View source for John Betjeman

{{Short description|English poet (1906–1984)}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[Knight Bachelor|Sir]]
| name                = John Betjeman
| honorific_suffix    = {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100|CBE}}
| birth_name          = John Betjemann
| image               = Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984).jpg
| image_size          = 220
| office              = [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom]]
| monarch             = [[Elizabeth II]]
| term_start          = 20 October 1972
| term_end            = 19 May 1984
| predecessor         = [[Cecil Day-Lewis]]
| successor           = [[Ted Hughes]]
| caption             = Betjeman in 1961
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=y|1906|8|28}}
| birth_place         = London, England
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|df=y|1984|5|19|1906|8|28}}
| death_place         = [[Trebetherick]], Cornwall, England
| occupation          = Poet, writer, broadcaster
| education           = [[Marlborough College]]
| alma_mater          = [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Penelope Chetwode]]|29 July 1933|1972|end={{abbr|sep.|separated}}}}
| partner             = [[Lady Elizabeth Cavendish]]
| children            = 2, including [[Candida Lycett Green]]
}}

'''Sir John Betjeman''' {{postnom|country=GBR|CBE}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɛ|tʃ|ə|m|ən}}; 28 August 1906{{spaced ndash}}19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]] from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of [[The Victorian Society]] and first president of The Hackney Society<ref>{{Cite book |last=Batchelder |first=David |title=From Tower to Tower Block - The buildings of Hackney |publisher=The Hackney Society |year=1979 |isbn=0950655805}}</ref> and a passionate defender of [[Victorian architecture]], helping to save [[St Pancras railway station]] from demolition. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television.

==Life==

===Early life and education===
Betjeman was born in London to a prosperous silverware maker of Dutch descent.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}} His parents, Mabel ({{Nee|Dawson}}) and Ernest Betjemann, had a family firm at 34–42 [[Pentonville Road]] which manufactured the kind of ornamental household furniture and gadgets distinctive to [[Victorian era|Victorians]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=119449|title=Survey of London: volume 47: Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville|publisher=[[English Heritage]]|year=2008|access-date=28 February 2014|pages=339–372}}</ref>

During the First World War the family name was changed to the less German-looking Betjeman. His father's forebears had actually come from the present day [[Netherlands]] more than a century earlier, setting up their home and business in [[Islington]], London, and during the [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]] had, ironically, added the extra "-n" to avoid the anti-Dutch sentiment existing at the time.<ref name="Mowl2011">{{cite book|last=Mowl|first=Timothy |author-link=Timothy Mowl|title=Stylistic Cold Wars: Betjeman Versus Pevsner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vKR9DwEACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-27535-9|page=13}}</ref>

Betjeman was baptised at St Anne's Church, Highgate Rise, a 19th-century church at the foot of [[Highgate West Hill]].  The family lived at Parliament Hill Mansions in the [[Lissenden Gardens]] private estate in [[Gospel Oak]] in north London.

In 1909, the Betjemanns moved half a mile north to more opulent [[Highgate]]. From West Hill they lived in the reflected glory of the [[Holly Lodge Estate|Burdett-Coutts estate]]:

{{blockquote|<poem>
Here from my eyrie, as the sun went down,
I heard the old [[North London Railway|North London]] puff and shunt,
Glad that I did not live in Gospel Oak.{{sfn|Betjeman|1960|p=}}
</poem>}}

Betjeman's early schooling was at the local [[Byron House School|Byron House]] and [[Highgate School]], where he was taught by poet [[T. S. Eliot]]. After this, he boarded at the [[Dragon School]] [[Preparatory school (England)|preparatory school]] in North Oxford and [[Marlborough College]], a [[Independent school (UK)|Private

school]] in Wiltshire. In his penultimate year, he joined the secret Society of Amici<ref name="Hinde1992">{{cite book|last=Hinde|first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Hinde|title=Paths of Progress: A History of Marlborough College|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOerAAAACAAJ|year=1992|publisher=James & James|isbn=978-0-907383-33-8}}</ref> in which he was a contemporary of both [[Louis MacNeice]] and [[Graham Shepard]]. He founded ''[[The Heretick]]'', a satirical magazine that lampooned Marlborough's obsession with sport. While at school, his exposure to the works of [[Arthur Machen]] won him over to [[High Church]] [[Anglicanism]], a conversion of importance to his later writing and conception of the arts.<ref name="Gardner2006">{{cite book |last=Gardner |first=Kevin J. |title=Faith and Doubt of John Betjeman: An Anthology of his Religious Verse|url={{google books|id=VKW6BwAAQBAJ|plainurl=yes|keywords=high church|page=xxi}}|year=2006|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-5354-8}}</ref> Betjeman left Marlborough in July 1925.<ref name=register>{{cite book |title=Marlborough College Register 1843–1952|publisher=The Bursar|location=Marlborough|date=1953|page=653 |chapter=Betjeman, John}}</ref>

===Magdalen College, Oxford===
Betjeman entered the [[University of Oxford]] with difficulty, having failed the mathematics portion of the university's matriculation exam, [[Responsions]]. He was, however, admitted as a [[Commoner (academia)|commoner]] (i.e., a non-scholarship student) at [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]] and entered the newly created School of English Language and Literature. At Oxford, Betjeman made little use of the academic opportunities. His tutor, a young [[C. S. Lewis]], regarded him as an "idle prig" and Betjeman in turn considered Lewis unfriendly, demanding, and uninspiring as a teacher.<ref name="OxfordToday">{{cite web|last=Priestman|first=Judith|url=http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/2005-06/v18n3/05.shtml|title=The dilettante and the dons|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417002131/http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/2005-06/v18n3/05.shtml |archive-date=17 April 2009 |work=[[Oxford Today]]|date= 2006}}</ref> Betjeman particularly disliked the coursework's emphasis on linguistics, and dedicated most of his time to cultivating his social life, his interest in [[Church architecture of England|English ecclesiastical architecture]], and private literary pursuits.

