Graham Greene was born in 1904. While at Balliol College, Oxford he published his first book of verse. He continued to write throughout his lifetime, and served with the Secret Intelligence Service during the Second World War. He died in 1991.

Hugh Greene was born in 1910. He came to prominence as a journalist when he became a chief correspondent in Nazi Berlin. During the Second World War he served in the RAF. He went on to join the BBC and was made Director-General in 1960. He died in 1987.