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A Smile for the Past

Typescripts, 1956-1957, of radio scripts by Berta Ruck, which formed the basis of her autobiographical volume, A Smile for the Past (London, 1959).
They comprise scripts, some incomplete, for a series of six talks, also called 'A Smile for the Past', recorded 2-3 April 1957 for transmission in June and July on the Home Service (ff. 5-16 [Talk 1], ff. 17-23, 27-40 [2], ff. 24-26, 116 [3], ff. 69-81 [4], ff. 83-95 [5], ff. 82, 96-115, 117-118 [6]) and the script of a talk recorded on 22 May 1956 and transmitted on 24 June (ff. 41-68, two copies). Also included is an incomplete draft, [?1957], of a letter from Ruck to Aled Vaughan at the BBC, discussing the series (ff. 1-4, first page lacking); typescript drafts, [1957x1959], of Chapter 8 of the book A Smile for the Past (ff. 119-128); and a cutting of an article by Ruck, 'I enjoyed my boarding schooldays', Western Mail, 9 April 1955, containing material found in Chapter 8 (f. 129).

Light verse and prose

Autograph and typescript drafts, [c. 1944]-1967, of light verse, acrostics and poems for children by Vernon Watkins, composed 1925-1967 (ff. 1-85), together with drafts for published articles, lectures and radio talks, 1948-[1964] (f. 86-138).
Most of the verse (ff. 1, 3-28, 35-56, 58-68, 71-82) was published in Vernon Watkins, LMNTRE Poems (Swansea, 1999). The prose includes drafts of an article and radio script variously called 'The Place and the Poem', [?1949] (ff. 86-99), 'The Place and the Poem. Swansea' (ff. 100-101) and 'Swansea Poems', 1948 (ff. 102-107), a version of which was published as 'Swansea', Texas Quarterly, 4.4 (Winter 1961), 59-64; 'Poetry of the Second Phase', 1962 (ff. 111-114), partly published as 'The Second Phase in Poetry', Unicorn, 10 (Spring 1963), 9-10; and radio scripts, 'The Need of the Artist', 1962 (ff. 108-110), published in The Listener, 8 November 1962, pp. 756-757, and 'Problems of Communication', 1963 (ff. 115-122), published as 'The Joy of Creation', Listener, 30 April 1964, pp. 720-721.

On Dylan Thomas

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1948-1967, of published poetry and published and unpublished prose by Vernon Watkins, mostly composed following the death of Dylan Thomas in 1953, including drafts of Vernon Watkins's poem 'Elegy for the Latest Dead', 1954, and two unfinished poems by Dylan Thomas, 'Elegy' and 'In Country Heaven', completed by Vernon Watkins; and radio scripts, lecture notes, draft reviews and articles by him relating to Dylan Thomas and his work.

Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953

Poetry, prose and correspondence

Typescript draft, [1940s], of Vernon Watkins's poem 'Yeats in Dublin' (ff. 1-7; see also NLW MS 21263E, ff. 46-58); a radio script, 1958, of Watkins's 'The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd', produced by Douglas Cleverdon and annotated by him (ff. 8-30); and personal and family correspondence, [c. 1946]-1988 (ff. 31-70).

Radio scripts

Cyclostyled radio scripts, including poetry readings, and talks, 1949-1967, by Vernon Watkins or relating to him and his work.