Blue Plaque for Sir John Betjeman
In the year that marks the centenary of his birth, the poet, writer, and broadcaster, Sir John Betjeman (1906 – 1984) was commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque.
The Plaque was placed at 31 Highgate West Hill, London, N6, where he lived from 1908 until 1917, and affectionately referenced in his blank verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells (1960) – “Deeply I loved thee, 31 West Hill.”
The son of a furniture manufacturer, John Betjemann (he later dropped the second ‘n’ for its Germanic connotations), was born in Gospel Oak, London, in 1906, but the family moved two years later to 31 West Hill (now Highgate West Hill), where they stayed for the next nine years. Some commentators have suggested that Betjeman, an only child, endured a rather lonely childhood; his teddy bear Archibald, his constant companion then, remained so for the rest of his life.
Family holidays were often spent in Betjeman’s beloved Cornwall, fondly recalled in many of his later poems. He was schooled locally at the Byron House Montessori School and Highgate Junior School before becoming a boarder at the Dragon School, Oxford, at the age of 11, and took an early interest in literature and drama. Later he went on to Marlborough College, a school with a strong sporting tradition, which the unathletic Betjeman disliked considerably.
In 1925, Betjeman went to Magdalen College, Oxford, but the many distractions of university life meant that he did not prove himself academically, and left without completing his degree. It was here however that Betjeman made the acquaintance of people who were to influence him considerably – W.H. Auden, Maurice Bowra, Osbert Lancaster and Tom Driberg, among others. His tutor C.S. Lewis, despite clashing with Betjeman, also made an impact on the young student. Betjeman recalled his college days with fondness, and many years later accepted an honorary D.Litt.
After Oxford, Betjeman went into prep school teaching, and began to contribute freelance pieces to the Architectural Review. He was appointed the magazine’s assistant editor in 1930, and went on to become film critic for the Evening Standard (1933). During this time his first book of poetry, Mount Zion (1931), was privately published and was followed in 1933 by Ghastly Good Taste, subtitled ‘A depressing story of the rise and fall of English Architecture’. In the same year Betjeman married the Hon. Penelope Chetwode – they had two children, Paul and Candida, born in 1937 and 1942.
Betjeman’s prolific writing output continued throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s, and by the time World War Two began, 13 volumes of The Shell Guides, a series of British county guides aimed at the growing motoring population, had been published. His editorial input into the popular series continued until 1967.
In 1941 Betjeman was posted to the United Kingdom High Commission in Dublin as a press attaché; he had volunteered for the RAF but was turned down on medical grounds. It was later revealed that Betjeman had been removed from a list of targets for assassination by the IRA because a senior provisional was fond of his verse. Over this time, Betjeman produced a number of his most popular volumes of poetry, and he enjoyed success with Old Lights for New Chancels (1940), New Bats in Old Belfries (1945) and A Few Late Chrysanthemums (1954).
Betjeman was rapidly becoming a well-known figure not only for his poetry, but his increasingly frequent radio and television appearances, most notably Metro-land (1973), a television documentary for the BBC which surveyed the London suburbs bordering the Metropolitan line.
An active and influential architectural conservationist, he was a driving force in the creation of the Victorian Society, and campaigned vigorously for the preservation of Victorian railway stations. Churches were a particular passion for Betjeman, as illustrated by his best selling book English Parish Churches (1958) and the broadcast series An A-Z of Churches (1960s). Betjeman’s conservation crusades – without which the fate of many buildings and structures could have been demolition – included St Pancras, King’s Cross and Liverpool Street stations, Bedford Park garden suburb, Clifton Suspension Bridge, Holy Trinity Church in Sloane Street, John Nash’s Regent’s Park terraces and Carlton House Terrace.
In later life, Betjeman produced more popular poetry volumes, including High and Low (1966), and A Nip in the Air (1974). In 1969 he was knighted and three years later succeeded Cecil Day-Lewis as Poet Laureate. In the last decade of his life, Betjeman increasingly suffered from the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease and, further weakened by a series of strokes; he died aged 77 at his Cornish home in Trebetherick in 1984, and was buried in the nearby churchyard of St Enodoc.
Betjeman became – and remains – a well-loved and respected national figure, not only for his enduring poetry, but for his passionate championship of architectural conservation. This year’s many celebrations to mark the centenary of Betjeman’s birth are testament to the continued affection and admiration with which the public hold the poet, writer, broadcaster, and heritage campaigner.
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