John Betjeman

John Betjeman was without question the most popular poet of the twentieth century and his poems have been bought and read by millions. He opened eyes to what before him had seemed ordinary but is now unforgettable. There is no other poet remotely like him and this collection of favourites is a perfect reminder of his extraordinary originality and appeal. It is perfect too for those who still have in store the pleasure of discovery.


ISBN 071956834X

John Betjeman, appointed Poet Laureate in 1972, is celebrated as the best loved poet of the twentieth century. His subtle blend of wit and melancholia, affection and criticism continues to attract an ever-expanding readership. From beneath his sparkling wit and deceptively simple nostalgia, Betjeman emerges as the authority on a broad range of subjects from conservation and church architecture to tradition and Englishness.

ISBN: 9780719568329

John Betjeman was the most read of living poets and, at his death in 1984, was the most loved. This biography, full of amusing detail and delicious anecdotes, wonderfully recreates his extraordinary life. In this volume, Betjeman is at the height of his fame, universally adopted as Teddy Bear to the Nation.

ISBN 0719564956

John Betjeman was by far the most popular poet of the twentieth century. His collected poems sold over two million copies. Television audiences loved his quirky evocations of landscape and architecture. As Poet Laureate, he became a national icon, but behind the public man were doubts and demons. The poet best known for writing hymns of praise to athletic middle class girls on the tennis courts led a tempestuous emotional life. For much of his fifty year marriage to Penelope Chetwode, the daughter of a Field Marshall, Betjeman had a relationship with Elizabeth Cavendish, the daughter of the Duke of Devonshire and Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret. Betjeman, a devout Anglican, was tormented by guilt about the storms this emotional triangle caused. This book is the first to use fully the vast archive of personal material relating to Betjeman's private life, including literally hundreds of letters written by his wife about their life together and apart. Here too are chronicled his many friendships, ranging from 'Bosie' Douglas to the young satirists of "Private Eye", from the Mitford Sisters to the "Crazy Gang". This is a celebration of a much-loved poet, a brave campaigner for architecture at risk, and a highly popular public performer. Betjeman was the classic example of the melancholy clown, whose sadness found its perfect mood-music in the hymns of a poignant Anglicanism.

ISBN 9780091797027

This biography takes the reader from Betjeman's troubled childhood in north London, through his blossoming at Oxford; a gay fling with W. H. Auden; a clandestine marriage to a field marshal's daughter; pranks as a film critic; wartime service and probable espionage in Ireland, to the glory days of his later years when his Collected Poems became a runaway bestseller. This book is a distillation of Bevis Hillier's three-volume biography, authorized by Betjeman himself.

ISBN 9780719564444

Collected Poems made publishing history when it first appeared, and has now sold more than two million copies, to an ever-growing readership. This newly expanded edition includes Betjeman's verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells. With a new Introduction by Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, Collected Poems is the definitive Betjeman companion.

ISBN: 9780719568503

The best-loved of English poets, John Betjeman (1906-1984) was also a great champion of British heritage and his legacy lives on, not just in his poetry, but in his diaries, broadcasts and letters. He famously campaigned to save many church buildings and his work encouraged a greater appreciation of overlooked Victorian churches and architects. Illustrated with black and white photographs and accompanied by Glancey's amusing editorial notes, this is a beautiful book for enthusiasts of Betjeman, and people similarly passionate about conservation and restoration.

ISBN: 9780413776518

John Betjeman (1906-1984) was not only one of the best-loved Englishmen of the twentieth century, he was also the people's favourite poet and champion of many causes linked to the preservation of Britain's heritage. Whether those causes concerned buildings, bridges or railway branch lines, Betjeman was a feared adversary of bureaucratic excesses. This delightful little book is a celebration of his love of railways and rail travel. Ten letters selected by his daughter, Candida Lycett Green, each describe a journey that he made or that he planned to make or that he planned for a friend or relative. Jonathan Glancey has added his own words to each letter; words that set the scene, bring the letters to life, that describe Betjeman's moods - humorous, mischievous, brisk for business - and above all, remind us of the age of the steam locomotive in Britain and the many stations closed and track miles lost during the sixties and seventies.

