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The Real John Betjeman
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Websites
John Betjeman Society
www.sndc.demon.co.uk/alslist.htm#JBE
List of upcoming events and links to membership details.
Lobster
www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/
The acclaimed 'parapolitical' magazine which named Betjeman as an MI6 asset in 1985. It contains details of other secret service revelations.
National Piers Society
www.piers.co.uk/
The society, founded by Betjeman, for the preservation of Britain's littoral architectural heritage.
Metroland
www.metroland.org
A fascinating, sprawling site. Not so much a homage to Betjeman, more a series of variations on the theme of suburbia.
The Metropolitan Line
www.davros.org/rail/culg/metropolitan.html
The essential trainspotter's guide to Metroland.
Books
Collected Poems by John Betjeman (John Murray, 1979) £17.99
A comprehensive collection of most of Betjeman's poems in a best-selling
edition which has sold nearly 2,000,000 copies.
Uncollected Poems by John Betjeman (John Murray, 1982) £9.99
More of Betjeman's poems, mainly work that came to light after his death.
Summoned by Bells by John Betjeman (John Murray, 1976) £9.99
First published in 1960, Betjeman's verse autobiography has sold more copies than any other 20th-century English poem of similar length.
The Illustrated Summoned by Bells by John Betjeman (John Murray,
1993) £11.99
Betjeman's verse autobiography illustrated by Hugh Casson.
Illustrated Poems of John Betjeman by John Betjeman (John Murray,
1997) £11.99
Betjeman's verse illustrated in a pastoral style by David Gentleman.
The Best of Betjeman edited by John Guest (Penguin, 1989) £6.39
As well as poems and short stories, this selection includes Betjeman's writings on architecture, social history, conservation, railways, country life, and Christianity. Includes a version of Metroland.
Coming Home edited by Candida Lycett Green (Vintage, 1998) £7.99
Edited by his daughter, this collection of Betjeman's prose covers his essays about buildings and landscapes, as well as his appreciations of writers such as Evelyn Waugh and TS Eliot.
John Betjeman Letters: Volume 1, 1926-1951 (Methuen, 1995) £12.99
John
Betjeman Letters: Volume 2, 1952-1984 (Methuen, 1996) £9.99
Two volumes of Betjeman's letters have been published, both edited by
his daughter Candida Lycett Green.
Young Betjeman by Bevis Hillier (John Murray, 1988) £17.95
The definitive biography, this volume covers Betjeman's youth.
John Betjeman by Bevis Hillier (John Murray, 2002) £25
Other half of Hillier's biography, covering Betjeman's later life.
Stylistic Cold Wars: Betjeman versus Pevsner by Timothy Mowl
(John Murray, 2000) £14.99
A revealing account of the conflicting viewpoints of Betjeman the traditionalist and Nikolaus Pevsner the modernist on the subject of architecture and art.
Sunrise with Sea Monster by Neil Jordan (Vintage, 1996) £5.99
Film-maker Neil Jordan's novel depicts the strange and fractured world of the wartime IRA. A good source for background atmosphere.
Audio
Betjeman's Banana Blush by John Betjeman and Jim Parker (Virgin
Chattering CD) £6.99
Late-Flowering Love by John Betjeman
and Jim Parker (Virgin Chattering CD) £6.99
In the 1970s, Betjeman made a series of LPs in which he read his poems
over jaunty music by Jim Parker. The combination is extraordinarily effective:
a distinctive Betjeman voice comes across, lugubrious, dotty, slightly
camp and very English.
John Betjeman: Poetry from the BBC archives by John Betjeman
(BBC Audio, 1998) £8.99
Recordings of Betjeman reading his poetry, compiled from more than 30 years of BBC radio programmes.
Betjeman Reads Betjeman by John Betjeman (Random House Audiobook,
1994) £6.39
More gems read by Betjeman himself.
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