Dylan Thomas’s death – the myth and the truth - Telegraph Visit Wales: Dylan Thomas centenary Dylan Thomas’s death – the myth and the truth The commonly held view that Dylan Thomas drank himself to death has increasingly been questioned over the last few years Resting place: Dylan Thomas's grave at St Martin's Church, Laugharne Photo: Visit Wales By Nick Harding Check out the Dylan Thomas centenary Telegraph homepage According to the commonly held view, Dylan Thomas drank himself to death in New York in 1953 after a binge-drinking session worthy of his status as tortured poet. He was reported to have died of alcoholic brain poisoning and legend has it that his last words were: “I’ve had 18 straight whiskies; I think that’s the record.” Dylan's legacy as a doomed poet was further cemented two years later when John Brinnin, his US agent, published the biography Dylan Thomas in America, which reinforced the myth of Dylan as a drunk and a philanderer. This version of events however, has increasingly been questioned. Writer David Thomas investigated the events around the poet’s death and his 2008 book Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas drew on official documents to uncover the truth.

Thomas claims that Dylan died surrounded by neglect – from medics who misdiagnosed him and from Brinnin, who engineered the hopeless-drunk narrative to protect his own reputation. Thomas explains: “The post-mortem report is critical. The most eminent pathologist in the US at the time found that Dylan’s brain had in no way been damaged or poisoned by alcohol. He issued a Notice of Death in which he said he could not confirm any diagnosis of alcoholic brain damage. They did not find any cirrhosis of the liver either. The main cause of death was given as swelling of the brain caused by pneumonia.” Indeed Dylan suffered problems with his lungs for most of life. When he went to New York to perform Under Milk Wood in November 1953 the city smog was particularly bad and claimed 200 lives that month. At the time Dylan was using an inhaler. A friend commented that his lungs were so poor he sounded like Louis Armstrong. Dylan collapsed during rehearsals. On the night he died he had been drinking – but several sources claim he had nowhere near the 18 whiskies he is purported to have downed.

Instead of being given antibiotics he was injected with 30mg of morphine, three times more than the recommended dose, and went into a coma at midnight according to his mistress, Liz Reitell. Thomas continues: “Brinnin had a lot to lose if there was any suspicion that Dylan died of negligence on his watch. Even before the post mortem Brinnin was writing to people in the UK to say Dylan had died of alcoholic brain damage. A cover up was put in place.” DylanThomas.com - The poet and author Dylan Thomas is Swansea's most famous son Dylan Thomas Swansea The 'Love the Words' exhibition tells the story of Dylan 's life, work and legacy, from his birth on 27 October 1914 in Swansea to his death on 9 November 1953 in New York. The Dylan Thomas Centre also hosts a range of events throughout the year. Swansea Young Writers Squad A Child’s Christmas in Wales Set in a Swansea Dylan Thomas knew and loved, ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ is a romanticised anecdotal retelling of a Christmas past, told through the lens of a young child.

Events Exhibitions, talks, readings, plays, children’s workshops, or guided tours; there’s plenty on offer at the Dylan Thomas Centre and other venues throughout Swansea. Lunch at Mussolini’s – Ethel Ross and Dylan Thomas Exhibition showcasing a series of photographs Ethel Ross took of Swansea following Dylan Thomas’ death in 1953, captioned with appropriate quotes from his work. Blog BBC Arts & Culture - Did hard-living or medical neglect kill Dylan Thomas? Print Did hard-living or medical neglect kill Dylan Thomas? Dylan Thomas at the Gotham Book Shop, New York in 1952, the year before his death in the city Prince Charles reads favourite poem Listen Dylan Thomas's death in New York 60 years ago, and the mysterious circumstances that still surround it, has proved to be as fascinating a subject as his life and works. Speculation still remains around the circumstances of his death, at the age of 39, on 9 November 1953. Did his hard drinking, fast-living ways inevitably catch up with him, or were individuals near Thomas during his final days - including friends and healthcare professionals - partly to blame for his early demise?

Jeff Towns is one of the world's leading Dylan Thomas experts. He says: "Sixty years do not diminish the tragedy of November 9th 1953. It was such a sad and premature death for a poet and writer who still had so much to offer - indeed he was about to begin work in a new field - as a librettist for an opera with Stravinsky." Following his death, Igor Stravinsky composed a work in Thomas' memory, In Memoriam Dylan Thomas (1954). Dylan Thomas had arrived in New York in October 1953 for what would be his last tour. During his visit he was to take part in rehearsals and performances of Under Milk Wood at the Poetry Centre in Manhattan. On his arrival he was met by Elizabeth Reitell and checked in to the Chelsea Hotel. Reitell was an assistant of his American tour agent John Brinnin, and was to oversee the production of Under Milk Wood. She was also Thomas's lover. Thomas's health was already in a poor condition when he arrived in America. He had a history of chest problems, needed an inhaler to aid his breathing and suffered from gastritis.

The days following his arrival in New York included a tiring four rehearsals and two performances of the play in the space of five days. David N Thomas, the author of Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas? (2008), infers in his book that Thomas struggled through the schedule, and that the ambitious Reitell "worked him to death". "Dangerously debilitated" Death and loss are often recurrent themes in Dylan Thomas' writing. A few key examples are: Do not go gentle into that good night And death shall have no dominion A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London After the funeral Under Milk Wood Feltenstein again left the hotel, but soon afterwards Thomas fell unconscious. An ambulance arrived and took him to St Vincent's Hospital. The medical notes state he arrived in a coma at 1.58am. Thomas never regained consciousness. He died on Monday 9 November 1953 at the hospital. Shortly after his death rumours of the possible cause started to fly, with many incorrectly assuming it was largely alcohol related.

At the time of his admission to the hospital, Thomas's medical notes stated that there was an impression of 'alcoholic encephalopathy', or damage to the brain by alcohol. News of this was released at the time, and no doubt helped to embed the myth that the poet ultimately died because of his drinking. However, the post mortem tells a different story. The primary cause of Thomas's death was pneumonia, with pressure on the brain and a fatty liver given as contributing factors. Self-neglect It is impossible to deny that Thomas liked a drink; whether or not he was an alcoholic is debatable. It is also probable that his smoking, drinking, general unhealthy lifestyle and his own self-neglect added to his ill health and arguably, his early demise. Jeff Towns says: "I believe that these myths are now almost impossible to debunk, but most of his biographers and many of his friends testify that he was neither the womaniser nor alcoholic imbiber that the legends would have us believe. "I do not want to sanitise nor bowdlerise his life but it is time that we get these traits into a new and more accurate perspective." Duty of care Dr Feltenstein can be considered neglectful in the care of his patient.

