Summary
Overview
This episode of No Such Thing As A Fish features guest Tom Allen and explores fascinating historical stories, including Noel Coward's wartime espionage, a Marvel superhero with gardening superpowers, King Alexander of Greece's death by monkey bite, and Nudie, the celebrity tailor who invented rhinestone cowboy suits. The conversation weaves through topics of royalty, fashion, gardening, and bizarre historical deaths.
Noel Coward: Playwright, Spy, and Nazi Target
The episode opens with Tom Allen's fact about Noel Coward appearing on a Nazi death list in 1945. Coward, the famous playwright and entertainer, was secretly working as a British spy during World War II. His work involved gathering intelligence through social conversations in North America and Europe, though he was eventually sacked for being too public in his activities. The discussion reveals how his wartime activities were far more serious than his flamboyant public persona suggested, and Winston Churchill's quote notes that thousands of deaths resulted from a similar incident involving King Alexander of Greece.
- A secret Nazi list discovered in 1945 included 2,820 British individuals to be rounded up, with Noel Coward on page 34
- Noel Coward was recruited as a British spy before WWII by Sir Robin Van Sittard at the Foreign Office
- Coward was sacked as a spy partly because he was too public in his movements and people thought he was just attending parties
- His song 'Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans' was banned by the BBC because the satire didn't translate well
- Coward wrote the screenplay and starred in 'In Which We Serve' based on Mountbatten's experiences
" My dear the people who were to be seen dead with "
" It is perhaps no exaggeration to remark that a quarter of a million persons died of this monkey's bite "
Noel Coward's Life and Career
The conversation explores Coward's remarkable life beyond espionage, from his humble beginnings in southwest London to becoming one of the wealthiest entertainers of his era. His mother was a stage parent who consulted a medium about his career path, leading to his success as an actor from childhood. Coward's incredible productivity is highlighted—he wrote nine plays in summer 1935 alone and composed songs in minutes. His later years were spent as a tax exile, traveling on Royal Navy ships and living in Jamaica next door to Ian Fleming.
- Coward's mother consulted medium Anna Eva Fay who advised keeping young Noel acting rather than returning to school
- He was making £50,000 per year in the late 1920s, equivalent to £15 million today
- Coward wrote nine plays in the summer of 1935 alone, demonstrating extraordinary productivity
- He frequently hitched lifts on Royal Navy ships, once joining HMS Dragon by claiming to be 'exhausted, overworked, and on the verge of a nervous breakdown'
- He moved to Jamaica as a tax exile and lived next door to Ian Fleming, reportedly turning down the role of Dr. No
" exhausted, overworked, and on the verge of a nervous breakdown and had joined the ship in order to be nursed back to health and strength and waited on hand and foot "
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