Poet vernon scannell biography children

His time in Leeds was a great influence on the development of his poetry. He left school aged 14 to work in an accounting firm; and enlisted in the Army in , aged 18, following the outbreak of the Second World War. During the war he saw action in the Middle East and France, and was seriously wounded near Caen Normandy in He spent the remainder of the war recovering.

Shortly after the announcement of VE-Day Scannell deserted, disillusioned and brutalised by army life; it was at this point that he changed his name to Vernon Scannell. He spent the next two years effectively on the run. Whilst attempting to survive in London with neither identity papers nor ration card, Scannell undertook various cash-in-hand jobs and became involved in professional boxing.

He also became acquainted with the Soho bars frequented by poets and artists, and in the Fitzroy Tavern met a medical student from Leeds who convinced him that Leeds would be a safer city than London in which to lie low.

Vernon scannell awards

Scannell admitted to hating Leeds at first, commenting on the polluted air and the "drab melancholy that the town seemed to breathe out," and noting "I had not known that such slums existed any more. Wilson Knight, Wilfred R. Childe and Jacob Kramer. Title-page marked up for printing from typescript