Noel Coward and Ian Fleming

Many famous authors have passed through Dover, many inevitably were waiting for a ferry, like Byron who spent 2 or 3 days here in the Ship Hotel. Others life George Eliot spent a few weeks in the town. Matthew Arnold honeymooned at the Lord Warden Hotel and wrote his famous poem 'Dover Beach' here.

In modern times, however, two of the country's best known authors associated with the stage, internationally famous films and entertainment did a little more than pass through on a ferry trip and spent considerable time over several years living locally in the village of St. Margaret's. The two are Noel Coward and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming.

 

It's over forty years since Fleming and Coward lived here, but the importance of their work and the interest in them prompted Dover Museum to stage an exhibition on their local associations.

Introduction

Noel Pierce Coward was born on December 16th 1899 to a piano salesman and a very ambitious mother. He had a brother Eric, who throughout his life was totally overshadowed by Noel, and who died in his twenties. Mrs Coward, hardly a modest soul, was later to describe herself as ' the mother of a genius' . He first appeared on the stage at the age of four, and had his first professional engagement at the age of ten when he appeared in a musical play for children called ' The Goldfish' . He was not a particularly well-liked child. Some of the members of the cast remembered him later as ' a boy with elfin ears and a foul temper' .

 

By contrast, Ian Lancaster Fleming was born in 1908 to a wealthy family of Scottish descent. He was a large, naughty child, but excelled at games, and was Victor Ludorum or Champion of the Games at Eton for two years in succession (1925 & 1926).   His family were in banking and his father had been killed in the First World War when Ian was only nine.

 

Unlike Coward, Fleming was overshadowed for much of his life by his brother Peter. Few have heard of Peter Fleming these days but in the 1930s he was a very famous traveller and writer. Ian was outstanding at games at Eton but Peter was outstanding in every other way, and with only a year's difference between them, comparisons to Ian's detriment were inevitable. His response on the whole was to stop competing and to rebel.  Ian's mother Evelyn Fleming was a notable character in her own right, a talented violinist she was painted on at least three occasions by Augustus John.

 

These then were their backgrounds - one wealthy, and one not, with very different starts in life. In their twenties and thirties they also veered along sharply different paths.

 

Coward's career took off in the mid-1920s when his play 'The Vortex' scandalised the country. Dealing with topics of drug taking and adultery it proved a sensational and successful play, the first of many successes.  In later life Coward wrote :  ' I was photographed and interviewed and photographed again. In the street, at my piano .... And on one occasion sitting up in bed looking like a heavily doped Chinese illusionist.'

 

He became the idol of the young, ' one of the creators of the 1920s' . In the 1930s came more hits ' Private Lives' , ' Bitter Sweet' , and ' Cavalcade' . His famous partnership with Gertrude Lawrence became well established publicly, although they had just met when she was 15. Again, by contrast, Fleming rather drifted in his twenties. leaving Eton early he entered Sandhurst as an Officer Cadet in 1926. Full of expectation and good intentions Fleming did not unfortunately respond well to the discipline of army training. He had been awarded a prize in cadetship, coming sixth in the country in the Sandhurst entrance examination, but he hardly survived the first year. Caught climbing into Sandhurst the evening after a trip to London he was confined to the barracks for six months. This was the final of many straws. Fleming left. After more schooling in an English run school in Germany, he tried and failed to gain a place in the Civil Service. Finally in 1933 he obtained a job through a friend of his mother's with the news agency Reuters, despite his total lack of journalistic experience. He took to the life well but the financial rewards were not great and he left in the same year to become a stockbroker, a position he kept until the war. One friend described him as ' the world's oldest stockbroker' . The old boy network and his family's reputation in banking saved him but money-making bored him.

 

It is at this time in the 1930s that Fleming starts a relationship with a local golf club that was to last for the rest of his life. ' Even in those days Fleming's favourite weekend was to stay at the Guildford Hotel in Sandwich Bay and play over the course of Royal St. George's' .

 

The war years again saw a great difference between the two men.

 

Coward was a great patriot and was desperate to do something, anything to help the war effort. But try as he might no-one would take him seriously and offer him a real job. Eventually he was to put his efforts to their best use doing what he did best, writing morale-boosting plays such as 'This Happy Breed', and writing the most marvellously successful film 'In Which We Serve' in 1941. This film, which he co-directed with David Lean, was one of the best of the war, and a strange connection here (like the later 'Brief Encounter') starred Celia Johnson, otherwise known as Mrs Peter Fleming, Ian Fleming's sister-in-law. Throughout the war Coward toured the troops in Australia in 1940, and in 1943-3 Gibraltar, North Africa, Malta, Egypt and South Africa.

