To turn briefly to the non-literary aspects of her life, she was one of the few female officers working for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War. She worked subsequently for M16, being one of the first women to be a department head. Her one novel, The Intermediaries (Gollancz, 1965) was an updated, 20th-century version of the legend of Tristan and Isolde. When it appeared, it was likened to the work of Ivy Compton-Burnett and Elizabeth Bowen. Her friends will remember her countless acts of selfless goodness; she did much to promote other writers, among them Tambimuttu and Thomas Blackburn, whose posthumous poems, The Adjacent Kingdom (Peter Owen, 1988) she edited and introduced.

To the time of his death, he remained a titi de Paris.James KirkupGilles Grangier, film director: born Paris 5 May 1911; married 1947 Lucie Bourdillon; died Paris 28 April 1996.. When she heard of the death of the poet, playwright and novelist Jean MacVean, Kathleen Raine said of her: "She was a wise and deeply perceptive woman of letters - something that hardly exists any more." MacVean's sharp and incisive humour was bred of her native Yorkshire, but she was also a person of rare generosity of spirit. Grangier was also awarded the Croix de Guerre of the TOE (Theatre d'Operations Exterieures) in recognition of the value of his wartime activities. He was made Officier de la Legion d'Honneur de l'Ordre National de Merite in 1994. He was also archivist for the Association des Auteurs de Films, a post he was perfectly fitted for. Among his most popular productions were Walter Scott's Quentin Durward (1971), Les Mohicans de Paris (1973) and Deux ans de vacances (1974).