Unlikely as it seems, TS Eliot and Groucho Marx were friends, of a sort. They became pen pals in 1961, when the author of The Waste Land wrote to the star of Animal Crackers asking for a signed photo. Three years later they met for dinner in London – a not entirely successful evening, according to Groucho: he wanted to discuss King Lear while Eliot preferred to chat about Duck Soup.