His failure to diagnose any sort of chest infection or to recognise the severity of Thomas's breathing difficulties make the injections of morphine - which only served to depress the poet's breathing further - seem all the crueller. Paul Ferris is the author of Dylan Thomas: The Biography. In it he suggests that the true cause of death "was almost certainly the half-grain of morphine, which caused the breathing difficulties, deprived the brain of oxygen and set in train the fatal process. This was Feltenstein's fault, and he and the hospital kept quiet about it." David N Thomas also criticises the actions of both Reitell and Thomas's tour manager Brinnin, and their failure in their duty of care to their client. DYLAN THOMAS BIOGRAPHY! DYLAN THOMAS, Famous Welsh Poet, known as the "DOOMED POET", who wrote about his dying father in the famous "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and died drunk and poor in New York City at the age of 39.

1914-1953 DYLAN THOMAS, Famous Welsh Poet, known as the "DOOMED POET", who wrote about his dying father in the famous "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and died drunk and poor in New York City at the age of 39. Listen to Dylan Thomas, Welsh Poet, reading his own genius "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" at . DYLAN THOMAS was born on Oct. 27, 1914 in Swansea, Wales. His father was an English teacher. Dylan was severely asthmatic as a child, which lasted throughout his life. After graduating from school, Dylan Thomas became an actor, journalist, scriptwriter, reporter and took other various jobs. In 1933, Thomas' "And death shall have no dominion" was published in the New English Weekly. In 1934, he published his first set of poems "Eighteen Poems". Thomas' works speak about death, fantasy with autobiographical content and were influenced by many geniuses, including Sigmund Freud .

Thomas married in 1937, had children and served as an antiaircraft gunner in World War II. After the war, Thomas became a commentator on BBC speaking about poetry. In 1950, Dylan Thomas began doing lectures throughout the U.S. reading poetry to bring in income. He became famous for his flamboyant readings, speaking and half-singing his poems in his Welsh singing voice. Thomas did not write a huge volume of work, instead lecturing to bring the works to people. In 1952, Thomas wrote his most famous poem "In Country Sleep", which contained "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", which was written about his dying father. It is powerful and famous for the refrain "Rage, rage against the dying of the light." Thomas was a heavy drinker and during his tours in the U.S., his alcohol problem worsen. His reputation as the drunken, "doomed poet" is allegedly something that Thomas encouraged. One of Dylan Thomas' last and one of his most famous works, "Under Milk Wood" (published in 1954) was about a town of eccentric Welsh villagers in the fictitious town of Llareggub.

The composer, Igor Stravinsky invited Dylan Thomas to write a libretto for one of Stravinsky's operas. In 1953, Dylan Thomas was in New York City for a poetry tour. After a drinking binge at the White Horse Tavern in NY City, Thomas became ill and fell into a coma. At the age of 39, Dylan Thomas died on Nov. 9, 1953 at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City, allegedly from pneumonia, swelling of the brain and a fatty liver. Listen to the powerful recording of Dylan Thomas, himself, reading his genius "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" at . BBC - Primary History - Famous People - Dylan Thomas Why is Dylan Thomas famous? What he did Dylan Thomas was a poet. In his poems, he used words in fresh and exciting ways. He loved the sounds of words, so his poems are great for reading aloud. He wrote about his life, his friends, and about Wales. Some poems are serious, some are funny. When did he live? Dylan Thomas was born in 1914 at the start of World War I . His first home was in Swansea, in South Wales.

Later he lived in England, and visited America, but Wales was his real home. He died in 1953. Under Milk Wood Dylan Thomas is the most famous Welsh poet, and his most famous work is Under Milk Wood. It was first broadcast on radio by the BBC in 1954. It is about the people of a small town in Wales. Boyhood in Wales Dylan's parents Dylan Marlais Thomas was born in Wales on 27 October 1914. His father David John ('DJ') Thomas was an English teacher at Swansea Grammar School. His mother, Florence Williams, was a seamstress , but gave up work to look after her children. The Thomas family had a maid to help with housework. The Thomas family Dylan's sister, Nancy, was 8 when Dylan was born. The family lived at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Swansea. Dylan had several aunts and uncles in the town. Florence spoiled her curly-headed son. If he said he felt ill, she let him off school. Childhood memories 'DJ' and Florence spoke Welsh, but Dylan spoke only English. The first poems he remembered were nursery rhymes. He loved the sounds of words.

He enjoyed holidays on his Aunt Ann's farm in Carmarthenshire. Dylan's mother helped him read, and gave him comics. His father read Shakespeare to him. First poems and school Dylan started writing poems when he was 8. In 1925 he went to Swansea Grammar School. His first poem soon appeared in the school magazine. His father was in charge of the magazine! The young yoet Selling his first poem At school, Dylan was good at English, but sometimes badly behaved. Most of all, he loved writing poetry. In 1927, he got paid for a poem by the Western Mail newspaper. Praise from a famous poet In 1930 Dylan sent some poems to Robert Graves, a famous poet. Graves liked them. Dylan was encouraged, and wrote many poems while still a teenager. Getting a job In 1931 Dylan left school. He got a job as a reporter on the South Wales Evening Post newspaper. He left next year but went on writing reviews of plays and concerts. Dylan enjoyed acting, though other actors were upset if he wrote rude things about them! Meeting friends Dylan met his friends in a Swansea café, or in a pub.

He loved to talk, tell stories, and read his poems aloud. He said poems should be read 'by the ears' and not just 'by the eyes'. First trip to London In 1933 he visited London for the first time. First he stayed with his sister and her husband. Then he shared rooms with friends. London was much bigger than Swansea. It was exciting to be in a city with so many writers and artists. Life as a poet First book of poems In 1934 Dylan Thomas published his first book of poems, called 18 Poems. He was becoming known as a young poet. More people read his poems, liking how he used words, and how he wrote about Wales. Dylan gets married In 1936, Dylan met Caitlin Macnamara, a dancer. She knew lots of writers and artists. Dylan and Caitlin were married in July 1937. In 1937 Dylan Thomas made his first radio broadcast, for BBC Wales. He talked about poetry. Family life in Wales In 1938 Dylan and Caitlin moved to the small town of Laugharne, in South Wales. Their house was called 'Sea View'.