ISBN: 9780413776129

In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems, and by the personal and critical reactions, they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to the most important poets in our literature. Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984) was born in Highgate, the son of a manufacturer of Dutch descent. After university, he joined the staff of the "Architectural Review", thereafter working as a journalist and, during the Second World War, for various government departments. His first book of poems was "Mount Zion" (1931), followed by numerous collections, notably "A Few Late Chrysantheumns" (1954). His poetry enjoyed immense popularity, as did his personality, and his knighthood in 1969, and appointment as Poet Laureate in 1972 were almost universally welcomed.

ISBN: 9780571230990

This text gathers together a selection of John Betjeman's writings spanning four decades, discussing buildings, townscape and landscape, together with appreciations of writers, artists and architects, ranging from Evelyn Waugh, Pugin and T.S. Eliot, to R.S. Thomas, Etchells and Jacob Epstein.

ISBN: 9780099268437

John Betjeman (1906-1984) was not simply one of the best-loved contemporary English poets but was also one of the best-loved Englishmen of the twentieth century. He was never, nor strove to be, the darling of intellectuals or academics, but by pure chance became the darling of the ordinary man in the street. Volume I of Betjeman's selected letters covers his life from university days through to his period on the staff of The Architectural Review and as editor of the Shell Guides in the thirties; his time as Press Attache in Dublin during the War; and his activities as a broadcaster on radio and television and as a public speaker which established him as an authority and enthusiast in a wide range of fields - literary, artistic, architectural. Volume II covers his life from the age of forty-six when his popularity as poet and broadcaster and as campaigner against the destruction of fine buildings was reaching its height. His correspondents ranged from people in the world of literature and the arts - T. S. Eliot, Cyril Connolly, Evelyn Waugh, Auberon Waugh, John Piper, Philip Larkin and Kingsley Amis, to family and cherished friends - Alan Pryce-Jones, Myfanwy Piper, Nancy Mitford, Osbert Lancaster and later Mary Wilson. He wrote eloquently and passionately on poetry, religion, architecture and town planning and letters to his family recorded adventures in America - gloomy, and Australia - jubilant. His letters are at once serious, comforting, sparkling with humour and sometimes as tumultuous as life itself. In these two volumes, Candida Lycett Green has created a loving portrait of her father, and her notes and introductions to the works serve to amplify her own feelings for a kindly, gentle and universally admired man. This publication coincides with a series of events nationwide to celebrate the centenary of Betjeman's birth on 28 August this year. There is huge media buzz for the centenary. John Murray is reissuing Betjeman's poetry.

ISBN: 9780413775955

"The Little Book of John Betjeman" is a charming evocation of the late Poet Laureate?s life and work and is published to coincide with the centenary of his birth on 28th August 2006, an event that will be widely publicised and observed worldwide. The book is lavishly illustrated throughout, in both colour and black & white, with some hitherto unpublished pictures of the poet and many very rare first editions from the author?s personal collection. Peter Gammond knew John Betjeman and the members of his circle of friends at Oxford, such as Maurice Bowra, and, as Vice-Chairman and a former Chairman of The John Betjeman Society, he is uniquely qualified to write about Britain?s best-loved poet of the 20th century.

ISBN: 9780954361761

John Betjeman's verse is poignantly evocative of the agonies and delights of growing up. In this collection his adoration of athletic sports girls is celebrated, his tender vision of the landscapes of Cornwall, Pontefract and the London suburbs is vividly evoked, and his ambiguous attitude towards Christianity wittily expressed.

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ISBN: 9781844561964

Betjeman is arguably Britain's best-loved and most widely read poet. "Summoned By Bells", his verse autobiography, is brim-full of classic Betjeman themes. It tells the story of a boy's growth to early manhood - seaside holidays, meddling aunts, school bullies, an unexpected moment of religious awakening, then Oxford, and sparkling pen-portraits of the literary greats he met there. His unabashedly musical verse is poignant, comic, reverent, defiant, devoted and, always, full of feeling.

