15 Facts About Keith Douglas

Keith Castellain Douglas was an English poet and soldier noted for his war poetry during the Second World War and his wry memoir of the Western Desert campaign, Alamein to Zem Zem.

Keith Douglas was killed in action during the invasion of Normandy.

For others, Keith Douglas's work is powerful and unsettling because its exact descriptions eschew egotism and shift the burden of emotion from the poet to the reader.

Keith Douglas was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the son of Capt.

Keith Douglas's mother became unwell and collapsed in 1924 of encephalitis lethargica, never to fully recover.

Keith Douglas was sent to Edgeborough School, a preparatory school in Guildford, the same year.

Keith Douglas was deeply hurt by his father not communicating with him after 1928, and when Capt.

Douglas did write at last in 1938, Keith did not agree to meet him.

Keith Douglas sat in 1931 for the entrance examination to Christ's Hospital, where education was free and there was monetary assistance to cover all other costs.

Keith Douglas was accepted, and joined Christ's Hospital, near Horsham, in September 1931, studying there till 1938.

Keith Douglas became the editor of Cherwell, and one of the poets anthologised in the collection Eight Oxford Poets, although by the time that volume appeared he was already in the army.

At Oxford, Keith Douglas entered a relationship with a sophisticated Chinese student named Yingcheng, or Betty Sze, the daughter of a diplomat.

Keith Douglas was posted to the Middle East in July 1941 and transferred to the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry.

Captain Keith Douglas returned from North Africa to England in December 1943 and took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944.

Concerned by the lack of progress, Keith Douglas dismounted his tank to undertake a personal reconnaissance during which he was killed by a German mortar.