At Oxford, he was a friend of [[Maurice Bowra]], later to be Warden of [[Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham]] (1938 to 1970). Betjeman had a poem published in ''[[Isis (magazine)|Isis]]'', the university magazine, and served as editor of the ''[[Cherwell (newspaper)|Cherwell]]'' student newspaper during 1927. His first book of poems was privately printed with the help of fellow student [[Edward James]]. He brought his teddy bear [[Archibald Ormsby-Gore]] up to Magdalen with him, the memory of which inspired his Oxford contemporary [[Evelyn Waugh]] to include [[Sebastian Flyte]]'s teddy [[Aloysius (Waugh)|Aloysius]] in ''[[Brideshead Revisited]]''. Much of this period of his life is recorded in his [[blank verse]] autobiography, ''[[Summoned by Bells]]'', published in 1960 and made into a television film in 1976.<ref name="Peterson2006">{{cite book|last=Peterson|first=William S. |title=John Betjeman: A Bibliography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wLNathQPNgC|year=2006|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-818403-4}}</ref>

It is a common misapprehension, cultivated by Betjeman himself, that he did not complete his degree because he failed to pass the compulsory holy scripture examination, [[Oxford "-er"|known colloquially as "Divvers"]], short for "Divinity". In [[Hilary term]] 1928, Betjeman failed Divinity for the second time. He had to leave the university for the [[Trinity term]] to prepare for a retake of the exam; he was then allowed to return in October. Betjeman then wrote to the Secretary of the Tutorial Board at [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen]], G. C. Lee, asking to be entered for the Pass School, a set of examinations taken on rare occasions by undergraduates who are deemed unlikely to achieve an [[British undergraduate degree classification|honours degree]]. In ''Summoned by Bells'' Betjeman claims that his tutor, C. S. Lewis, said "You'd have only got a third"&nbsp;– but he had informed the tutorial board that he thought Betjeman would not achieve an honours degree of any class.<ref name="OxfordToday"/>

Permission to sit the Pass School was granted. Betjeman decided to offer a paper in Welsh. [[Osbert Lancaster]] tells the story that a tutor came by train twice a week (first class) from [[Aberystwyth]] to teach Betjeman. However, [[Jesus College, Oxford|Jesus College]] had a number of Welsh tutors who more probably would have taught him. Betjeman finally had to leave at the end of the [[Michaelmas term]], 1928.<ref name="Hillier2003">{{cite book|last=Hillier|first=Bevis |author-link=Bevis Hillier|title=Young Betjeman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYpDPgAACAAJ|year=2003|publisher=John Murray|isbn=978-0-7195-6488-8|pages=181–194}}</ref> Betjeman did pass his Divinity examination on his third try but was expelled after failing the Pass School. He had achieved a satisfactory result in only one of the three required papers (on [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] and other English authors).<ref name="OxfordToday" /> Betjeman's academic failure at Oxford rankled him for the rest of his life and he was never reconciled with C. S. Lewis, towards whom he nursed a bitter detestation. This situation was perhaps complicated by his enduring love of Oxford, from which he accepted an honorary [[Doctor of Letters|doctorate of letters]] in 1974.<ref name="OxfordToday" />

===After university===
[[File:Wadebridge, The John Betjeman Centre Memorabilia Room - geograph.org.uk - 211005.jpg|thumb|right|The John Betjeman Centre Memorabilia Room showing the office from his home in [[Trebetherick]]]]
Betjeman left Oxford without a degree. Whilst there, however, he had made the acquaintance of people who would later influence his work, including [[Louis MacNeice]] and [[W. H. Auden]].<ref name="Taylor-Martin1983">{{Cite book |last=Taylor-Martin |first=Patrick |url={{google books|id=eMIVAAAAMAAJ|page=35|keywords=Wystan Auden|plainurl=yes}} |title=John Betjeman, his life and work |publisher=Allen Lane |year=1983 |page=35}}</ref> He worked briefly as a private secretary, school teacher and film critic for the ''[[Evening Standard]]'', where he also wrote for their high-society gossip column, the "[[Londoner's Diary]]". He was employed by the ''[[Architectural Review]]'' between 1930 and 1935, as a full-time assistant editor, following their publishing of some of his freelance work. [[Timothy Mowl]] (2000) says, "His years at the ''Architectural Review'' were to be his true university".<ref name="Mowl2011" /> At this time, while his prose style matured, he joined the [[MARS Group]], an organisation of young modernist architects and architectural critics in Britain.

