Valerie Eliot, 1926–2012
The loyal wife who guarded T.S. Eliot’s legacy
In the mid-1950s, T.S. Eliot seemed close to death. The American poet was tortured by the memory of his disastrous first marriage, to Vivienne Haigh-Wood, who died in an asylum in 1947 after inspiring some of his best, and bleakest, work. Eliot’s savior came in an unlikely form: the handsome and practical Valerie Fletcher. After the couple married, in 1957, when he was 68 and she was 30, the reclusive intellectual underwent a remarkable change. Eliot was suddenly boasting to friends that he was “the luckiest man in the world.” At parties, the newlyweds would hold hands and gaze at each other like lovesick teenagers. Not everyone appreciated the poet’s newfound joy. “Tom Eliot is now curiously dull,” remarked author Aldous Huxley.
Born in the north of England, Valerie became besotted with Eliot at age 14 when she heard a recording of his poem “Journey of the Magi.” “She decided that she must work for this most eminent of figures and took a secretarial course with this express purpose,” said The Times (U.K.). She moved to London against her parents’ wishes, and in 1950 became Eliot’s secretary at the publishing house Faber & Faber. The poet slowly fell in love with his dedicated and unflappable assistant, and proposed “by slipping a note into a batch of letters which he gave her for typing,” said The Daily Telegraph (U.K.).
The Eliots moved into an apartment in London’s upscale Kensington neighborhood, where they hosted famous visitors, including composer Igor Stravinsky and comedian Groucho Marx. But more often they passed the evenings alone together, reading to each other, “eating cheese, and playing Scrabble,” said the Associated Press. “He obviously needed a happy marriage,” Valerie later remarked. “He wouldn’t die until he’d had it.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
After Eliot’s death, in 1965, Valerie became his executor, and steadfastly refused to cooperate with would-be biographers, in keeping with his wishes. While she rarely gave interviews, she was moved to defend Eliot after the release of the movie Tom & Viv, which portrayed the poet’s first wife as a free spirit neglected by an unfeeling husband. “Tom tried very hard and for a very long time to make a go of it,” she said, “and he’s never given credit for that, is he?”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
‘The Taliban delivers yet another brutal blow’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Renewables top coal as Trump seeks reversal
Speed Read For the first time, renewable energy sources generated more power than coal, said a new report
-
Prime minister shocks France with resignation
Speed Read French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu submitted his government’s resignation after less than a month in office
-
Robert Redford: the Hollywood icon who founded the Sundance Film Festival
Feature Redford’s most lasting influence may have been as the man who ‘invigorated American independent cinema’ through Sundance
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
Feature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashion
In the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th-century clothing
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dad
In the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Brian Wilson: the troubled genius who powered the Beach Boys
Feature The musical giant passed away at 82
-
Sly Stone: The funk-rock visionary who became an addict and recluse
Feature Stone, an eccentric whose songs of uplift were tempered by darker themes of struggle and disillusionment, had a fall as steep as his rise
-
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin America
Feature The Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise
-
Dame Maggie Smith: an intensely private national treasure
In the Spotlight Her mother told her she didn't have the looks to be an actor, but Smith went on to win awards and capture hearts