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Today I learnt that Noel Coward was an early opponent of appeasement and when Ivor Novello burst into tears of joy upon the signing of the Munich Agreement, Coward punched him so hard he nearly knocked him out.
He was sent by the security services to Paris in the late 30s to scope out who was friend and foe amongst the French elite who crowded around him, including, it seems, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (fascist sympathisers). I had long thought that Coward and the Duke were friends
and held that as a black mark against his name but seems that was an act. In Coward's own words “I’ve known for years that he had a common mind and liked second-rate people, and I am sure it is a good thing for England that he abdicated.”
In the early years of the war he travelled to the US, ostensibly to perform, but also to liaise on behalf of the British secret services with Roosevelt as to the prospects of the US joining the war. He resented the popular perception he evaded war work.
Seems gays could make a healthy living in mid century Britain undoing the hard work of the royal family