In 1937, Betjeman was a [[churchwarden]] at [[Uffington, Oxfordshire|Uffington]], the Berkshire village (in [[Oxfordshire]] since boundary changes of 1974) where he lived from 1934 to 1945. That year, he paid for the cleaning of the church's royal arms and later presided over the conversion of the church's [[oil lamp]]s to electricity.<ref name= Delaney>{{Cite book |last=Delaney |first=Frank |title=Betjeman Country |date=1983 |publisher=Paladin (Granada) |isbn=0-586-08499-1 |page=158}}</ref>

The ''[[Shell Guides]]'' were developed by Betjeman and [[Jack Beddington]], a friend who was publicity manager with [[Shell-Mex & BP]], to guide Britain's growing number of motorists around the counties of Britain and their historical sites. They were published by the Architectural Press and financed by [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]]. By the start of World War II, 13 had been published, of which ''[[Cornwall]]'' (1934) and ''[[Devon]]'' (1936) were written by Betjeman. A third, ''[[Shropshire]]'', was written with and designed by his good friend [[John Piper (artist)|John Piper]] in 1951.

In 1939, Betjeman was rejected for military service in World War II but found war work with the films division of the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]]. In 1941, he became British press attaché in neutral [[Dublin]], Ireland, working with [[John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby|Sir John Maffey]]. He is reported to have been selected for murder by the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|IRA]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gibbons |first=Fiachra |date=23 April 2000 |title=How verse saved poet laureate from the IRA |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/22/books.booksnews |access-date=7 April 2020 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> The order was rescinded after a meeting with an unnamed Old IRA man who was impressed by his works.

Betjeman wrote poems based on his experiences in [[The Emergency (Ireland)|Ireland]] during the "Emergency" (the war) including "The Irish Unionist's Farewell to Greta Hellstrom in 1922" (written during the war) which contained the refrain "Dungarvan in the rain".<ref name="Betjeman 1922">{{Cite web |last=Betjeman |first=John |date=1922 |title=The Irish Unionist's farewell to Greta Hellastrom |url=http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/john_betjeman/poems/810}}</ref> The object of his affections, "Greta", remained a mystery until revealed to have been a member of a well-known [[Protestant Ascendancy|Anglo-Irish]] family of Western [[county Waterford]]. His official brief included establishing friendly contacts with leading figures in the Dublin literary scene: he befriended [[Patrick Kavanagh]], then at the very start of his career. Kavanagh celebrated the birth of Betjeman's daughter with a poem "Candida"; another well-known poem contains the line ''Let John Betjeman call for me in a car''. From March to November 1944 Betjeman was assigned to another wartime job, working on publicity for the Admiralty in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]].{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

===After the Second World War===
[[File:John Betjeman's house on Cloth Fair.jpg|thumb|Betjeman's house in [[Cloth Fair]] in the [[City of London]], marked with a [[blue plaque]] (August 2007)]]
By 1948, Betjeman had published more than a dozen books. Five of these were verse collections, including one in the US. Sales of his ''Collected Poems'' in 1958 reached 100,000.<ref name="FandF">{{Cite web | title = John Betjeman  | work = Faber & Faber | date = n.d. | access-date = 31 July 2018 | url = https://www.faber.co.uk/author/john-betjeman/ }}</ref> The popularity of the book prompted [[Ken Russell]] to make a film about him, ''John Betjeman: A Poet in London'' (1959). Filmed in 35&nbsp;mm and running 11 minutes and 35 seconds, it was first shown on the [[BBC]]'s ''[[Monitor (UK TV series)|Monitor]]'' programme.<ref name="BFI2014">{{Cite web | title =John Betjeman: A Poet in London (1959) | work = BFI Screenonline |year = 2014 | access-date = 31 July 2018 | url = http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/929290/index.html }}</ref> From 1945 till 1951 he lived at The Old Rectory, [[Farnborough, Berkshire|Farnborough]], [[Berkshire]].<ref name=register/> In 1951 he moved to the Mead in nearby [[Wantage]], until 1971. His daughter Candida was married in the church there in May 1963.

Betjeman continued writing guidebooks and works on architecture during the 1960s and 1970s and began to broadcast.  Betjeman was closely associated with the culture and spirit of [[Metro-land]], as outer reaches of the [[Metropolitan Railway]] were known before the war.
In 1967, Betjeman was considered as a candidate to be the new [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom]], following the death of [[John Masefield]]. He was rejected after the [[Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary]] John Hewitt consulted with Dame [[Helen Gardner (critic)|Helen Gardner]], the [[Merton Professor of English]] at the [[University of Oxford]] (who stated that Betjeman was "a lightweight, amusing but rather trivial" with "critical views about [[the establishment]]") and Geoffrey Handley-Taylor, chair of [[The Poetry Society]] (who stated that Betjeman "called himself a poetic hack and there was some truth to this"). [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Harold Wilson]] ultimately selected [[Cecil Day-Lewis]] after Hewitt recommended him over Betjeman, whom Hewitt described to Wilson as a "backward-looking choice" and "the songster of tennis lawns and cathedral cloisters".<ref name="BBC2023">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66224984|work=[[BBC News]]|title=No 10 turned down Larkin, Auden and other poets for laureate job|date=19 July 2023|first=Sanchia|last=Berg}}</ref>