PUBLICATION DATE OCTOBER 2007

ISBN: 9780719522208

This unique collection brings together a series ofBBC Radiotalks John Betjeman gave towards the end of his life. Previously unpublished, and brought together for the first time by the editor of the bestselling Trains and Buttered Toast", Stephen Games, these talks concerning hymns and hymn writers were Betjeman's swan song as a broadcaster. 'Hymns are the poems of the people', Betjeman observed in his first talk, and went on to show how variously this insight has been borne out over generations. Rich in anecdote and packed with information, these timeless talks will appeal to fans of Betjeman and newcomers alike, and will inspire everyone whohas a fondness for hymns, and delights in Betjeman's unique voice

ISBN: 9780340963883

Betjeman's England is a place of patriotic poets and seaside coves, provincial cathedrals and eccentric dons. For fifty years, Betjeman celebrated the glories of Englishness and what it meant to be English. Against a tide of rapid change, he unearthed forgotten heroes, bygone haunts and old-fashioned modes of thought. But as this original collection reveals, his appeal goes far beyond simple nostalgia. It lies in his passionate convictions, his humour and his humanity. What does it mean to be English? What is Englishness? For fifty years, at a time when other people were becoming more internationally aware, John Betjeman immersed himself in the glories of English culture - its places, its writings, its heroes. Seaside architecture, national poets, the great cathedrals, our ancient townscapes - all were hard-won achievements, he pleaded, with pleasures and delights that we threw away at our peril. "Tennis Whites and Teacakes" brings together the best of Betjeman's poetry, private letters, journalism and musings to present a fully rounded picture of what he stood for. From his arguments for new steel buildings to his amusement about the etiquette of village teashops, it reveals Betjeman not just as a sentimentalist but as a passionate observer with a wonderful sense of humour and an acute eye

ISBN: 9780719569043

"Tennis Whites and Teacakes" is a medley of Betjeman's poetry, private letters, journalism and musings. Weaved together they vividly tell the story of Betjeman's life in his own words. From his boyhood anxieties to his passion for all things English, it reveals Betjeman not just as a sentimentalist but as a passionate observer with a wonderful sense of humour and an acute eye. Betjeman's world is a place of patriotic poets and seaside coves, provincial cathedrals and eccentric dons. For fifty years, Betjeman celebrated the glories of Englishness and what it meant to be English. Against a tide of rapid change, he unearthed forgotten heroes, bygone haunts and old-fashioned modes of thought. But as this original collection reveals, his appeal goes far beyond simple nostalgia. It lies in his passionate convictions, his humour and his humanity. This audiobook is read by Charles Collingwood - the voice of Brian Aldridge from "The Archers".

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ISBN: 9780719569050

Eccentric, sentimental and homespun, John Betjeman's passions were mostly self-taught. He saw his country being devastated by war and progress and he waged a private war to save it. His only weapons were words - the poetry for which he is best known and, even more influential, the radio talks that first made him a phenomenon. From fervent pleas for provincial preservation to humoresques on eccentric vicars and his own personal demons, Betjeman's talks combined wit, nostalgia and criticism in a way that touched the soul of his listeners from the 1930s to the 1950s. Now collected in book form for the first time, his broadcasts represent one of the most compelling archives of twentieth-century broadcasting, reawakening the modern reader to Betjeman's unique perspective and the compelling magic of the golden age of wireless.

ISBN: 9780719561276

Showing a youthful poet quite unlike his later, confident images, "Young Betjeman" sets the poet among a cast which includes Evelyn Waugh, Nancy Mitford, Harold Acton, W.H. Auden and Anthony Blunt. Betjeman's unique sense of comedy, his years with the Bright Young Things and outrageous stint as a prep school master, his rapid sequence of early loves and occasional vendettas combine to make this an entertaining and enlightening biography.

ISBN: 9780719564888