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Sir John Betjeman's public image is that of a lifelong devotee of the English upper classes. In a 40-year career as a poet, he celebrated the English countryside, poked affectionate fun at the country set and cursed the vulgarity of the lower orders. The same patrician viewpoint informed his writings on architecture. Appointed Poet Laureate in 1972, he was eventually hailed by The Times newspaper: 'By appointment: Teddy Bear to the Nation'.
Channel 4's The Real John Betjeman shows that behind the public image was a more complex reality. Combining hitherto unseen archive material with the testimony of friends ranging from journalist Simon Jenkins to Barry (Dame Edna Everage) Humphries, it shows that Betjeman was a high Tory lyricist who was deeply insecure about his social background and his gift for poetry; a believer in the cohesive force of Christianity who could not himself believe; and an apolitical old buffer who spied for Britain.
Finding his way.
John Betjeman's family background was far removed from the aristocratic milieu he loved. His father, a cabinet-maker, was descended from Dutch immigrants, and, when the First World War broke out, the eight-year-old Betjeman was bullied at school by children chanting 'Betjeman's a German spy!'
At Oxford, he found his niche as an entertainer, adept at amateur dramatics and comic verse. He also struck up a close friendship with the surrealist Edward James. After failing to complete his degree, he worked as a schoolteacher, then in 1930 began writing for The Architectural Review.
In 1932, his first book of poetry, Mount Zion, was published privately by James. The following year Betjeman brought out a polemical history of English architecture, Ghastly Good Taste. In the same year, he married Penelope Chetwode, and they settled in the Oxfordshire village of Uffington, where their son Paul was born in 1937.
During the war.
When the Second World War broke out, Betjeman was rejected for active service and went to work for the Ministry of Information. This led to a posting as press attaché to Sir John Maffey, Britain's High Commissioner in Ireland. The Betjemans lived in Dublin from 1941 to 1943, and their daughter Candida was born there.
Betjeman's official job in Ireland, which was neutral in the conflict, was influencing public opinion in Britain's favour. A particular coup was arranging for the battle scenes in Laurence Olivier's patriotic 1944 film of Henry V to be filmed in Ireland.
He also compiled regular reports on the state of Irish politics, including the activities of the IRA – elements of which advocated allying with Germany against Britain, their common enemy. The boy who had been teased as a 'German spy' had grown up to be a British spy.
More dramatic – not to say bizarre – evidence has recently emerged from within the IRA. In search of a coup which would divert attention from the divisions within its own organisation, the IRA planned to assassinate Betjeman. Luckily, Betjeman's prospective assassin recognised his name and jumped to the conclusion that because he was a good poet, he could not be a secret agent. The hit was called off.
After the war.
Betjeman resumed his career as poet and architectural critic, dividing his time between London, rural Oxfordshire and the Cornish coast which he had loved as a child. In 1948, his wife Penelope converted to Catholicism, but Betjeman did not follow suit. He became increasingly agnostic: after his father's death, he wrote:
You, God, who treat him thus and thus,
Say 'Save his soul and pray.'
You ask me to believe You and
I only see decay.
(On a Portrait of a Deaf Man, 1940)
However, Betjeman retained a strong sense of the value of belief. In Ghastly Good Taste, he had written: 'The only hope that I can put forward is that England will emerge from its present state of intense individualism ... Not until it is united in belief will its architecture regain coherence.' Betjeman longed for unthinking belief, for an end to reflection and doubt:
The church is just the same, though now I know
Fowler of Louth restored it. Time, bring back
The rapturous ignorance of long ago,
The peace, before the dreadful daylight starts,
Of unkept promises and broken hearts.
(Norfolk, 1954)
This yearning to be overwhelmed by something greater than himself sometimes took physical forms. His poetry often expresses a longing to be mastered by large, athletic women:
Pam, I adore you, Pam, you great big mountainous sports girl,
Whizzing them over the net, full of the strength of five.
(Pot Pourri from a Surrey Garden, 1940)
After 1948, John and Penelope Betjeman grew apart, the strength of her religious faith coming between them. Betjeman found companionship with Elizabeth Cavendish, whom he met in 1951 – the attraction was mutual, immediate and lifelong.
Later life.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Betjeman produced a stream of guidebooks and works on architecture, as well as writing and presenting radio and television programmes. He developed a kind of whimsically observant photojournalism: a celebrated example being his Metroland series, which surveyed the London suburbs bordering the Metropolitan line.
He was also an active conservationist; he campaigned for the preservation of Victorian railway stations and the reopening of disused churches, which he believed could assist the revival of Christianity.
His later years were troubled. Beset by loneliness and the fear of death which had been themes of his poetry since the 1940s, he was further weakened by Parkinson's disease and a series of strokes. He died in 1984, aged 77, and is buried in Cornwall. In a 1974 poem, The Last Laugh, he asked to be remembered, characteristically, as an entertainer.
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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.
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.
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.
Produced to accompany The Real John Betjeman, produced by 3BM, first screened on Channel 4 in December 2000.
Writer: Phil Edwards
Project manager: Sarah Woodley
Editor: Aleks Sierz
Web designer: Alan (Fred) Pipes.
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