Betjeman became Poet Laureate in 1972 following the death of Day-Lewis, the first [[Knight Bachelor]] to be appointed (the only other, Sir [[William Davenant]], was knighted after his appointment). This role, combined with his profile from television appearances, ensured that his poetry reached a wider audience. Similarly to [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]], he managed to voice the thoughts and aspirations of many ordinary people while retaining the respect of many of his fellow poets. This is partly because of the apparently simple traditional metrical structures and rhymes he uses.<ref name="poetryarchive.org">{{Cite web | title = John Betjeman  | work = The Poetry Archive |year = 2016 | access-date = 31 July 2018 | url = https://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/john-betjeman# }}</ref>
In the early 1970s, he began a recording career of four albums on [[Charisma Records]] – ''Banana Blush'', ''Late Flowering Love'' (both 1974), ''Sir John Betjeman's Britain'' (1977) and ''Varsity Rag'' (1981) where his poetry reading is set to music composed by [[Jim Parker (composer)|Jim Parker]] with overdubbing by leading musicians of the time.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jul/31/tv-score-composer-and-betjeman-collaborator-jim-parker-dies-aged-88 'TV score composer and Betjeman collaborator Jim Parker dies aged 88'], in ''The Guardian'', 31 July 2023</ref> [[Madeleine Dring]] set five of Betjeman's poems to music in 1976, just before her death.<ref>Madeleine Dring. [https://shop.abrsm.org/shop/prod/Dring-Madeleine-5-Betjeman-Songs-voice-piano/608675 ''Five Betjeman Songs'' (1976)], published in 1980 by Weinberger</ref><ref>''Mojo'' No. 187 pp. 122</ref> His recording catalogue extends to nine albums, four singles and two compilations.

In 1973, he made a well-regarded television documentary for the BBC called ''[[Metro-Land (TV film)|Metro-Land]]'', directed by [[Edward Mirzoeff]].  In 1974, Betjeman and Mirzoeff followed up ''Metro-Land'' with ''[[A Passion for Churches]]'', a celebration of Betjeman's beloved [[Church of England]], filmed entirely in the [[Diocese of Norwich]]. In 1975, he proposed that the Fine Rooms of [[Somerset House]] should house the [[Turner Bequest]], so helping to scupper the plan of the [[Minister for the Arts (United Kingdom)|Minister for the Arts]] for a [[Theatre Museum]] to be housed there. In 1977, the BBC broadcast ''The Queen's Realm: A Prospect of England'', an aerial anthology of English landscape, music and poetry, selected by Betjeman and produced by Edward Mirzoeff, in celebration of the [[Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Queen's Silver Jubilee]].

Betjeman was fond of the ghost stories of [[M. R. James]] and supplied an introduction to [[Peter Haining (author)|Peter Haining]]'s book ''M. R. James&nbsp;– Book of the Supernatural''. He was susceptible to the supernatural; [[Diana Mitford]] recalled Betjeman staying at her country home, [[Biddesden House]] in Wiltshire, in the 1920s. She said: "he had a terrifying dream, that he was handed a card with wide black edges, and on it his name was engraved, and a date. He knew this was the date of his death".<ref name="Mitford2008">{{cite book|last=Mosley|first=Diana |author-link=Diana Mitford|title=A Life of Contrasts: The Autobiography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cyYMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA83|year=2008|publisher=Gibson Square|isbn=978-1-906142-14-8|page=83}}</ref>

===Personal life and death===
On 29 July 1933, Betjeman married the Hon. [[Penelope Chetwode]], the daughter of [[Field Marshal]] [[Philip Chetwode, 1st Baron Chetwode|Lord Chetwode]]. The couple lived in Berkshire and had a son, Paul, in 1937, and a daughter, [[Candida Lycett Green|Candida]], in 1942.<ref name= Delaney/> But in 1940 Betjeman fell in love with [[Joan Hunter Dunn]], leading him to write a poem fantasising about them being engaged and playing [[tennis]] together in [[Aldershot]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Betjeman|first=John|title=A Subaltern's Love Song|newspaper=The Times|page=3|date=17 April 2008}}</ref> It was first published in 1941.

His wife Penelope [[converted to Catholicism]] in 1948.<ref>{{cite web|last=Stamp|first=Gavin|title=Penelope Betjeman|website=The Spectator Archive|url=https://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-april-1986/19/penelope-betjeman|date=19 April 1986|access-date=27 September 2025}}</ref>  The couple drifted apart and in 1951 he met [[Lady Elizabeth Cavendish]], with whom he developed an immediate and lifelong friendship.<ref>{{cite news|last=Cavendish|first=Mark|title=Lady Elizabeth Cavendish obituary|newspaper=The Times|date=18 September 2018}}</ref>

Betjeman's sexuality can best be described as [[bisexual]].  His longest and best documented relationships were with women, and a fairer analysis of his sexuality may be that he was "the hatcher of a lifetime of schoolboy crushes – both gay and straight", most of which progressed no further.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Thompson |first=Johnathan |date=13 August 2006 |title=Betjeman Poet, hero of Middle England & a very bad boy |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/betjeman-poet-hero-of-middle-england-amp-a-very-bad-boy-411661.html |access-date=1 December 2015}}</ref> Nevertheless, he has been considered "temperamentally gay", and even became a penpal of [[Lord Alfred Douglas|Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas]], friend and lover of [[Oscar Wilde]].<ref name="Gowers2008">{{Cite news |last=Gowers |first=Justin |date=17 December 2008 |title=Why John Betjeman is a true gay icon |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/dec/17/john-betjeman-gay-icon-wilde |access-date=31 July 2018}}</ref>

For the last decade of his life, Betjeman suffered increasingly from [[Parkinson's disease]]. He died at his home in [[Trebetherick]], Cornwall, on 19 May 1984, aged 77, and is buried nearby at [[St Enodoc's Church, Trebetherick|St Enodoc's Church]].<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=30815|title=Betjeman, Sir John|first=Kingsley|last=Amis|author-link=Kingsley Amis}}</ref>

