Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe’s ’secret life as a published poet’

Daniel Radcliffe, the Harry Potter actor, has been unveiled as a published poet.

Four poems written by the 19-year-old have appeared in an underground fashion magazine under the pen-name.

Radcliffe decided to keep his anonymity by using the Jacob Gershon, a combination of his middle name and the Jewish version of his mother’s maiden name, Gresham.

However, he recently let his secret out in an interview with the Guardian.

He said: “I didn’t want to publish it under my name. It’s the kind of thing I look back on and just think, ‘Ahhh!’

“As an actor, there is room for a certain amount of creativity, but you’re always ultimately going to be saying somebody else’s words

“I don’t think I’d have the stamina, skill or ability to write a novel, but I’d love to write short stories and poetry, because those are my two passions. There is an art to a short story.

“I love Raymond Carver, and Chekhov – without making myself sound more highbrow than I am! When I don’t write in form and metre, I become unbearably self-indulgent. It’s what Robert Frost said: free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.”

The verses are about infidelity, Pop Idol and Kate Moss’s former boyfriend, the singer Pete Doherty.

One of the four, Away Days, details the narrator’s affairs with prostitutes, conducted while his unsuspecting wife and son believe he is away on business.

Another critiques Simon Cowell and the queues of “deluded” hopefuls who line up to compete in TV talent contests.

He also wrote one on attempting to seduce woman.

The collection was published in November 2007 in Rubbish magazine, an annual publication with a circulation of 3,000 which describes itself as “a playful platform for fashionable people”.

Introducing Radcliffe’s verses, it says it is “proudly debuting the work of Jacob Gershon, 17, a very exciting and dynamic young poet”.

A spokesman for the magazine said: “Poetry is a key aspect to Rubbish, so it was fantastic to be able to provide the platform for ‘Jacob’ and his debut work.”

from: telegraph.co.uk