In 1939, their son Llewelyn was born. Some of Dylan's poems were published in America. He wrote about growing up in stories called Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. War and hard times In September 1939 World War II began. Dylan was not well enough to be a soldier. When called for army interview, he went into the room looking so ill he was excused. With paper rationed , many publishing firms closed. It was hard to make money from writing. In 1943 Dylan and Caitlin had a daughter, Aeronwy. Times were hard. Last years Wartime writing During World War II , Dylan wrote scripts for films and for the BBC. The war ended in 1945. Dylan broadcast on BBC Children's Hour about 'Memories of Christmas'. He was writing some of his best poems too. The Boat House In 1949 Dylan and Caitlin moved back to Laugharne. Their son Colm was born, but Dylan and Caitlin had many quarrels. Their home, The Boat House, is now a Dylan Thomas museum. Dylan wrote in an old shed.

He spent most evenings in the town's hotel, with his friends. Visiting America In 1950, Dylan went to America to read his poems and talk to students. He did not like America much. When he met film star Charlie Chaplin, he drove a car across the tennis court! A poem for a death In 1952 his Collected Poems were published. Dylan's parents also lived in Laugharne. When Dylan's father became ill Dylan wrote a poem to encourage him to get better, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. It is one of Dylan's most famous poems, it was also one of his last. Final days In 1953 Dylan went to America for the third time. He arrived just before his 39th birthday. He became very ill. Dylan Thomas died in a New York hospital on 9 November 1953. Under Milk Wood A play for radio Dylan Thomas finished Under Milk Wood just before his last trip to America. The BBC broadcast it in 1954. It is a play-poem, spoken by actors. A dream-village Under Milk Wood takes us to a Welsh town called Llareggub.

The narrator tells about the townspeople's dreams. Captain Cat dreams about lost shipmates. Mog Edwards dreams about his girlfriend Myfanwy Price. A cast of characters As the town wakes up, we meet more characters: Jack Black the cobbler , Mr Waldo the barber and rabbit catcher, Willy Nilly the postman, shopkeeper Mrs Organ Morgan, Dai Bread the baker, the school teacher Gossamer Beynon and others. One is Evans the Death (what could his job be?). Back to dreams The story ends at night, as everyone returns to their dreams. In 1972, Under Milk Wood was made into a film. People all over the world still enjoy its magic. Neurotic Poets - Dylan Thomas Neurotic Poets Dylan Marlais Thomas (1914 - 1953) While Dylan Thomas possessed immense gifts and talent which made him a professional success as a writer, he was often a disappointment on a personal level. Much of this personal failure could have stemmed from an inability to deal with the extreme demands that came with sudden fame.

Some explanation must also lie in the various ways his personality have been described: alternately as humble, shy, confused and insecure on the inside, but outwardly neglectful, selfish, and egotistical -- yet always, and extremely, charming. His older sister Nancy was eight years old when Dylan was born on the 27th of October, 1914 in Swansea in southern Wales. His mother, Florence Williams, was a housewife and his father, David John Thomas (also known as "D.J." or "Jack"), was an English Literature teacher at Swansea Grammar School. Both were from Welsh backgrounds, surrounded by dozens of relatives in nearby towns and heavily influenced by religion and tradition. D.J. was known as a strict school teacher but was supposedly unsatisfied in this position since he believed his education and background warranted a higher place in the academic world. With his pretty blond curls and precocious manner, Dylan found he could get away with many things, and so he took advantage of this. Because his mother thought of him as a sickly child, he was soon conditioned to plead illness as a way of both garnering attention and getting himself out of anything he considered unpleasant, such as school.

His father exposed him to poetry as early as the age of two, and by four Dylan was reciting verses from Shakespeare. He was always fascinated by words, as he wrote many years later to an American admirer: The first poems I knew were nursery rhymes, and before I could read them for myself I had come to love just the words of them, the words alone. What the words stood for, symbolised, or meant was of very secondary importance -- what mattered was the very sound of them as I heard them for the first time on the lips of the remote and quite incomprehensible grown-ups who seemed, for some reason, to be living in my world. And those words were, to me, as the notes of bells, the sounds of musical instruments, the noises of wind, sea, and rain, the rattle of milkcarts, the clapping of hooves on cobbles, the fingering of branches on a window pane, might be to someone deaf from birth, who has miraculously found his hearing. By the age of eight or nine he was writing his own poetry , even before he entered the Grammar School in 1925.

A quiet and introspective student, he was a frequent contributor to the school's magazine. He left school at sixteen and worked on the staff of the South Wales Daily Post (later the South Wales Evening Post), sometimes writing scathing reviews and critiques of local plays, concerts and writers which needed be edited to keep from offending the subjects under scrutiny. During this very productive writing period of Dylan's life, he also became known locally for the offbeat jokes, stories and obscene limericks he told in the pubs at night. He would read poems he was working on aloud to friends and relatives, not wanting them to read the work he'd done, but instead to hear it. Along with writing, Thomas was also involved with local theater, both writing and acting.

In a January 1933 essay in the South Wales Evening Post entitled "Genius and Madness Akin in the World of Art" Thomas discussed the idea that one gifted with genius often walked a line where it was "difficult to differentiate, with any sureness, between insanity and eccentricity." He asserted that "the borderline of insanity is more difficult to trace than the majority of people, comparatively safe within the barriers of their own common-sensibility, can realise." Dylan's first national publication was in a small literary review in the spring of 1933. Later that year his poems were published in the more prestigious Adelphi and the London newspaper The Sunday Referee. Around this time he started corresponding with a young woman named Pamela Hansford Johnson, who contacted him after reading some of his work. Their letters back and forth made them feel quite close to each other before they even met. When they finally did meet in London they spent a pleasant night together drinking, listening to records and talking late into the night. Although he later spent six weeks staying with her and her family in London, and there was talk of marriage, the relationship eventually ended after two years when Johnson became fed up with the thoughtless and unreliable side of Dylan Thomas.

