David Gascoyne

"David Gascoyne is a Surrealist poet, he belongs to the Paris School of Surrealism of Breton, Eluard and Ernst whom he translated when he lived there before the war." - Allen Ginsberg.

"I met Roland Penrose through Paul Eluard, his long time friend. Roland had a house in Hampstead and a committee of Surrealists met there to plan the International Surrealist Exhibition that was held at the New Burlington Gallery in London. This was in 1936. I remember Dali gave a lecture in a diving suit, a proper diving suit complete with a metal helmet. He had one of those lantern shows that didn't work very well and it got very hot inside the suit and I remember having to go out and try to find a spanner to get him out of the suit." - David Gascoyne

David Gascoyne's persistent use of amphetamenes had resulted in a severe stomach ulcer, three nervous breakdowns and several imposed stays in mental institutions over three decades. He came to live on the Isle of Wight during the early 1960s to be with his parents.

The noted Surrealist poet and author of A Short Study of Surrealism (1935) was a patient of Whitecroft Hospital on the Isle of Wight when Judy Lewis read one of his poems to the patients.

"One of my favourite poems was called September Sun. I read it one afternoon and one of the patients came up to me afterwards and said 'I wrote that', I put my hand on his shoulder and said 'Of course you did, dear'. Then of course when I got to know him I realised he had." - Judy Gascoyne

Marriage to Judy Lewis revitalised his spirit and he undertook readings in Paris, Belgium, Italy, Amsterdam, Iceland, Corfu and San Francisco.

David Gascoyne has since been honoured by the French Government and made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Judy Gascoyne was housekeeper for Bob Dylan at Forelands Farm in August 1969.