Nicholas Hagger

Nicholas Hagger (born 22 May 1939) is a British poet, man of letters, cultural historian and commentator, and philosopher. He has been a proponent of philosophical Universalism.^[1]

Hagger was educated at Oaklands School in Loughton, Essex, and at Chigwell School, Essex where he read Classics. He attended Worcester College, Oxford, where he read English Literature under Christopher Ricks.^[2]

Hagger worked with British Intelligence in the 1960s and early 1970s. He was talent spotted by John Cecil Masterman, provost of Worcester College while Hagger was there. He was interviewed by Charles Woodhouse at MI6's "front office" in 3 Carlton Gardens.^[3][4] In his two volume memoirs, My Double Life he says he declined permanent involvement with MI6, but describes periodic involvement with intelligence assignments spying on Muamar Gaddafi and African national liberation movements such as UNITA, ZANU, ZAPU, and the MPLA.^[4]

He was sponsored by the British Council^[5] as a lecturer at the University of Baghdad, Iraq, from 1961 to 1962 and then at the University of Tokyo (1964 to 1965), Tokyo University of Education (now University of Tsukuba) and Keio University, a combined post (1963 to 1967), where he was also Visiting Foreign Professor. From 1968 to 1970 he was at the University of Libya, Tripoli ^[6][7][8] He was also tutor to Emperor Hirohito’s second son, Masahito, Prince Hitachi from 1964 until 1967.^[9] He wrote for The Times and taught in London. Hagger acquired four schools and set up the Oak-Tree Group of Schools.^[10]

In 1997 he bought Otley Hall in Otley, Suffolk, and for seven years ran it as a historic house.

Hagger is the author of 65 books. His works reflect a lifelong quest to uncover the unity of the universe and humankind in verse and prose, a vision he calls Universalism. Hagger's philosophical Universalism seeks to reflect the universe as a whole and spans seven disciplines: literature, mysticism, philosophy and science, history, comparative religion, international relations/statecraft, and world culture. Hagger's writings are interconnected and cross-disciplinary, and can be explored within each discipline:

• Literature, poetic works which began in the Modernist style but adopted more traditional stanzaic form, rhyming and blank verse (A Baroque Vision) after Hagger visited Ezra Pound in 1970^[11], comprising 2,551 poems (including 421 classical odes and 567 sonnets), two poetic epics (Overlord and Armageddon), two mock-heroic poems, five verse plays and three masques (among the largest collections by any poet); 1,425 short stories, diaries, autobiographies and literary travelogues; and a prose work (A New Philosophy of Literature) setting out the fundamental theme of all world literature as two antithetical traditions (the quest for the One and condemnation of social follies and vices) and their unification in the Baroque;
• Mysticism, spiritual autobiographies describing the experience of the Light such as My Double Life, and metaphysical explorations;
• Philosophy and science, works (The New Philosophy of Universalism and The Algorithm of Creation) outlining Universalism, a system that identifies a law of order in the universe, rooted in the infinite and pre-dating the Big Bang;
• History, studies of 25 civilizations that go through similar stages (The Fire and the Stones and The Rise and Fall of Civilizations); investigations into the influence of secretive organizations on world events (The Syndicate, The Secret History of the West and The Secret Founding of America); and eyewitness accounts;
• Comparative religion, a work (The Light of Civilization) on the shared mystical essence, the experience of Light, across traditions;
• International politics and statecraft, works of political philosophy (The World Government, World State and World Constitution) proposing a World State and altruistic global governance); and
• World culture, a work (The Secret American Destiny) setting out cultural unity across civilizations.

His major works include The Fire and the Stones (1991), The Secret Founding of America (2007), The New Philosophy of Universalism (2009), World State (2018), and The Algorithm of Creation (2023).

