Poet John Tripp (1927-1987) was born at Bargoed and brought up in Whitchurch, Cardiff. After working as a journalist in London, where he was a member of the Guild of Welsh Writers, he returned to Wales in 1969 and thereafter lived as a free-lance writer. His early poems appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, and were followed by six volumes of poetry. Tripp became the literary editor of Planet. His writing focused on the history of Wales and the present condition of its people, often peppered with his own left-wing and pacifist convictions. Information taken from Meic Stephens' New Companion to the Literature of Wales (University of Wales Press, 1998)