“ ... an overgrown baby who'll destroy every last thing he can get his hands on, including himself. ” ~ Truman Capote, of Dylan Thomas ~ Still, after moving to London in 1934 in pursuit of better opportunities, Dylan's writing career continued to flourish. His poems, essays, articles and reviews were being published in London and Swansea magazines and newspapers. Asserting one of his dearest held beliefs that the best poetry was music to the ears, he wrote in a 1934 poetry review that: Too much poetry to-day is flat on the page, a black and white thing of words created by intelligences that no longer think it necessary for a poem to be read and understood by anything but eyes. His hard work in pursuing publishers paid off when his first book, Twenty-five Poems was to appear in Autumn of 1936, around the time that he and his future wife began living their lives together. Dylan Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara in the Spring of 1936 in the London pub The Wheatsheaf. Caitlin's previous experiences with men led her to believe that "all men were bastards," yet from the moment she met him she felt Dylan was somehow different.

Within hours of their first meeting Dylan, his head in her lap, kept drunkenly insisting that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met and that he was going to marry her -- to which she offered no objections. The slightly older Caitlin, a physically strong, trained dancer with a fiery and unpredictable temper found the impoverished poet vulnerable and sweet, if a bit needy. They spent the next five days and nights together, going from pub to pub and hardly eating at all. Later that summer when he and Caitlin met again in Wales, Dylan had a run-in with Augustus John, a painter and friend of her parents with whom Caitlin had been having an affair. Caitlin and Dylan eventually started living together near the end of 1936. In April of 1937 Thomas recorded his first broadcast for BBC Wales, "Life And The Modern Poet". Radio broadcasting was eventually to play a major role in his career. Though he and Caitlin had no formal engagement and his parents were against the idea, Dylan bought two very cheap imitation silver rings, made arrangements, and was married to Caitlin on July 11, 1937 in a simple ceremony.

In May 1938 the Thomases moved to Laugharne in Wales, a tiny, somewhat eccentric waterside town that seemed perfect for the couple. Indeed, Caitlin has described the years living at "Sea View" in Laugharne as their only really happy time. In the early years of their marriage the pair was inseparable, Caitlin described their relationship as that of " twin souls ". By now Thomas had developed a fairly regular daily routine: sleep in in the morning, wake and get lunch (if there was enough money), then writing in the afternoon. The couple's first child, Llewelyn Edouard, was born on January 30, 1939. Meanwhile, Thomas continued to occasionally record for the BBC, review books, write, and publish his own work, including getting published in the United States. His next book The Map of Love, a collection of poems and short stories, was printed in 1939. The outbreak of war, however, was soon to overshadow everything.

The Map of Love , published the month before war was declared on 3 September 1939 and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (autobiographical stories) released in 1940 were both commercial failures due to flagging of the literary industry during the war years. Paper was rationed, and people generally had more hunger for news than the desire to spend what earnings they had on literature and poetry. Many publishing houses and literary magazines shut down either temporarily or permanently. Faced with either finding writer's work or conscription, it was during wartime when Dylan Thomas began his work writing and reading for radio in earnest. As for Thomas' desire to avoid being drafted into the armed forces, it may have not been so much cowardice on his part as much as a complete lack of any patriotic or political interest or emotion. Thomas found the idea of war ridiculous and knew he could never bring himself to kill another man. The night before he was to face his conscription tribunal, Dylan Thomas attempted to sway things in his favor by drinking so heavily that by the next day he was sweating, shaking, pale and covered in blotches.

He was given an exemption on medical grounds, but his biggest mistake was to boast of "getting away" with this. Around tiny Laugharne, families had been watching their sons, brothers, fathers and husbands march off to war and die for their country. Such remarks made Thomas an unpopular man and he and Caitlin eventually left Laugharne. The couple spent some time in the summer of 1940 on an estate in southern England where artists and writers were gathered. An incident where Caitlin was nearly unfaithful to Dylan led to violent, physical and tearful fights. He could not get over the thought that she could have been unfaithful to him... and the trust between them was gone. Now they started to spend days and often weeks apart from each other. By 1941 Thomas had found regular work writing scripts for wartime documentaries and occasionally performing on radio. The couple's second child, daughter Aeronwy Bryn, was born in 1943, giving Caitlin something to focus on besides her faltering marriage. Meanwhile, the couple moved around often -- sometimes together and sometimes separately.

The bombings in London and Swansea were unnerving, and in late 1944 the couple moved into a bungalow in New Quay in Wales. Their residence here came to an end after a now infamous incident in 1945 where an unstable and agitated ex-commando neighbor fired twenty rounds into the bungalow and then threatened to blow Thomas and his visiting friends up with a hand grenade. The man was charged with attempted murder and the Thomases moved away when the case came to trial. “ ... Dylan Thomas made poetry come alive. Listening to his beautiful voice, I was touched deep in my heart by poetry, not in my head ... ” ~ An American student after a Thomas lecture. ~ It was during this period in Wales, however, when Dylan Thomas produced many of the poems that were to establish his place among the ranks of great poets. They were poems that often reflected on the fantasy-days of childhood lost: Poem In October , 'In my craft or sullen art' , The Conversation of Prayers , and Fern Hill . When these works and others were released in the 1946 collection Deaths and Entrances, Dylan's popularity exploded. He was hailed as a genius and a great poet.

Back in London, he continued to work for the BBC, becoming as well known for his radio work as for his poetry. Even though he craved affection and attention, Thomas found this world-wide fame overwhelming. The more famous he became, the more he would withdraw -- perhaps in an attempt to keep his private, inner world his own. Near the end of 1945, the Thomases began living largely off the generosity of Mrs. Margaret Taylor, a wealthy benefactress who was a fan of Dylan's work. Taylor's patronage did little to help her own marriage however, which eventually ended after the strain created by her relationship with the Thomases. From 1945 to 1947 Dylan and Caitlin lived in Oxford. Llewelyn, who had been staying with Caitlin's family since 1941, now came to live with his parents again. Thomas took his first trip abroad in April 1947 as he spent several months in Italy with his family. Thomas found he didn't enjoy travelling, and would spend his time indoors listening to cricket on the radio while everyone else went sightseeing or off to the beach. While in Italy he also composed the poem In Country Heaven.

