Roger Woddis

{{Short description|British writer and humorous poet (1917 – 1993)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Roger Woddis''' (17 May 1917 – 16 July 1993) was a British writer and humorous poet.<ref name=IO>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-roger-woddis-1486206.html|title = Obituary: Roger Woddis|website = Independent.co.uk|date = 20 July 1993}}</ref> One of his most famous poems, ''Ethics for Everyman'', deals with double-morality of ethical principles.

== Early life == Woddis was born in May 1917 in London, England.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1993-07-20 |title=Obituary: Roger Woddis |url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/obituary-roger-woddis-1486206.html |access-date=2025-12-24 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

== Career == Woddis worked at the Little Unity Theatre in King's Cross during the 1930s and 1940s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1993-07-20 |title=Obituary: Roger Woddis |url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/obituary-roger-woddis-1486206.html |access-date=2025-12-24 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

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 from 1970 until months before his death, following in the footsteps of 'Macflecknoe'; 'Sagittarius' (Olga Katzin); and Reginald Reynolds; and succeeded by Bill Greenwell.

He wrote a mildly humorous column in the Radio Times called "Woddis On".

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", 1967) which is generally considered the most literate episode of the series:{{citation needed|date=March 2012}} several pieces of classical music figure are used in the plot, where one character quotes Goethe in the original German, and another character quotes from ''Don Quixote'' in the original Spanish. He also wrote episodes for the Armchair Theatre and Churchill's People.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0996050/ |title= Roger Woddis (1917-1993) |author= |date= |website= IMDB |publisher= |access-date= 27 May 2025 |quote=}}</ref>

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 the Communist Party of Great Britain.

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).<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/1621089.Roger_Woddis |title= Roger Woddis |author= |date= |website= Goodreads |publisher= |access-date= 27 May 2025 |quote=}}</ref>

He also recorded The Elephant Song in 1975.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.discogs.com/artist/1172906-Rogis-Woddis?srsltid=AfmBOoo1Xxse1Urbufmonq3VJyENsdl4B8XvB0f8R2I8-AB-MLZX55D7 |title= Roger Woddis |author= |date= |website= Discogs |publisher= |access-date= 27 May 2025 |quote=}}</ref>

== Personal life == Woddis was married to Joan Hobson and they had two children; they later divorced.<ref name="IO" />

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-roger-woddis-1486206.html Obituary] in ''The Independent'' *[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0996050/ IMDb entry]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woddis, Roger}} Category:1917 births Category:1993 deaths Category:British poets Category:British television writers Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members Category:20th-century British screenwriters