He lives in Essex and now devotes the greater part of his life to writing. In November 2016 Hagger was awarded the Gusi Peace Prize for Literature.^[12] In 2019, he also received the Golden Phoenix medal of the Russian Ecological Foundation, and the BRICS silver medal for 'Vision for Future'.^[13][14] He is on the Board of Advisors of the recently established Galileo Commission, which seeks to expand the scope of science.^[15]

The University of Essex has Hagger's archive of literary works (manuscripts and papers) on permanent deposit as a Special Collection in the Albert Sloman Library.^[16]

• Scargill the Stalinist?, The Communist Role in the 1984 Miners’ Strike (1984)
• The Fire and the Stones: A Grand Unified Theory of World History and Religion (1991)
• Selected Poems: A Metaphysical's Way of Fire (1991)
• The Universe and the Light: A New View of the Universe and Reality (1993)
• Collected Poems: A White Radiance, 1958–1993 (1994)
• A Mystic Way: A Spiritual Autobiography (1994)
• Awakening to the Light: Diaries, Volume 1, 1958–1967 (1994)
• A Spade Fresh with Mud, Collected Stories, Volume 1 (1995)
• Overlord: The Triumph of Light, 1944–45, Books 1–2 (1995)
• The Warlords: From D-Day to Berlin, Parts 1 and 2 (1995)
• A Smell of Leaves and Summer: Collected Stories, Volume 2 (1995)
• Overlord: The Triumph of Light, 1944–45, Books 3–6 (1995)
• Overlord: The Triumph of Light, 1944–45, Books 7–9 (1997)
• Overlord: The Triumph of Light, 1944–45, Books 10–12 (1997)
• The Tragedy of Prince Tudor: A Nightmare (1999)
• The One and the Many: Universalism and the Vision of Unity (1999)
• Wheeling Bats and a Harvest Moon: Collected Stories, Volume 3 (1999)
• The Warm Glow of the Monastery Courtyard: Collected Stories, Volume 4 (1999)
• The Syndicate: The Story of the Coming World Government (2004)
• The Secret History of the West: The Influence of Secret Organisations on Western History from the Renaissance to the 20th Century (2005)
• The Light of Civilization: How the Vision of God has Inspired All the Great Civilizations (2006)
• Classical Odes, 1958–2005 (2006)
• Overlord: The Triumph of Light, 1944–1945 (2006)
• Collected Poems, 1958–2005 (2006)
• Collected Verse Plays (2007)
• Collected Stories: A Thousand and One Mini-Stories or Verbal Paintings (2007)
• The Secret Founding of America: The Real Story of Freemasons, Puritans and the Battle for the New World (2007)
• The Last Tourist in Iran, From Persepolis to Nuclear Natanz (2008)
• The Rise and Fall of Civilizations: Why Civilizations Rise and Fall and What Happens When They End (2008)
• The New Philosophy of Universalism: The Infinite and the Law of Order (2009)
• The Libyan Revolution: Its Origins and Legacy, A Memoir and Assessment (2009)
• Armageddon: The Triumph of Universal Order, An Epic Poem on the War on Terror and of Holy-War Crusaders (2010)
• The World Government: A Blueprint for a Universal World State (2010)
• The Secret American Dream: The Creation of a New World Order with the Power to Abolish War, Poverty, and Disease (2011)
• A New Philosophy of Literature: The Fundamental Theme and Unity of World Literature (2012)
• A View of Epping Forest (2012)^[17]
• My Double Life 1: This Dark Wood (2015)^[18][19]
• My Double Life 2: A Rainbow over the Hills (2015)
• Selected Stories: Follies and Vices of the Modern Elizabethan Age (2015)
• Selected Poems: Quest for the One (2015)
• The Dream of Europa: The Triumph of Peace (2015)
• The First Dazzling Chill of Winter (2016)
• Life Cycle and Other New Poems 2006–2016 (2016)
• The Secret American Destiny (2016)
• The Secret Founding of America, re-issued (2016)
• Peace for our Time: A Reflection on War and Peace and a Third World War (2018)
• World State: Introduction to the United Federation of the World, How a democratically-elected World Government can replace the UN and bring peace (2018)
• World Constitution: Constitution for the United Federation of the World (2018)
• King Charles the Wise (2018)^[20]
• Visions of England (2019)^[21]
• Fools’ Paradise (2020)^[22]
• Selected Letters (2021)
• The Coronation of King Charles (2021)
• Collected Prefaces (2022)
• Fools’ Gold (2022)
• The Fall of the West (2022)
• The Promised Land (2023)
• The Golden Phoenix (2023)
• The Algorithm of Creation (2023)
• The Tree of Tradition (2024)
• The Building of the Great Pyramid (2024)
• A Baroque Vision (2024)
• The Essentials of Universalism (2024)
• The Oak Tree and the Branch (2025)
• The Still Brimming Twilit River (2025)