Later that year Margaret Taylor bought the family a house in South Leigh. When they learned six months later that The Boat House in Laugharne was available, Mrs. Taylor managed to sell the South Leigh house to purchase The Boat House for them. In 1949 the Thomases, Caitlin now seven months pregnant, moved back to Laugharne -- into the whitewashed house overlooking the tidal waters of the River Taf. Back in Wales and back in Laugharne, Thomas easily fell into his old routines. He used the shed along the road from the Boat House to the village as his place of work, again writing mostly in the afternoons. His parents had moved to a house across from Laugharne's Brown Hotel. At night his mother would keep watch behind her lace curtains to see if Dylan fell over on his drunken way down the steps of the hotel. When he drank into the small hours of the morning he would tip-toe home, carrying his shoes so as not to wake the neighbors. Yet sometimes they would awaken -- only to peer out their windows and see an inebriated man relieving himself on the town's prized cherry trees.

Though their third child, son Colm Garan Hart, was born in July of 1949, the tension between Caitlin and Dylan was as high as ever. Money was still tight, so when a generous offer arrived from the United States, a country which Thomas had wanted to visit for years, it was readily accepted. John Malcolm Brinnin, director of the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association in New York City had written asking Thomas to lecture and read at the Association's Poetry Centre. So on February 21, 1950 the wild Welsh poet arrived in America. Thomas did not hesitate to comment on his new experiences in this country whose lifestyle and culture was quite different to his own. He described skyscrapers as "phallic towers" and said he found it strange that in the U.S. "everybody uses the telephone all the time". In a letter home he observed: There seems, at first, to be no reality at all in the life here: it is all an enormous façade of speed and efficiency & power behind which millions of little individuals are wrestling, in vain, with their own anxieties. At various times America seemed to both overwhelm and amuse Thomas.

Over the next three months he traveled coast-to-coast, in New York and California, giving readings at over forty universities, schools and colleges. After a night on stage he would relax by drinking, singing songs and telling his ribald jokes and stories before stumbling off to any bed he could find. Most of the American literati were disappointed by Thomas' behavior off-stage, as they did not find his brand of humor nor his constant use of four-letter words appealing. Thomas, however, couldn't have cared less. Despite his ability to mesmerize and enchant audiences at readings, this was also a man who afterwards once made a lewd comment to a female undergraduate about wanting to suckle her breasts, and at another time horrified the group he was with by "not quite making it to the bathroom". Two incidents during one week in California further demonstrate Dylan's sometimes complete lack of tact or social grace. The first took place at a dinner where Thomas was introduced to the actress Shelley Winters.

When she asked him why he had come to Hollywood, his reply was "To touch the titties of a beautiful blonde starlet and to meet Charlie Chaplin." Later that evening when Winters granted his first wish, he proclaimed "I do not believe it's necessary for me to meet Charlie Chaplin now". Yet he did meet Chaplin soon after, arriving quite drunk at the residence after a meal enjoyed with Winters, Marilyn Monroe and several martinis and bottles of beer and wine. Upon arrival, Thomas crashed the car they were in into the net of Chaplin's tennis court. Inside, though there were several notable Hollywood figures there that night, Thomas insisted he was only interested in meeting Chaplin. After later being rebuked for "rude, drunken behavior" by Chaplin himself, Dylan promptly walked out into the solarium and relieved himself on a large plant. “ ... he can best be described as suffering from a character neurosis, with increasing depression, dangerous alcoholic acting out, tormenting worry, progressive creative inhibition, indicating a sense of neurotic helplesness ... ” ~ Dr. B. W.

Murphy on Dylan Thomas ~ It was while on this first tour of the United States that Thomas apparently became engaged in a serious affair with an American woman whom he later met up with in London. After hearing about this and being told that Dylan and the woman were seen together in London pubs where she was well known, Caitlin felt humiliated and was suspicious and mistrustful of her husband for the rest of their time together. Any trust that had been left was now gone. Their fights became more frequent and more violent. Caitlin accompanied Dylan on his second U.S. tour from January to May 1952, though the travelling was stressful and she found that she did not like America very much. In November his Collected Poems were published and hailed as a major literary achievement. The book was awarded the William Foyle Poetry Prize in 1952 and the Etna-Taormina International Prize later in 1953. Yet just as his fame was growing even greater, Thomas had to deal with personal tragedy. His close relationship with his father had continued after moving back to Laugharne, with daily visits to discuss his work and relax by doing crossword puzzles and talking. The ailing D.J.

Thomas died on December 16, 1952 at the age of 76, with his son holding his hand. As per the elder Thomas' wishes, his body was cremated, though this too turned out to be a traumatic experience for Dylan. He was told that his father's head had exploded in the oven and he ended up becoming violently ill when the wind shifted and started blowing the oven's smoke in his direction. He asked his wife to ensure that "nothing like that ever happens to me". The strong emotions he experienced during the lengthy illness and death of his father helped Thomas produce two of his most well-known poems: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night and the unfinished Elegy . Tragedy struck again just before his third U.S. tour when Dylan's sister Nancy died in Bombay. Dylan was now all his mother had left of their family, and even this was not to last long. From April to June of 1953 Thomas spent six weeks in the U.S. promoting the American publication of Collected Poems.

While there, his unfinished play Under Milk Wood, a project which he had been constructing on and off for thirteen years, was staged in its world premiere on the 3rd of May at Harvard's Fogg Museum. The play's original working title was "The Town That Was Mad" -- the town being largely based upon Laugharne. For years Thomas had been spotted at the pub quickly jotting something down on any scrap of paper he could find. The locals dismissed it as one of the writer's quirks, little suspecting that over time he was collecting material for his play. Thomas wanted to capture the particular way they spoke, the intonation and the rhythms. In 1953 Thomas began making several television appearances, further boosting his celebrity. He was also featured in a rather unflattering article in Time magazine in which the journalist wrote: When he settles down to guzzle beer, which is most of the time, his incredible yarns tumble over each other in a wild Welsh dithyramb in which truth and fact become hopelessly smothered in boozy invention. He borrows with no thought of returning what is lent, seldom shows up on time, is a trial to his friends, and a worry to his family.

Regardless of the reputation Dylan Thomas had gained, the article was full of gross exaggeration and the poet began proceedings to sue the magazine for libel. In return, Time hired a private detective to follow Thomas on his fourth U.S. Tour in late 1953 -- which is perhaps one of the only reasons we know some details about the final days of Dylan Thomas' life. During his fourth visit to the United States, Dylan planned on staying and working in New York for several weeks, then travelling on to California to work on a major project writing the libretto of an opera for which Igor Stranvinsky would write the score. He would stay for an extended length of time and informed Caitlin that he would send for her as soon as he had enough money, which of course made her livid. When he boarded the plane on October 19, 1953, she believed that the marriage was over. While he worked on rehearsals of Under Milk Wood in the weeks after arriving in New York, he often complained of being tired and spent much of the time resting in his hotel. He would get sick and vomit when drinking.

