The poet and critic Edmund Blunden was born in Yalding, Kent in 1896. He studied at Oxford, was professor of English literature at Tokyo from 1924-7 and fellow of Merton College, Oxford from 1931. He joined the staff of 'The Times Literary Supplement' in 1943, and from 1953 lectured at the University of Hong Kong. From1966-8 he was professor of poetry at Oxford.