'Born under a rhyming planet'

Letters from Frank Sinatra and Peter Sellers, photos taken by Stanley Kubrick, and a stunning collection of material relating to one of the most famous musicals in theatre history, Les Misérables, have been donated to Cambridge University Library as part of a thrilling archive belonging to the late Herbert Kretzmer, OBE.

Journalist, writer, theatre and TV critic, Herbert Kretzmer – Herbie to his friends – would have celebrated his hundredth birthday on Sunday (October 5).

A photo of Kretzmer taken by legendary film director Stanley Kubrick, alongside a handwritten note from Kubrick.

A photo of Kretzmer taken by legendary film director Stanley Kubrick, alongside a handwritten note from Kubrick.

He was the famed lyricist of the English language version of Les Misérables, in collaboration with its French originators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.

The musical has been performed to tens of millions of theatregoers across the world, as well as being turned into an Oscar-winning film. October 8 marks the 40th anniversary of the London premiere of Les Misérables.

Watch our short film about the Kretzmer Archive with Cambridge University Library archivist Kevin Roberts.

Kretzmer also enjoyed a life-long collaboration with singer-songwriter Charles Aznavour, writing the English lyrics to She — which later found new fame on the Notting Hill soundtrack — as well as the English version of Yesterday When I Was Young.

South African-born Kretzmer won an Ivor Novello Award for the comedy hit Goodness Gracious Me, performed by Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers, and contributed lyrics to the ground-breaking 1960s television show That Was The Week That Was.

Elvis Costello's version of 'She'

In a New Yorker interview, he once said ‘he was born under a rhyming planet’ and had a ‘knack’ for the lyricism that was the making of his career.

But despite his fame and blockbuster success as lyricist to one of the longest-running and most-seen musicals in history, the Kretzmer Archive also lays bare his unhappiness at a perceived lack of credit for transforming the original French musical into the ubiquitous longer version known and loved by millions today.

As well as fascinating, heavily-annotated drafts of the second and subsequent iterations of the musical, the archive contains letters from Kretzmer and his solicitors to legendary theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh and others.

In them, he outlines his dismay as being seen by many as merely the ‘translator’ of the original French song lyrics, rather than being given full credit for the wholesale changes and additions he made to the musical’s most famous moments and songs, including I Dreamed a Dream and Stars.

Indeed, the English-language version of the musical runs more than an hour longer than its French counterpart.

In an archive letter to Mackintosh, Kretzmer says: “[...] there is a mass of material that is so totally reconceived and re-written that there is no longer any substantial similarity between my lyrics and the 1980 Paris model. [...] [T]he English version of Les Misérables is very much original material, different in terms of culture and reference from the original libretto. [...] Les Misérables is not a show translated or re-written, but a show reborn.”

Page from the literal translation of the original French version of the musical.

The musical has also played a foundational role since childhood in the life of Dr Liz Savage, the theatre-obsessed Special Collections Assistant at Cambridge University Library, whose role it has been to help catalogue the Les Mis sections of the archive now at Cambridge.

Dr Savage said: “I don’t remember Les Misérables not being in my life. One of my earliest memories was my mom getting the 10^th Anniversary Dream Cast on CD when it was released and dancing around the dining room table to Master of the House. When I was first asked if I would like to work on the archive, I called my mom and had a cry.

"She had introduced me to theatre at such a young age – local am-drams, classic movie musicals, Broadway cast recordings galore – but Les Mis was absolutely the gateway to my lifelong love of theatre as well as the arts overall. This is a chance to really be a part of this beloved musical's history.”

Draft lyrics and notes to 'I Dreamed a Dream'.

Draft lyrics and notes to 'I Dreamed a Dream'.

While Dr Savage has found many an exciting edit in Kretzmer’s second draft that may appeal to the more well-versed musical theatre fans, one change she focused on had a far wider reach: a simple word change from ‘common’ to ‘angry’ in the song Do You Hear the People Sing?.

The song, still heard in protests around the world, begins ‘Do you hear the people sing?/Singing the song of angry men’. The archive shows Kretzmer trying out various other words including ‘valiant’ and ‘fearless’, before deciding on ‘angry’.