On November 3, Thomas signed a contract for future lecture tours that would bring him $1,000 a week and should have brought an end to his financial problems. Much speculation has been and is still made about the events of the next several days. Thomas had been receiving cortisone injections as treatment for his illness and tiredness while in New York, though they were not wholly successful in alleviating the problems. On November 4 after being up until 4 or 5 a.m. the night before, he was given another cortisone shot, after which he kept vomiting and started to seem delirious. The doctor was summoned again later in the day, and Thomas asked to be "put out". He was apparently given half-a-grain of morphine -- which doctors now confirm was approximately three times the appropriate dose and would cause anyone to be violently ill. Some have also speculated that Thomas had been using certain drugs like sleeping and "pep" pills, which may have contributed to his condition. At 2:30 a.m. on November 5 an ambulance was summoned to take him to St. Vincent's Hospital. Thomas had fallen into a coma. Earlier that year during his third U.S.

tour, Thomas started an affair with Liz Reitell, John Brinnin's assistant. It was she who had summon the doctor and called for the ambulance. She now held a beside vigil at the hospital until Caitlin arrived on November 8th. Dylan Thomas died at 12:40 p.m. on November 9, 1953 while a nurse was bathing him. The only other person in the room at the time was the poet John Berryman. A memorial service held in New York soon after was attended by notable writers such as Tennessee Williams, e. e. cummings and William Faulkner. The distraught Caitlin accompanied Dylan's body back to Wales on the S.S. United States and he was buried in a churchyard in Laugharne on November 24. There are many things said and written about Dylan Thomas, and it is difficult to know what is really true and what is not. There is perhaps some small grain of truth found in each story or assessment. Though he was witty, charming, and a great writer and performer, he was at the same time insecure, neglectful and irresponsible.

Thanks to his talents with the spoken and written word, however, his works are sure outlive his reputation. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas: The Original Edition The original and classic The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas is available once again, now with a brilliant new preface by Paul Muldoon. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas contains poems that Thomas personally decided best represented his work. A year before its publication Thomas died from swelling of the brain triggered by excessive drinking. (A piece of New Directions history: it was our founder James Laughlin who identified Thomas’ body at the morgue of St. Vincent’s Hospital.) Since its initial publication in 1953, this book has become the definitive edition of the poet’s work. Thomas wrot... Home - Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas? Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas? Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas? David Thomas has written Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas?, which reveals why and how the Welsh poet died, drawing on Dylan’s hospital notes and post-mortem report, as well as the intimate letters and journal of his tour agent, John Brinnin. Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas?

is published by Seren, November 2008, £9.99. From local bookshops, online and at Dylan's death was closely bound up with the New York productions of Under Milk Wood. For my articles on the writing of, and inspiration for, the play, please see Dylan Thomas died in New York on November 9 1953. The first rumours were of a brain haemorrhage, followed by reports that he’d been mugged. Soon came the stories about booze, that he had drunk himself to death. Later, there were speculations about drugs and diabetes. The truth is both more prosaic and shocking. Dylan died from neglect. His American agent knew he was sick but didn’t look after him properly. He was suffering from a very treatable illness, but his New York doctor failed to diagnose it. He should have been rushed to hospital but it took two hours to get him there. · He died a needless death. Not surprisingly, a cover-up was put in place to protect those responsible. Even one of his American biographers agreed to conceal the truth. It’s a tragic tale of how a sick poet was exploited for financial gain and academic prestige.

Dylan was already ill when he arrived in New York to take part in Under Milk Wood at the city’s prestigious Poetry Center. He had a history of blackouts and chest problems, and was using an inhaler to help his breathing. The director of the Center was John Brinnin. He was also Dylan’s tour agent, taking a hefty twenty-five percent fee. He was a neurotic, self-absorbed poet who got through the week on whisky, phenobarbitone and a bagful of other prescription drugs. He was also addicted to a playboy lifestyle that was well beyond his means. His life was driven by a constant search for money, begging and borrowing wherever he could. Despite his duty of care, Brinnin stayed away from New York. Being Dylan’s agent had become boring and interfered with his other work. Getting rid of Dylan, as he put it with chilling ambiguity, had become an obsession which he acknowledged he was never able to curb. Brinnin described his attitude as self-protective, declaring that he had come to pay little attention to Dylan’s habits or movements. This was a critical moment in a chain of neglect that would prove fatal.

Brinnin had also decided to resign from the Poetry Center to take up a university job. He was demob happy, and looking after Dylan was low on his list of priorities. He remained at home in Boston and handed responsibility to his ambitious assistant, Liz Reitell, whose job was to produce Under Milk Wood. She met Dylan at Idlewild airport on October 20 and quickly realised he was a sick man. But determined to make the play a success, she worked him to death, as he struggled through four rehearsals and two performances of the play in just five days. Brinnin eventually turned up to watch the final rehearsal and was shocked by Dylan’s appearance. He saw immediately there was something seriously wrong with him. Reitell also warned him that Dylan had collapsed at a previous rehearsal. This should have been Brinnin’s wake-up call to seek medical advice about cancelling the play’s performances. But he desperately needed his cut of Dylan’s earnings. He was in serious financial trouble, facing a drop in salary, up to his ears in debt and being taken to court for not paying his income tax. Brinnin had also misappropriated $300 given to him by a friend for safekeeping.

If he had cancelled Dylan’s engagements, he would have had no means of replacing the money. So Brinnin ignored Dylan’s illness and returned to Boston. He didn’t see him again until he was lying in coma in hospital. Dylan battled on as best he could, a victim of Brinnin’s financial problems and extravagant habits. Reitell was left alone to cope. But neither she nor Dylan could afford to pay for proper medical care, and the Poetry Center hadn’t provided any insurance for him. What was needed was a doctor who could get Dylan through his engagements, preferably one who adjusted his fees to suit the patient. She knew just the man. Milton Feltenstein was Reitell’s family physician. She would later describe him as a wild doctor who believed injections could cure anything. He went quickly to work with his needle, and Dylan made it through the two performances of Under Milk Wood, but collapsed straight afterwards. October 27 was Dylan’s thirty-ninth birthday. In the evening, he went to a party in his honour but was so unwell that he returned to his hotel, where Reitell put him to bed.