 

For his part Ian Fleming also finally found a role that suited him, as personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence. He was personally chosen from about 130 possibles by Admiral Godfrey and appointed a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, rising later to the rank of Commander. It was in this post that his flair and imagination were put to their best use. He co-ordinated propaganda and devised elaborate undercover sabotage operations few of which were adopted, but which were to appear later in other forms in the James Bond novels. He was sent abroad on special duties to Tangier and America. Towards the end of the war on one of several practice exercises he was involved with, he captured the entire official German Naval archives.

 

In 1944 as part of routine liaison with the United States he made his first visit to Jamaica. This was a momentous visit. It started a love for the island that was not only to mean ultimately the  forging of his friendship with Coward but also the beginning of James Bond. And now at least in 1945 we see the start of the Cowards and Fleming love affair with another part of the world. This part.

 

Coward was the first to live in St. Margaret's, although as we have seen, Fleming was already a frequent visitor to Sandwich. Coward owned a beautiful house at Aldington on Romney Marsh.

Noel Coward Moves In

Noel Coward bought the house White Cliffs at St. Margaret's Bay from his friend the Hon. Kay Norton in 1945. His previous house Goldenhurst, in Kent, had been requisitioned by the army during the war, and until he could acquire the necessary money and permits to refit it, Coward spent his time at White Cliffs, and derived great pleasure from its location. It was built so close to the sea that the waves lapped the walls of his bedroom, and the cliffs rose steeply behind the house. ' I don't think I can fail to be happy here' he said, and was so taken with the place that he decided to move in straight away.

 

White Cliffs had been torn apart by British and Canadian troops training for D-Day. There was no heating or lighting, and the wind whipped through the broken windows. With the help of Gladys Calthrop, who lived on the cliff in 'The Moorings', and the comfort of delicious lunch boxes from Madame Floris, a London confectioner, Coward set about installing electricity and plumbing, and painted the house from top to bottom. By early December the smelly paraffin heaters, candles and thick sweaters were done away with and Coward could assume his famous silk dressing gowns once more!

 

On the long beach of St. Margaret's Bay were only 4 houses of which 'White Cliffs' was the closest to the sea. In the post-war days of 1945 when there was a housing shortage in South East England, Coward was forbidden to purchase more than his one house. To ensure Coward's privacy, two of the other houses were bought by Coward's friends, novelist Eric Ambler and Cole Lesley, and the third by Coward's mother and Auntie Vida. Despite investigation by Fleet Street and a suspicious Ministry of Works, no breach of the law was discovered.

 

The location of 'White Cliffs' on the beach afforded wonderful views of the Channel and Coward was delighted by the nearness of the water on one side and the sheer cliffs on the other. After the exceptionally cold winter on 1947 Coward spent £2000 pinning back the chalk cliffs behind his house. This safeguarded both himself and his 10 chickens, whose feathers had fallen out due to too much chalk in their diet. The brood was the cause of much laughter at St. Margaret's, but was indispensable to Coward who required fresh eggs for breakfast each morning.

 

Life at White Cliffs

After the house was completed late in 1945, Noel Coward longed to show it off to his friends. Gladys Calthrop was a regular visitor from 'The Moorings', and actors Graham Payn and Joseph Cotten drove down for weekend breaks from London bringing such guests as Gertrude Lawrence, Daphne du Maurier, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Throughout her stay and despite the freezing weather, Hepburn took regular swims in the sea outside the house.

 

Weekends were spent playing canasta or scrabble, listening to classical music, and doing the Times crossword which Coward considered ' very good exercise for the brain' . Coward's new songs or snatches of his latest play would be performed aloud to assess the reaction of his guests. Ian Fleming and Ann Rothermere, who were later to buy 'White Cliffs' from Coward, were considered the best audience, and often dropped in from their house 'Summers Lease' which was situated nearby.

 

Movie-going in Deal, Dover and Folkestone provided favourite diversions and Coward attended the performances of the amateur dramatic society in Deal at weekends. He read a great deal, especially E. Nesbitt, the creator of the Railway Children, and spent long hours in bed because he said the sound of the sea close to his house lulled his senses. From his bedroom window he could watch the ever-changing channel traffic - and seagulls frequently flew into the room, unable to find their way out again.

 

Noel Coward had envisaged his life at White Cliffs being tranquil and restive, but in reality they were highly active and productive years. He travelled to London twice weekly to discuss his work and visit the theatre, and often caught The Golden Arrow ferry and train service to Paris to spend a few days in his apartment in the Place Vendome for what he called a 'changement de decor'. When food was still rationed in Britain, a quick trip to Calais or Paris obtained the French cheeses and other delectables which he took delight in, and when in Paris for pleasure or for gala performances he drank cocktails at the Cafe de Paris or Schiaperelli's, socialising with Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and Maurice Chevalier.

