Roger Woddis, poet: born London 17 May 1917; married Joan Hobson (one son, one daughter; marriage dissolved); died London 16 July 1993.
Roger Woddis was a writer and humorous poet. 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, 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: titled "Subverse". This consisted each week of a humorously subversive political poem, often dealing with recent events. He was also New Statesman's weekly poet until months before his death, succeeding 'Sagittarius' (Olga Katzin) in 1970 and, before her, Reginald Reynolds; and succeeded by Bill Greenwell.
His poems featured topics such as the Vietnam war, miners strikes, and apartheid.
He also wrote for television, including Hammer into Anvil, an episode of The Prisoner 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 in the original German, and another character quotes Don Quixote in the original Spanish.
Much of Woddis's writing was openly sympathetic to leftist political causes, including communism. Woddis's obituary in The Times confirmed that he had been a member of Britain's communist party.
His poems include Ethics for Everyman and Down with Fanatics
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