That was the lowest that she had ever seen him; his birthday party, she recalled, marked the beginning of the end. Brinnin phoned from Boston to wish him happy birthday but Dylan barely responded. Brinnin sensed that he was either ill or had had too much to drink. He could have talked to Reitell to find out which was the case, but he chose not to, even though it was barely three days since he had seen for himself the seriousness of Dylan’s condition. Here was the first opportunity lost for Brinnin to return to New York, take control of the situation and press for a second, or specialist, medical opinion. And he could so easily have returned; the next day, he finished his teaching at 2pm and could then have travelled to see Dylan, who was just some two hours drive away. On October 29, Brinnin travelled to New York to work at the Poetry Center, and was in the city for eight hours. This should have been yet another opportunity to assess the deteriorating health of his charge but he didn’t bother to contact either Dylan or Reitell. Dylan had now become dangerously debilitated and vulnerable to infection.

A turning point came on November 2, when air pollution rose to levels that were a threat to those with chest problems. By the end of the month, over two hundred New Yorkers had died from the smog. Reitell later recalled that in these last few days Dylan was “enormously ill”. In the early hours of November 4, he jumped out of bed, complaining that he needed fresh air. He went to the White Horse bar, had eight double whiskies, and returned to the hotel, boasting he had drunk eighteen. He woke up at mid-day, and told Reitell he was suffocating. His voice was so low and hoarse that he sounded, said a friend, like Louis Armstrong. Dylan was now in the grip of a serious respiratory infection, which had started in his windpipe and spread down through the main airways into the lungs. Feltenstein came to see him twice during the day, but failed to detect the chest disease. He also started a dangerous course of morphine injections. Reitell anxiously rang Brinnin, who yet again chose not to return to New York, just an hour away by plane.

His inaction throughout the crisis seems astonishing, given that the most celebrated poet of the time was in his care. That evening, Feltenstein came to see Dylan for a third time and decided, wrongly, that he had delirium tremens. Instead of sending him to hospital, Feltenstein injected 30mg of morphine, three times the normal dose for pain relief. He confided that Dylan might go into coma. This should have been yet another reason to send him to hospital but the good doctor left the hotel, merely advising Reitell that she needed help in looking after him. Dylan was in serious trouble. His chest disease was already affecting his breathing, and now the morphine began to depress it even further. At midnight on November 4/5, he went into coma. His life could possibly have been saved if Reitell had called an ambulance. But she panicked and wasted valuable time trying to get hold of Feltenstein. Two hours went by before Dylan reached nearby St Vincent’s, by which time he was profoundly comatose and brain damaged. The two junior doctors on duty tested for various causes of coma - meningitis, brain haemorrhage, diabetes and drugs – but the results were negative.

They listened to his chest and found bronchitis in all parts of the bronchial tree, both left and right sides. An X-ray showed pneumonia, and a raised white cell count confirmed the presence of an infection. But Feltenstein, intent on covering his tracks, insisted that Dylan was in coma because of alcoholic brain damage. Amidst rumours of medical negligence, Ellen Borden Stevenson, ex-wife of Democratic Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, offered to pay for the best independent specialists to be brought in. But her generous offer was turned own, prompting the British Embassy to phone Brinnin to complain that Dylan was being denied proper medical care. The hospital let the pneumonia run its course, and he died four days later on November 9. Within hours of his death, the drink stories had started. Dylan’s American publisher, James Laughlin, wrote to his literary agent in London, telling him, even before the post-mortem had been done, that the cause of death was alcoholic poisoning of the brain. Such were the early beginnings of the story that Dylan Thomas had drunk himself into the grave. Laughlin tossed a coin with Brinnin to see who would identify the body.

Laughlin lost and went off to the morgue, whilst Brinnin busied himself with setting up a Memorial Fund. It was a noble inspiration but tainted with self-interest. He had already paid for some of Dylan’s hospital care; in doing so, he had fallen behind with his rent and the repayments on the loan for his car. He had also misappropriated even more of his friend’s money, but was hopeful of claiming it all back from the Fund. At the post-mortem, the pathologist found no evidence that Dylan’s brain had been poisoned, damaged or changed in any way by alcohol. He issued a Notice of Death in which he said he was unable to confirm any diagnosis of alcoholic brain damage. Nor did he find any signs of alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis in the liver. The immediate cause of death was swelling of the brain, caused by the pneumonia reducing the supply of oxygen. Brinnin and Feltenstein were now vulnerable to legal action for failure in their duty of care. Brinnin’s reputation, and that of the Poetry Center, was also on the line. He and Reitell were not just colleagues, but close friends.

Reitell was Dylan’s producer, but they were lovers, too, and she had been in bed with him on the night he collapsed. A letter left by Brinnin suggested that he and Dylan had also had sex together. It was all too incestuous, threatening a very juicy scandal in the prim-and-proper America of the early 1950s. Any investigation into Dylan’s death could also expose Brinnin’s varied and hectic love life. He was in a long-term relationship with a fellow English scholar, Bill Read, but he had affairs with a number of other gay writers. He also enjoyed cruising downtown bars for young men, and even had a few romantic interludes with women, including Dylan’s close friend, the photographer Rollie McKenna. Brinnin had a good deal to lose. A scandal would threaten the university post he was about to be offered, and possibly ruin the academic career he so badly wanted. Amidst growing concern that Dylan’s American friends had been responsible for his death, Brinnin launched his part of the cover-up strategy: Dylan had killed himself by drinking too much.

Just days after the post-mortem, he met with Caitlin and then with a group of Dylan’s friends who happened to be in New York, including Edith Sitwell and Wynford Vaughan Thomas. He reassured them all that Dylan had received the best possible care, and that alcohol had done for him. Then Brinnin spent a weekend dispatching letters to several of his influential contacts, including T. S. Eliot. He told them that the only person to be blamed for the death was Dylan himself. The post-mortem, wrote Brinnin falsely, had confirmed that alcohol had damaged his brain. Everyone knew that the Welsh boyo liked his pint, so it wasn’t long before the alcohol story was doing the rounds of literary London, and rippling out thereafter. Reitell was also doing her bit. She helped write a twelve-page letter to Louis MacNeice. It praised both Brinnin and Feltenstein, and assured MacNeice that morphine had played no part in Dylan’s death. The letter had the desired effect. MacNeice wrote immediately to warn Dylan’s Swansea solicitor that any rumours that Dylan had not been properly looked after should be spiked. As usual, Brinnin was thinking about money.