Draft showing the small but significant change to 'The People's Song'.

Draft showing the small but significant change to 'The People's Song'.

Dr Savage’s favourite finding in the archive is the evolution of the song Stars. The song was written for the London production, fleshing out the character and drive of the villain Javert. “The melody – unlike those in the rest of the show – is only echoed in Javert’s soliloquies, further isolating him from the others but not the audience,” she explains.

Trevor Nunn wrote to Cameron Mackintosh in December 1985, evidently worried that the song was in danger of being cut.

Added Dr Savage: “It’s fascinating to see what might have been. Stars is my favourite song sung by my favourite character.”

In addition to illuminating the many and sometimes poignant changes made by Kretzmer from second draft onwards, the archive also reveals that legendary actors Max von Sydow, Brian Blessed, and Chaim Topol of Fiddler on the Roof fame, were all considered for roles in the original cast of Les Misérables, first performed at the Barbican in London.

While best known for his work on Les Misérables, Kretzmer was a prominent Fleet Street critic and commentator, working for the Daily Express and Daily Mail among others and interviewing some of the most famous celebrities of the 1960s and 70s. He only left journalism behind (except as an occasional guest writer) when he reached his sixties, following the stratospheric success and financial reward of Les Misérables.

The archive at Cambridge contains Kretzmer’s comprehensive scrapbooks of cuttings from both his newspaper days (he always considered himself a journalist first and lyricist second) as well as his career in the theatre.

His Les Misérables scrapbooks, spanning from the mid-80s to 2013, include production documents, themed envelopes from various events (the original Broadway opening has the ticket stub still inside!) invitations and ephemera from nominations (and wins) at the Tony, Olivier and Oscars award ceremonies.

Kretzmer's invite to an Oscar nominees luncheon following the Hollywood adaptation of the musical.

Kretzmer's invite to an Oscar nominees luncheon following the Hollywood adaptation of the musical.

His expertly-curated volumes of newspaper clippings testify to the fact that he interviewed and moved in the circles of some of the biggest star names of the day including Marlene Dietrich, Truman Capote and Kubrick, as well as collaborating directly with David Frost and Ned Sherrin for That Was The Week That Was, which permanently changed British TV and satire.

A letter from Frank Sinatra which references Kretzmer's interview with the star.

A letter from Frank Sinatra which references Kretzmer's interview with the star.

The archive also contains a signed moon landing photo of Buzz Aldrin presented to Kretzmer and his second wife Sybil, as well as a suave image of Kretzmer on stage in a theatre in an advert for Gordon’s Gin – a great visual example of his role as critic and commentator.

Elsewhere in the archive is correspondence from the BBC and his track list for Kretzmer’s appearance on Desert Island Discs (presented by Sue Lawley). He chose two of his own works in the 2003 broadcast.

Listen to Herbert Kretzmer's appearance on Desert Island Discs.

As well as scrapbooks, correspondence, photographs and memorabilia, the Kretzmer Archive at Cambridge also contains vinyl records, VHS videos, CDs, tape cassettes and floppy disks, speaking to the many technological eras which his career spanned.

Herbert’s widow, Sybil Kretzmer, said: “Cambridge is famous for producing some of the best performers and creators in theatre. Cambridge University Library has significant archives, state-of-the-art archival preservation facilities, and some of the best archivists.

“The prestige of Cambridge University reflects the impact and influence of Herbert’s work, and we know the archive will be preserved by the Library and live on for generations to come, just like Les Misérables itself.”

Kretzmer's notes and additions to his copy of the second draft.

Kretzmer's notes and additions to his copy of the second draft.

Kevin Roberts, archivist at Cambridge University Library, who is leading on cataloguing Kretzmer’s archive, said: “This is a hybrid, mixed-media archive. The born digital and audio-visual material provides some unique challenges around preservation and access, but also the wonderful, and very real, possibility of locating rare musical recordings made throughout his career – likely to have been heard by very few.

“I can’t wait to see how the collection will be used by researchers. Les Mis will certainly be a big draw, but I wonder what we can learn about Herbert’s influence as a journalist on film, television, music and theatre. This must have been significant but has yet to be fully explored.”

Published October 2, 2025

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