At Marlborough he knew John Betjeman and Louis MacNeice;[1] at Oxford Stephen Spender, Arthur Calder-Marshall, Isaiah Berlinand[1] he also came across W. H. Auden.
He was not, however, drawn far into what was soon known as the Auden Group; he is identified much more with the type of poetry later exemplified by Lawrence Durrell, and is for some critics the stand-out in the Cairo poets.
After graduation, he made a living from teaching and writing, marrying the actress Norah Gibbs in 1936.
A conference on Spencer's life and work was held at the University of Reading in October 2009, with an exhibition of manuscripts and other personal effects.
[4] His Complete Poetry, Translations and Selected Prose edited by Peter Robinson was published by Bloodaxe Books in February 2011.