[[File:Betjeman memorial.JPG|thumb|John Betjeman's gravestone by [[Simon Verity]]]]
Betjeman was an [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] and his religious beliefs come through in some of his poems. In a letter written on Christmas Day 1947, he said: "Also my view of the world is that man is born to fulfil the purposes of his Creator i.e. to Praise his Creator, to stand in awe of Him and to dread Him. In this way I differ from most modern poets, who are agnostics and have an idea that Man is the centre of the Universe or is a helpless bubble blown about by uncontrolled forces."<ref name="patr_Angl">{{Cite web |title=Anglican spirituality and poetry: John Betjeman (1906–1984) |last=Comerford |first=Patrick |work=patrickcomerford.com |date=5 December 2015 |access-date=8 August 2019 |url= http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2015/12/anglican-spirituality-and-poetry-2-john.html }}</ref> He combined piety with a nagging uncertainty about the truth of Christianity. Unlike [[Thomas Hardy]], who disbelieved in the truth of the Christmas story while hoping it might be so, Betjeman affirms his belief even while fearing it might be false.<ref name="Gardner2006" /> In the poem "Christmas", one of his most openly religious pieces, the last three stanzas that proclaim the wonder of Christ's birth do so in the form of a question "And is it true...?" His views on Christianity were expressed in his poem "The Conversion of St. Paul", a response to a radio broadcast by humanist [[Margaret K. Knight|Margaret Knight]]:
{{blockquote|<poem>
But most of us turn slow to see
The figure hanging on a tree
And stumble on and blindly grope
Upheld by intermittent hope,
God grant before we die we all
May see the light as did St. Paul.
</poem>}}

==Poetry==

Betjeman's poems are often humorous, and in broadcasting he exploited his bumbling and fogeyish image. His wryly comic verse is accessible and has attracted a great following for its satirical and observant grace. Auden said in his introduction to ''Slick But Not Streamlined'', "so at home with the provincial gaslit towns, the seaside lodgings, the bicycle, the [[Pump organ|harmonium]]." His poetry is similarly redolent of time and place, continually seeking out intimations of the eternal in the manifestly ordinary. There are constant evocations of the physical chaff and clutter that accumulates in everyday life, the miscellanea of an England now gone but not beyond the reach of living memory.

He talks of [[Ovaltine]] and [[Sturmey-Archer]] bicycle gears. "Oh! Fuller's angel cake, [[Robertson's]] marmalade," he writes, "[[Liberty (department store)|Liberty]] lampshades, come shine on us all."{{sfn|Betjeman|1940|p=50|loc=Myfanwy at Oxford}}

In a 1962 radio interview he told teenage questioners that he could not write about 'abstract things', preferring places, and faces.<ref name="bufvc.ac.uk">{{Cite web | title = John Betjeman: Recollections from the BBC Archives | work = British Universities Film & Video Council |year = 1998 | access-date = 31 July 2018 | url = http://bufvc.ac.uk/dvdfind/index.php/title/av35362 }}</ref> [[Philip Larkin]] wrote of his work, "how much more interesting & worth writing about Betjeman's subjects are than most other modern poets, I mean, whether so-and-so achieves some metaphysical inner unity is not really so interesting to us as the overbuilding of rural [[Middlesex]]".<ref name="Larkin2010">{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Philip |author-link=Philip Larkin|title=Letters to Monica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6iMyGQAACAAJ|year=2010|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-23909-2|page=147}}</ref>

Prompted by the rapid development of the [[Buckinghamshire]] town before [[World War II]], Betjeman wrote the ten-stanza poem "[[Slough (poem)|Slough]]" to express his dismay at the industrialisation of Britain. He later came to regret having written it. The poem was first included in his 1937 collection ''[[Continual Dew]]''.
{{blockquote|<poem>
Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
...
</poem>}}

==Betjeman and architecture==
{{See also|Architecture of London|Architecture of Leeds|Buildings and architecture of Bath}}
[[File:John Betjeman, London, England, GB, IMG 4991 edit.jpg|thumb|upright|Betjeman Statue at [[St Pancras railway station|St Pancras station]]]]
[[File:John Betjeman Reads William Horton's Petition to Save Lewisham Town Hall, 1961.jpg|thumb|upright|John Betjeman reads [[William Newman-Norton|William Norton]]'s Petition to Save [[Lewisham Town Hall]], 1961]]

Betjeman had a fondness for [[Victorian architecture]] at a time when it was unfashionable, and he was a founding member of [[The Victorian Society]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Clark | first = Kenneth | author-link=Kenneth Clark | year = 1983 | title = The Gothic Revival: An Essay in the History of Taste | oclc=1072302955 | publisher = [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] | location = London | isbn = 978-0-7195-3102-6 }}</ref> He wrote on this subject in ''First and Last Loves'' (1952) and more extensively in ''London's Historic Railway Stations'' in 1972, defending the beauty of 12 stations. He led the campaign to save [[Holy Trinity, Sloane Street]], in London when it was threatened with demolition in the early 1970s.<ref name="Pearce1989">{{cite book |last=Pearce |first=David |title=Conservation Today |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVGqtAEACAAJ |year=1989 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-00778-8}}</ref> He was also a founding member of the [[Friends of Friendless Churches]] in 1957.<ref>{{cite news |title=Early history of The Friends |newspaper=Friends of Friendless Churches |url=https://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/about-us/early-history-of-the-friends/}}</ref>

