Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Leo Marks

It was only when I was listening to the Toby Jones programme on Radio 4 to mark the 50th anniversary of the film 'Peeping Tom' that I realised that there was much more to Leo Marks than I had realised – I had known of him only as the author of the haunting poem The Life That I Have.

Marks worked as a coding expert for the Special Operations Executive during WW2 & he used poems he had written himself for agents to use in the field as double transposition codes. As I remember it, in the film, Carve her Name with Pride, Virginia McKenna was given the poem by her boyfriend, but there was no such romantic attachment between Marks & the real life Violette Szabo.

The other surprise came when I found that Leo Marks was the son of Marks & Co, the book shop at 84 Charing Cross Road made famous by Helene Hanff. Although he was not the recipient of those joyful letters, he did become her friend.

But from now on I shall probably, at least from time to time, wonder if there is a secret code within a code in that poem, & whether that is what explains its great popularity among men.

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All that I have
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