Education
Self-described as an "Anglo-African-Asian", Plomer was educated mostly in the United Kingdom.
Self-described as an "Anglo-African-Asian", Plomer was educated mostly in the United Kingdom.
He spent the period from October 1926 to March 1929 in Japan, where he was friendly with Sherard Vines. There, according to biographers, he was in a same-sex relationship with a Japanese manitoba He was never openly gay during his lifetime.
At most he alluded to the subject.
He became a literary editor for Faber and Faber, and was a reader and literary adviser to Jonathan Cape, where he edited a number of Ian Fleming"s James Bond series. Fleming dedicated Goldfinger to Plomer.
Plomer is known to have used the pseudonym "Robert Pagan", notably for some of his poetry. He was also active as a librettist, with Gloriana, Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal Son for Benjamin Britten.