 

As Coward embarked on each new theatrical project, a new stream of famous guests would arrive at 'White Cliffs' to discuss their work and to spend a white in the peaceful surroundings. Mary Martin travelled down with her husband Richard Halliday and young daughter Heller to discuss her part in 'Pacific 1860' for which Coward was writing both words and music. The winter run of 'Pacific 1860' was a disappointment for Coward . It was poorly attended by the public because the vast Drury Lane theatre was without heating after war damage and the script was slammed by the critics. Saddened but unperturbed, Coward bounced back by playing the lead in a revival of 'Pleasant Laughter' at the Haymarket, which played to a capacity audience throughout its three month season.

 

In the late 1940s, Noel Coward was at the height of his writing and performing talent and in the 6 years he was at 'White Cliffs' he worked on numerous outstanding plays, songs and short stories, including 'Ace of Clubs', 'Blithe Spirit', and the review 'Tonight at 8.30' from which he later drew sketches and developed them into plays. He also rewrote the plays 'This Happy Breed', 'Brief Encounter' and 'The Astonished Heart' into films, and although the last of these was far from being a success at the time, it is - together with the other films - now considered a screen classic.

St. Margaret's as a Resort

While Noel Coward was away on his long trips in London, the Continent or Jamaica, 'White Cliffs' was loaned to the Duke of Kent and Princess Marina, and their children Edward and Alexandra. They would stay in St. Margaret's Bay in the morning and usually go in the afternoon to Sandwich Bay, returning punctually at 6pm, much to the delight of the locals and visitors.

 

Because= of its attractive and secluded location yet its proximity to London and the Continent, St. Margaret's became popular with well-known or wealthy people who made their homes here or bought summer lodges. Henry Royce, of engine fame, lived from 1914 in the house 'Seaton' high on the cliff with a balcony commanding views across the channel, and Peter Ustinov spent the 1930s living in the old coastguard lookout near the cliff edge. Apart from Noel Coward and his theatrical and novelist friends, George Arliss, Ursular Bloom and Peter Cushing among many, lived here or visited, availing themselves of the luxuries of the Granville Hotel, the fine views across the channel, and the quiet and private beaches.

 

In World War II the area was used from training the RNVR and the Commandos, and many buildings, including Noel Cowards beach home, were commandeered and all but wrecked by practice fire. During the war, people who had used St. Margaret's as a retreat moved to be safer inland, and failed to return in great numbers after 1945.

 

The increasing number of motor cars after the war brought day trippers and tourists to the area and St. Margaret's became a popular place for celebrity spotting! By 1951 Noel Coward complained that the Bay had become ' a beach crowded with noisy hoi polloi' , and decided to return to the peace and quiet of Goldenhurst, his previous home in inland Kent. He left on 16 December 1951, having sold 'White Cliffs' to Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.

Noel Coward and the Canvas

Noel Coward had painted in watercolours since the early 1930s but after moving to St. Margaret's, and with Winston Churchill's influence, he took as interest in oils. He purchased colossal amounts of paint and canvas, and began to spend every afternoon in the company of friends Cole Lesley and Graham Payn, painting seascapes and landscapes, reluctantly breaking for dinner each evening. At first Coward used oils in exactly the same way as he had used watercolours, and produced paintings in pretty pastel colours. With the advice of the artist Derek Hill, Coward learnt the use of priming to cover the stark whiteness of the canvas. Artist Clemence Dane recommended that he adopt a style with ' courage and attack' , after which the three friends fearlessly experimented with different effects on canvas. They used Cole Lesley's house as  a studio because of its large windows overlooking the sea.

 

For one short spell they attempted to emulate the Impressionists by painting out of doors and capturing light on the canvas. Not only did the unpredictable English weather make this short lived, but Coward's black poodle Joe would trample the masterpieces with joy at the return of his master at the end of the day. Coward made trips to his local junk shops to buy old paintings in ornate frames, ten or twenty at t time, and by working over the old paintings had instant frames in which to display his own.

 

Noel Coward was greatly inspir4ed by Jamaica where he had lived for a while in the late 1940s, and where he died in 1973. Many of his paintings capture the bright, bold colours of this tropical island, and depict everyday lives of the people there. However, on returning to St. Margaret's for the summer he remarked ' I really think I love White Cliffs more than anywhere else in the world!' .

 

 

Thirty of Noel Coward's oil paintings hitherto kept at this house in Les Avants, Switzerland, were sold at Christie's auction on 18 February 1988, with the proceeds going to various theatrical charities. Many were scenes of his homes at Blue Harbour and Firefly Hill in Jamaica, but two views of ' the greyish cliffs of Dover' as Coward called them, were included in the sale. One entitled ' The Cliffs above St. Margaret's Bay' was purchased by Dover District Council and exudes the atmosphere of this cliff which Coward could see from his house on the beach.