodder and Stoughton, 1970 *The Dogs of Dewsbury Poems, Carcanet Press *Lies and Dreams Poems, Carcanet Press *Plain Song: Collected Poems, Carcanet, 1985 *A Few Late Flowers, HappenStance Press, 2008

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