He fought a spirited but unsuccessful campaign to save the Propylaeum, known commonly as the [[Euston Arch]], London. He is considered instrumental in helping to save [[St Pancras railway station]], London, and was commemorated when it became an international terminus for [[Eurostar]] in November 2007. He called the plan to demolish St Pancras a "criminal folly".<ref name="Shukor2007" /> About it he wrote, "What [the Londoner] sees in his mind's eye is that cluster of towers and pinnacles seen from Pentonville Hill and outlined against a foggy sunset and the great arc of [[William Henry Barlow|Barlow]]'s train shed gaping to devour incoming engines and the sudden burst of exuberant [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic]] of the hotel seen from gloomy Judd Street".{{sfn |Betjeman|1972|p=11 }} On the reopening of St&nbsp;Pancras station in 2007, the [[Statue of John Betjeman]] was commissioned from curators Futurecity. A proposal by artist [[Martin Jennings]] was selected from a shortlist. The finished work was erected in the station at platform level, including a series of slate roundels depicting selections of Betjeman's writings.<ref name="Shukor2007">{{Cite web | title =  St Pancras faced demolition ball | last = Shukor | first = Steven | work = BBC News | date = 6 November 2007 | access-date = 31 July 2018 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7070724.stm  }}</ref>

Betjeman was given the remaining two-year lease on [[Victorian Gothic]] architect [[William Burges]]'s [[The Tower House|Tower House]] in [[Holland Park]] after leaseholder Mrs E. R. B. Graham died in 1962.<ref name="Wilson2011">{{cite book|first=A. N.|last=Wilson | author-link = A. N. Wilson|title=Betjeman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZyC4wEyiTsoC&pg=PA208|date=2011|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4464-9305-2|pages=208–}}</ref> Betjeman felt he could not afford the financial implications of taking over the house permanently, with his potential liability for £10,000 of renovations upon the expiry of the lease.<ref name="Wilson2011" /> After damage from vandals, restoration began in 1966. Betjeman's lease included furniture from the house by Burges and Betjeman gave three pieces, the [[Zodiac settle]], the Narcissus washstand and the Philosophy cabinet, to [[Evelyn Waugh]].<ref name="ArtFund">{{cite web| url=http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/11584/zodiac-settle| title=Zodiac Settle by William Burges| publisher=[[Art Fund]]| access-date=24 May 2013| archive-date=10 November 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110130347/http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/11584/zodiac-settle| url-status=dead}}</ref>

He edited, and wrote large sections of, ''The Collins Guide to English Parish Churches'' (1958); his substantial editorial preface was described by ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'' as "pure gold".<ref>Quoted from the back cover of the 1968 reprint of ''The Collins Guide'' and subsequent editions</ref> The classic status of this book is acknowledged by [[Simon Jenkins]] in his ''England's Thousand Best Churches'': "Three ghosts inhabit all English churches ... They are those of John Betjeman, [[Alec Clifton-Taylor]] and [[Nikolaus Pevsner]]."<ref>{{cite book|first=Simon|last=Jenkins| author-link = Simon Jenkins|title=England's Thousand Best Churches|date=1999|publisher=Penguin Press|isbn=978-0-713-99281-6|pages=xxxv}}</ref>

Betjeman responded to architecture as the visible manifestation of society's spiritual life as well as its political and economic structure. He attacked speculators and bureaucrats for what he saw as their rapacity and lack of imagination. In the preface of his collection of architectural essays ''First and Last Loves'' he wrote
{{blockquote|We accept the collapse of the fabrics of our old churches, the thieving of lead and objects from them, the commandeering and butchery of our scenery by the services, the despoiling of landscaped parks and the abandonment to a fate worse than the workhouse of our country houses, because we are convinced we must save money.}}

In a BBC film made in 1968,<ref>{{cite web |title=A Poet Goes North: Sir John Betjeman Discovers Leeds |url=https://www.yfanefa.com/record/_xaFDV2C1EjhXFPF9FNFn |website=Yorkshire and North East Film Archives |publisher=Yorkshire Film Archive |access-date=29 August 2023 |date=1968}}</ref> but not broadcast at that time, Betjeman described the sound of [[Leeds]] to be of "Victorian buildings crashing to the ground". He went on to lambast [[John Poulson]]'s British Railways House (now [[City House]]), saying how it blocked all the light out to [[Leeds City Square|City Square]] and was only a testament to money with no architectural merit. He also praised the architecture of [[Leeds Town Hall]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leedsfilm.com/films.aspx?id=111|title=Leeds International Film Festival|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20081014031453/http://www.leedsfilm.com/films.aspx?id=111|archive-date=14 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/feb/16/betjeman-film-bbc|title = BBC revives unaired Betjeman film forgotten for 40 years|work=[[The Guardian]]|first=Martin|last=Wainwright|date=16 February 2009|access-date=16 February 2009}}</ref> In 1969, Betjeman contributed the foreword to Derek Linstrum's ''Historic Architecture of Leeds''.<ref name="Linstrum1969">{{cite book|last=Linstrum | first=Derek |author2=foreword by John Betjeman | title=Historic Architecture of Leeds | publisher=Oriel Press | isbn=0-85362-056-3 | year =1969 }}</ref>

Betjeman was for over 20 years a trustee of the [[Bath Preservation Trust]] and was vice-president from 1965 to 1971, at a time when [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]—a city rich in [[Georgian architecture]]—was coming under increasing pressure from modern developers and a road had been proposed to cut across it.<ref name="Peterson2006" />{{rp|440}} He also created a short television documentary, ''Architecture of Bath'', in which he voiced his concerns about the way the city's architectural heritage was being mistreated. From 1946 to 1948, he had served as Secretary to the [[Oxford Preservation Trust]]. Betjeman was also instrumental in saving the [[Duke of Cornwall Hotel]] in [[Plymouth]].

