He edited "The Poet's Corner" column in the Sunday Referee, and also published the early works of Dylan Thomas and Pamela Hansford Johnson.
[1][2] His father, Carl Neuburg, who had been born in 1857 in Plzeň, Bohemia, and was a commission agent based in Vienna, abandoned the family shortly after his son's birth.
Whenever addressed, he wriggled convulsively, and his lips, which were three times too large for him, and had been put on hastily as an afterthought, emitted the most extraordinary laugh that had ever come my way; to these advantages he united those of being extraordinarily well-read, overflowing with exquisitely subtle humour, and being one of the best natured people that ever trod this planet.
In 1909 Crowley took Neuburg to Algiers, and they set off into the desert, where they performed a series of occult rituals based on the Enochian system of Doctor John Dee, later chronicled in The Vision and the Voice.
Neuburg's anthology of poems The Triumph of Pan (1910) dates from shortly after these events and shows the distinct influence of Crowley:[5] Sweet Wizard, in whose footsteps I have trod Unto the shrine of the most obscene god, So steep the pathway is, I may not know, Until I reach the summit where I go.
[6] Crowley was highly impressed by Neuburg's poetic ability: ...in the next few years he produced some of the finest poetry of which the English language can boast.
He had an extraordinary delicacy of rhythm, an unrivalled sense of perception, a purity and intensity of passion second to none, and a remarkable command of the English language.
[3] Back in London, Neuburg showed potential as a dancer, so Crowley gave him a leading role in his proto-performance art pieces Rites of Eleusis.