Just three days after the death, he went to a meeting at Mademoiselle magazine to put the finishing touches to a lucrative article about Dylan. The New York memorial service was held the very next day. Unwilling to lose any money, Brinnin declined to attend because it clashed with one of his teaching engagements. He also wanted to write a book about Dylan, and he asked Edith Sitwell for advice. She suggested he write two accounts, the one discreet for immediate publication and the other truthful, to be issued after everyone was safely dead and buried. Brinnin duly obliged. Sustained by whisky and benzedrine, he hastily pounded out Dylan Thomas in America. Published in 1955, it gave the discreet version of how Dylan had died. Brinnin candidly admitted he had placed himself in the best possible light. He made no criticisms of Feltenstein or Reitell, and lied about the two-hour delay in getting Dylan to hospital, claiming that he had been taken there quickly. Brinnin repeated his falsehood that Dylan had died from alcoholic brain damage. He also made much of Dylan’s boast that he had drunk eighteen whiskies, though he later acknowledged that he knew this was untrue.

No wonder one of his colleagues said the book had the scent of fraudulence. But it was an instant bestseller, and the story that Dylan had drunk himself to death became firmly lodged in the public imagination. Every saloon bar in Britain soon boasted somebody who knew somebody else who had been with Dylan on the night he had drunk himself dead. Brinnin’s book brought him money, though the writing of it took him to the edge of a nervous breakdown. He was overwhelmed with guilt and remorse, drinking himself into a stupor and falling into fits of uncontrollable weeping. He ended up on an analyst’s couch and then in a hospital, from which he emerged with what he described as a new appreciation and care for people. Unfortunately, it was just a little too late for Dylan. Eight years later, in 1963, the cover-up looked as if it might fall apart. Constantine FitzGibbon was invited to write Dylan’s authorised biography. He was a former American intelligence officer, with a reputation for winkling out the truth. A friendly doctor sent him a four-page summary of Dylan’s hospital notes, with details of his chest disease and an account of Feltenstein’s incompetence.

This should have been a golden opportunity to dish the alcohol stories but FitzGibbon was persuaded not to write anything that might damage Feltenstein or the hospital. FitzGibbon buried the doctor’s summary deep in his archive in the university of Texas, and it remained uncited by all of Dylan’s later biographers. By 2003, the fiftieth anniversary of the death, the vital information that Dylan had pneumonia and bronchitis before entering hospital, and that Feltenstein had failed to diagnose this, had still not become public. Nor was it ever revealed, until now, that Brinnin’s desperate need for money, and his demob-happy attitude, had played a crucial part in the neglect that had led to Dylan’s death. So the story of the eighteen whiskies lived on, nurtured by a romantic fantasy that this was a sexy way for a poet to die. Ironically, just two years after Dylan’s death, Brinnin received the Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to Poetry, and on the twenty-fifth anniversary he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He retired to Florida, whiling away his time playing poker on the beach with Leonard Bernstein.

He died in 1998, leaving his own epitaph: “I think I am as well-known as I deserve to be.” John Brinnin was well-known for many things. Yet somehow, he managed never to be known as the man who helped send a famous poet to an early and avoidable death, and made a lot of money from doing so. Colm Thomas, Dylan Thomas's last surviving child, dies - BBC News BBC News Colm Thomas, Dylan Thomas's last surviving child, dies 17 December 2012 Read more about sharing. Close share panel Image caption Colm Thomas, his mother Caitlin and sister Aeronwy in 1968 outside court during a lawsuit to retrieve letters written to her by her husband and manuscripts The last surviving child of the poet Dylan Thomas has died at his home in Italy aged 63. Colm Thomas was the second son and youngest child of Thomas and his wife Caitlin. He had lived in Italy for the latter part of his life, having being taken there by his mother in the years following her husband's death in New York in 1953. Thomas' granddaughter, Hannah Ellis, attended Monday's funeral.

When Thomas was dying in New York in 1953, one of the things he said was that he could not bear that he would not see Colm again Paul Ferris, Author Author Paul Ferris, who went to Italy to research a biography of Thomas, said: "My impression of Colm was that he was much more reserved than the rest of the family. "He would have been the baby of the family. "When Thomas was dying in New York in 1953, one of the things he said was that he could not bear that he would not see Colm again." Colm's sister, Aeronwy Thomas-Ellis, died aged 66 in 2009, and his brother Llewelyn died aged 61 in 2000. Jeff Towns, a Swansea-based Dylan Thomas expert, met Colm Thomas in 2003 when Colm visited the city as part of events marking the 50th anniversary of Thomas' death. 'Incredibly photogenic' Mr Towns described Colm as having been "incredibly photogenic" as a baby and small boy. He said he grew into a nice man, but one who kept himself to himself.

"It is sad because he was the last of Dylan's family," said Mr Towns. Image caption Dylan Thomas died in New York in 1953, and remains probably Wales' best known writer "It's worthy of comment that Dylan's boys were not keen on basking in any reflected glory from their father. "They lived their own lives and did not court publicity for having a father who was a famous writer. That was their decision and I respect that." In 2014 a year-long programme of events will be held to mark the centenary of the poet's birth. Last week the Prince of Wales visited the Swansea house where Dylan Thomas was born and brought up. The prince will be patron of the festival, Dylan Thomas 100, which aims to highlight the artistic, cultural and commercial importance of Thomas's work. About Dylan - DylanThomas.com About Dylan Home › About Dylan About Dylan Dylan was born on October 27, 1914 at No 5, Cwmdonkin Drive in Swansea, and died on November 9, 1953 in St Vincent’s Hospital, New York.

During his lifetime he wrote many great poems, including ‘Fern Hill’, ‘The hunchback in the park’ and of course ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’. He is also famous for writing the ‘play for voices’ Under Milk Wood, and the collection of stories, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. This post is also available in: Welsh

Question: In which city did Dylan Thomas die in 1953?
Answer: New York