==Legacy==

===Prizes===
The [[Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings]] annually presents a John Betjeman award to recognise the repair and conservation of places of worship in England and Wales.<ref name="spab">{{cite web |last1=Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings |title=SPAB John Betjeman Award |url=https://www.spab.org.uk/about-us/awards/john-betjeman-award |website=spab.org.uk |date=30 November 2017 |publisher=SPAB |access-date=22 August 2019 |ref=SPAB}}</ref>

The John Betjeman Poetry Competition for Young People began in 2006 and was open to 10- to 13-year-olds living anywhere in the British Isles (including the Republic of Ireland), with a first prize of £1,000. In addition to prizes for individual finalists, state schools who enter pupils may win one of six one-day poetry workshops.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.johnbetjeman.com/comp.html |title=The John Betjeman Young People's Poetry Competition |publisher=Johnbetjeman.com |access-date=16 July 2013}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=January 2015}}{{dead link|date=January 2025}} In 2020, ''[[Private Eye]]'' reported that the prize was to close after thirteen years.

===Other memorials===
[[File:John Betjeman memorial window, All Saints Church, Farnborough, Berkshire.jpg|thumb|Memorial window at [[All Saints Church, Farnborough]], by [[John Piper (artist)|John Piper]]]]
* A 1986 memorial window, ''Symbols of the Resurrection'', in [[All Saints Church, Farnborough]], where Betjeman lived in the nearby Rectory between 1945 and 1951. Commissioned by the [[Friends of Friendless Churches]], it was designed by [[John Piper (artist)|John Piper]] and manufactured by Joseph A. Nuttgens. Piper and Betjeman collaborated together on the ''[[Shell Guides]]'' series of guidebooks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.betjemansociety.com/2021/05/07/painting-in-coloured-light-discovering-the-modern-stained-glass-designs-of-john-piper/|title=Painting in coloured light: Discovering the modern stained glass designs of John Piper/|website=Betjeman Society|date=7 May 2021 |accessdate=3 January 2025}}</ref>
[[File:Betjeman Park Wantage geograph-2474639-by-Bill-Nicholls.jpg|thumb|Betjeman Millennium Park]]
* The Betjeman Millennium Park at [[Wantage]] in Oxfordshire, where he lived from 1951 to 1972 and where he set his book ''Archie and the Strict Baptists''
* One of the roads in [[Pinner]], a town covered in Betjeman's film ''[[Metro-Land (1973 film)|Metro-Land]]'' is called Betjeman Close, while another in [[Chorleywood]], also covered in ''Metro-Land'', is called Betjeman Gardens.
* A road in the [[Sheffield]] suburb of [[Broomhill and Sharrow Vale#Broomhill|Broomhill]] is called Betjeman Gardens. The suburb was described by Betjeman as "the prettiest suburb in England"{{sfn|Betjeman|1997|p=399}} and was the subject of his poem "An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill, Sheffield".
* One of the trains on the [[Southend Pier Railway|pier railway]] at [[Southend-on-Sea]] is named Sir John Betjeman (the other [[Sir William Heygate, 1st Baronet|Sir William Heygate]]). This train has since been retired upon being replaced by a new electric train in 2021.
* A [[British Rail Class 86]] AC electric locomotive, 86229, was named ''Sir John Betjeman'' by the man in person at St Pancras station on 24 June 1983,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Sir John names 'his' loco|pages=6–7|date=August 1983|magazine=[[RAIL (magazine)|Rail Enthusiast]]|publisher=EMAP National Publications|issn=0262-561X|oclc=49957965}}</ref> just before his death; it was renamed ''Lions Group International'' in 1998 and was scrapped in February 2020. The nameplate was also carried by [[British Rail Class 90|Class 90]] locomotive 90007.
* In 2003, to mark their centenary, the residents of [[Lissenden Gardens]] in north London put up a [[blue plaque]] to mark Betjeman's birthplace.
* In 2006, a blue plaque was installed on Betjeman's childhood home, 31 West Hill, [[Highgate]], London N6.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/sep/16/maevkennedy.uknews2 | title=Betjeman's childhood home gets blue plaque | date=16 September 2006 | work=[[The Guardian]] | access-date=5 January 2015|first=Maev|last=Kennedy}}</ref>
* In 2006, a blue plaque was erected at Garrard's Farm, [[Uffington, Oxfordshire]], which had been his first married home.
* A blue plaque has been erected at 43 Cloth Fair, opposite [[St Bartholomew-the-Great]] church and near [[St Bartholomew's Hospital]], where he lived and worked. He let the ground floor to Leonard Beddall-Smith, the conservation architect and Georgian specialist, who was the founder architect of the [[Landmark Trust]], who now own the building to celebrate Betjeman's time there.
* The [[statue of John Betjeman]] at [[St Pancras railway station|St Pancras station]] in London by sculptor [[Martin Jennings]] was unveiled in 2007.
*On the centenary of Betjeman's birth in 2006, his daughter led two celebratory railway trips: from London to [[Bristol]], and through [[Metro-land]], to [[Quainton Road railway station|Quainton Road]].
* In 2014, a new street in [[Cleobury Mortimer]], Shropshire, was named 'Betjeman Way', in honour of the poet, and in recognition of the fact that the restoration of Cleobury Mortimer's church steeple won SPAB's John Betjeman award in 1994.
* On 1 September 2014, Betjeman was the subject of the hour-long [[BBC Four]] documentary ''Return to Betjemanland'', presented by his biographer [[A. N. Wilson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04gb6nl|title=Return to Betjemanland|date=28 December 2014|first=A. N.|last=Wilson|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=8 January 2015}}</ref> At the start of the broadcast, there was a spoken tribute to Betjeman's daughter [[Candida Lycett Green]], who had died just twelve days earlier on 19 August, aged 71.<ref name="Dowlen2014">{{Cite web | title =   Jerry Dowlen on... John Betjeman & Candida Lycett Green | last = Dowlen | first = Jerry | work = Books Monthly | date = November 2014 | access-date = 31 July 2018 | url = http://www.booksmonthly.co.uk/jdj.html }}</ref>
[[File:John Betjeman Bronze Bust Wantage.png|thumb|A bust of Betjeman in [[Wantage]]]]
* On 28 August 2016, a bust of Betjeman based on the St Pancras statue was unveiled outside the [[Vale and Downland Museum]] in [[Wantage]], Oxfordshire.
* On 10 June 2017, a plaque was unveiled at the [[Dragon School]], Oxford, to mark the centenary of his arrival there on 2 May 1917.<ref name="Lisle2006">{{Cite web | title = Betjeman's blue plaque | last = Lisle | first = Nicola | work = Oxford Mail | date = 7 August 2006 | access-date = 31 July 2018 | url = http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/867788.Betjeman___s_blue_plaque/ }}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
* 1960 Queen's Medal for Poetry<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/1085139/a-nip-in-the-air|title=Sir John Betjeman (1906–84) – A Nip in the Air|website=rct.uk|access-date=20 May 2019}}</ref>
* 1960 Appointed [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in the [[1960 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=41909 |date=29 December 1959 |page=11 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8zfLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT170|title=Lovely Bits of Old England: John Betjeman at The Telegraph|last=Betjeman|first=John|date=2012|publisher=Aurum Press|isbn=9781781311004|language=en|page=170}}</ref>
* 1968 [[Companion of Literature]], the [[Royal Society of Literature]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rsliterature.org/award/companions-of-literature/|title=Companions of Literature|date=2 September 2023 |publisher=Royal Society of Literature}}</ref>
* 1969 Appointed [[Knight Bachelor]] in the [[1969 Birthday Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=44683 |date=6 June 1969 |page=5961 |supp=y}}</ref>
* 1972 [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom]]<ref>{{cite ODNB|last=Amis|first=Kingsley|author-link=Kingsley Amis|title=Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30815|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30815|year=2010}}</ref>
* 1973 Honorary Member, the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}
* 2011 Honoured by the [[University of Oxford]], his alma mater, as one of its 100 most distinguished members from ten centuries.<ref name="University of Oxford Undergraduate Prospectus 2011">{{cite web|title=University of Oxford Undergraduate Prospectus 2011|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/admissions_i/index.html|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=5 March 2013}}</ref>

