Elsewhere on the site, details were posted in News (before their appearance in the national press!) of the forthcoming sale of the art collection which Valerie built up in the Eliots’ apartment.

There are two new additions to the TSE & Me section: Jeremy Irons (who read Four Quartets at the Hay Literary Festival), and Robert Webb (of Mitchell & Webb and Peep Show fame) have both spoken about the influence of Eliot’s poetry upon them.

There’s a link in Miscellany/Correspondence to a fascinating article about the “unexpected alliance” of Eliot and Groucho Marx, and the letters which passed between them.

And in the Members Area, there’s a request from the producer of a BBC Radio 4 programme, who is looking for someone who can talk about Eliot’s studies of Indian philosophy at Harvard, and the influence it may have had upon his poetry – can any member help?

See you at Little Gidding…!

So May is welcome, with much of genuine interest added to the website.

Two significant new additions to the Works section of the site are links to Eliot’s only published fiction, Eeldrop and Appleplex; and to some of his pre-1922 essays, including his Reflections on vers libre.

In Miscellany, you can now find a link to the little-seen columns which Eliot wrote on the cultural scene in England, as London correspondent to The Dial magazine in New York.

The Events section has details of another exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, this time displaying Epstein’s bust of Eliot.

The News section announces the (free) update which is now available for the interactive iPad version of The Waste Land; this update installs the reading which Jeremy Irons and Eileen Atkins recorded for the BBC, along with some other additions.

News also links to the Order of Service for Lady Thatcher’s funeral, and records the fact that the widely-reported section it included from Little Gidding was, in fact, an edited elision of two separate passages.

Finally, the manuscript auction mentioned in Events took place; the typescript of Journey of the Magi, amended in Eliot’s hand, sold for £44,450, more than six times its estimate. “Men and bits of paper…”

In the Members area of the website, you will find the new issue of our Society newsletter, Exchanges, with plenty of stimulating articles and ideas – along with the advance announcement to members of this year’s Eliot Lecture, which we are proud and excited to say will be given by Rowan Williams.

Members can also see there exclusive details of this year’s Festival programme, soon to be announced to the public.

In the News section, there are dates for the public hearing on the East Coker development plans, as well as the fascinating story of Eliot’s pen, bequeathed to the Royal Literary Society, and now to be used by newly elected members to sign their Roll Book.

And in Miscellany, there’s a link to an online catalogue of rare Eliot First Editions and signed copies; a fascinating glimpse into the prices such items now fetch.

A provisional list of speakers and events can now be seen exclusively by members, in the members’ area of the website; advance booking details will be posted as soon as they are released.

Other news this month includes details of a forthcoming auction which includes Eliot typescripts, photographs and books; details and links to images are in the Events section.

There’s an interesting article in the US New Republic, taking the latest Letters as the starting point for a broader look at Eliot; a link is among the reviews of Vol 4 in News.

And in Miscellany, a letter spotted in the Telegraph, which recounts what Valerie Eliot said was Eliot’s favourite story…

The TS Eliot International Summer School 2013 is now open for applications; these are on a first-come first-served basis, so any members interested in registering should take advantage of this early announcement. Details on the Events page.

The small (free) show at the National Portrait Gallery in London, of the studies for Patrick Heron’s portrait of Eliot, is now open; although containing only seven or eight pieces, the sketches and oils are often more approachable than the finished portrait, and worth a visit. Details, again, on the Events page.

We are midway through the sequence of readings in Cambridge of Four Quartets; the first have been very well attended. Details in Events.

A number of significant reviews of Letters Vol 4 are now available through the News page.

And we are waiting for full details of a forthcoming Bonhams sale, which is said to include two Eliot manuscripts, including Journey of the Magi. Full details will be posted in the coming weeks when Bonhams have completed their catalogue; preliminary details are here: https://images1.bonhams.com/originalsrc=Miscellaneous/Roy_Davids_Poetry_sale.pdf&original

Finally, an extraordinary find; a 1964 recording of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, reading Portrait of a Lady. It’s in the Miscellany section of the site.

Reviews have already begun appearing, and links are being posted in the News section of the site as they are published.

In addition, the site also links to an interview with the author of a forthcoming book on Eliot’s influence in Baghdad – and to an audio recording of Eliot reading The Naming of Cats.

There’s also a rather entertaining spoof of Eliot’s Letters…

In addition, the News section contains links to a fascinating academic article on music and Four Quartets; and another call for academic papers, this time for an American conference.

Finally in Events, the announcement of a small but interesting exhibition from January at the National Portrait Gallery, showing the work which went into Patrick Heron’s 1949 portrait of the poet.

We note with sadness the passing of Valerie Eliot, the second wife and later widow of TS Eliot, whose death has just been confirmed.

The acknowledgment on the News page of our website is being updated with links to significant obituaries as they appear.

Two further recordings of TS Eliot’s readings – of Portrait of a Lady, and from one of the Choruses from ‘The Rock’– within Audio Recordings.

And a splendid gallery of images from this year’s Festival, kindly submitted by Simon Kershaw, in the Members Area under the Festival reports.

Don’t forget the Annual TS Eliot Lecture, in the Cripps Auditorium, Magdalene College, Cambridge, at 7pm next Wednesday, 14th November. Full details in the Events section of our site.

You can now hear the Bishop of Dudley’s talk on Eliot, linked to its Events listing; read in Miscellany of a pilgrimage made to The Dry Salvages off the Boston coast; and in Biographical Material, read an interview with Eliot, published in the New York Times in 1953.

In Works, there is a link to a website exploring the various voices in The Waste Land.

And Society members have been invited by the artist Sally Waterman to her Q&A session, concluding an exhibition inspired by The Waste Land, at the Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge; details in the Members Area.