Coward, Sir Noel Peirce

(1899-1973)

   Born at Teddington, Middlesex, the son of Arthur Sabin Coward, a clerk. Both father and mother were musical and keen theatre-goers. At an early age he could play accurately by ear numbers from the show he had seen that day. When he was twelve, he played Prince Mussel in The Goldfish as one of a "Star Cast of Wonder Children." He sold his first song at the age of sixteen; his first West End play, I'll Leave It to You, was performed in 1917. He became a rich celebrity, beloved both at home and in the United States. He was knighted in 1970 and received a special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in that same year. He died of a heart attack on his estate in Jamaica and is commemorated by a floor stone in the nave of Westminster Abbey. Some of his publications: Bitter Sweet, 1929. Blithe Spirit, a play, 1941. In Which We Serve, 1942. The Happy Breed, 1943. Brief Encounter, 1945. Some of his poems: "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans," "London Pride," "Mad Dogs and Englishmen," "Mrs. Worthington."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition, 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Reading Lyrics. Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball, ed. Pantheon Books, 2000. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). Biography of Noel Coward. The Knitting Circle: Theatre (http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/Coward, Sir Noel Peircestafflag/noelcoward.html). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).