Roger Woddis (17 May 1917 – 16 July 1993) was a British writer and humorous

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. One of his most famous poems, ''Ethics for Everyman'', deals with double-morality of ethical principles. His early writing career included some involvement with

Unity Theatre, London Unity Theatre was a theatre club formed in 1936, and initially based in St Judes Hall, Britannia Street, Somers Town, London NW1. In 1937, it moved to a former chapel in Goldington Street, also in Somers Town, an area which is part of the prese ...

, where he contributed material to a number of revues. His poetry featured regularly in ''Radio Times'' and other periodicals in the 1970s. During much of the 1980s and early '90s, he had his own weekly poem in the humour magazine ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'': titled "Subverse". This consisted each week of a humorously subversive political poem, often dealing with recent events. He was also ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

s weekly poet from 1970 until months before his death, following in the footsteps of 'Macflecknoe'; ' Sagittarius' (Olga Katzin); and

Reginald Reynolds Reginald Arthur Reynolds (1905 – 16 December 1958) was a British left wing writer, poet, a Quaker and an anti-colonial activist who collaborated with M.K. Gandhi and Horace Alexander. A Quaker, he was General Secretary of the No More W ...

; and succeeded by Bill Greenwell. His poems featured topics such as the Vietnam war, miners strikes, and apartheid. He also wrote for television, including an episode of '' The Prisoner'' ("

Hammer into Anvil "Hammer into Anvil" is an episode of the allegorical British science fiction TV series, ''The Prisoner''. It was written by Roger Woddis and directed by Pat Jackson and twelfth produced. It was the tenth episode to be broadcast in the UK on ITV ...

", 1967) which is generally considered the most literate episode of that highly literate series: several pieces of classical music figure in the plot; one character quotes

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

in the original German, and another character quotes from '' Don Quixote'' in the original Spanish. Much of Woddis's writing was openly sympathetic to

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political causes, including

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. Woddis's obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' confirmed that he had been a member of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

. His poems include ''Ethics for Everyman'' and ''Down with Fanatics''. His collections include 'Lot 71' (1971), 'Sex Guyed' (with Arthur Horner, 1973), 'The Woddis Collection' (1978), 'God's Worried' (1983), 'Funny Old World' (with Steve Bell, 1991), and the posthumous 'One Over The Eighties' (1994)

References

External links

Obituary in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

IMDb entry
1917 births 1993 deaths British poets British television writers Communist Party of Great Britain members 20th-century screenwriters {{UK-writer-stub