MARTIN BAX (1933-2024)
Martin Bax was probably best known in the literary world as the editor of
Ambit, the long-running magazine
which featured poems, short stories, reviews, and illustrations from a wide
variety of contributors. This isn’t the place to name them all, but J.G.
Ballard, William Burroughs, Carol Ann Duffy, Eduardo Paolozzi, Jeff Nuttall,
Peter Porter, Edwin Brock, Fleur Adcock, Alexander Trocchi and Alan
Brownjohn are a few that spring to mind. But they don’t really represent
everything that the magazine stood for. Martin had eclectic tastes and each
issue had work from new writers, poets, and illustrators alongside the
established ones. Ambit was one
of the first magazines I appeared in. That was in 1963 and I had a fifty
year relationship with it until Martin retired as editor in 2013.
As well as editing Ambit Martin
wrote short stories and novels,
including The Hospital Ship,
published in 1976 and very much in the spirit of that time. But the title –
Two Lives to Lead: The Early Years
- of a short memoir he wrote towards the end of his life takes us to the
fact that Martin was also a highly-respected consultant paediatrician
and editor of Development
Medicine and Child Neurology. It always amazed me that the amiable and
relaxed man I knew somehow found the time to edit both publications and
write. He published medical text books as well as his literary work.
Martin and his wife Judy were very hospitable, and I forget how many times I
stayed with them over the years. I wasn’t alone and their house in Highgate
often seemed like a second home for poets visiting London. Some had their
eccentricities but neither Martin nor Judy appeared fazed by them. Likewise
at the parties where the book-filled house attracted numerous writers,
artists and others all busy drinking and, as they always do, exchanging the
latest gossip. There were occasional sightings of their three sons who, like
their parents, were seemingly happy with the bohemian atmosphere.
The Ambit readings were popular
and were not just limited to London. I recall reading in York, Glasgow,
Manchester, and other locations around the country. And, as with the
magazine, Martin liked to use new poets alongside the better-known ones.
They could be lively affairs, especially when one or two of the participants
had spent too much time at the bar.
I thought of Martin as a friend as well as the editor of
Ambit. And I owed him a lot for
the encouragement and advice he gave me over the years. It was always a
pleasure to visit the house in Highgate. I remember being amused years ago
when I read “We All Begin in a Little Magazine”. a short story by the
Canadian writer, Norman Levine, in which the narrator, visiting London,
stays in a doctor’s house. It was so obviously Martin and Judy’s home, and
I’m glad that a record of it exists in print.
Writers too often forget how important a good editor is. Martin kept
Ambit going over the years, often
at no small cost to himself in terms of both time and money. It was always
lively and never became just another little magazine. He made a contribution
we should value.