[4] In his youth, Calder-Marshall lived with his family in Steyning, where he made friends with Victor Neuberg, the poet and associate of Aleister Crowley.
A short, unhappy stint teaching English at Denstone College, Staffordshire, 1931–33, inspired his novel Dead Centre.
He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain[6] and was also a member of the London-based left-wing Writers and Readers Group which also included Randall Swingler, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Mulk Raj Anand, Maurice Richardson and Rose Macaulay.
[10] With his wife, documentary screenplay-writer[11] Ara (born Violet Nancy Sales),[12] he was the father of the actress Anna Calder-Marshall and the grandfather of the actor Tom Burke.
[13] James Mason purchased the film rights to Occasion of Glory, intending to make this project his directorial debut.