==Works==
{{Hatnote|For a bibliography of his works, see [[Works of John Betjeman]]}}
Some works include:
* ''Mount Zion''. 1932.
* ''Continual Dew: a Little Book of Bourgeois Verse'', 1937, [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]
* ''[[An Oxford University Chest]]''. 1938.
* {{cite book|last=Betjeman|first=John |author-link=John Betjeman|title=Old Lights for New Chancels: Verses Topographical and Amatory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVAqAAAAMAAJ|year=1940|publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]|display-authors=0}}
* ''English Cities and Small Towns''. William Collins 1943.
* ''New Bats in Old Belfries''. 1945.
* {{cite book|last1=Piper|first1=John |author-link1=John Piper|last2=Betjeman|first2=John |author-link2=John Betjeman|title=Shropshire: A [[Shell Guides|Shell Guide]]|year=1951|publisher=Faber & Faber|display-authors=0 |ref=none}}
* ''A Few Late Chrysanthemums''. 1954.
* ''Poems in the Porch''. 1954.
* ''The Collins Guide to English Parish Churches'' (editor). 1958
* {{cite book|last=Betjeman|first=John |author-link=John Betjeman|title=[[Summoned by Bells]]|publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]|year=1960|display-authors=0}}
* ''High and Low''. 1966.
* {{cite book|last=Betjeman|first=John |author-link=John Betjeman|title=London's Historic Railway Stations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ab5aHQAACAAJ|year=1972|publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]|isbn=978-0-7195-3426-3|display-authors=0}}
* ''A Nip in the Air''. 1974.
* {{cite book|last=Betjeman|first=John |author-link=John Betjeman |editor-first=Candida |editor-last=Lycett Green |editor-link=Candida Lycett Green |title=John Betjeman: coming home: an anthology of his prose 1920–1977|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KsofAQAAIAAJ|year=1997|publisher=Methuen|isbn=9780413717108|display-authors=0|display-editors=0 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Betjeman|first1=Sir John |author-link1= John Betjeman|last2=Surman|first2=Richard |title=Betjeman's Best British Churches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYBxakyHRs8C|year=2011|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=978-0-00-741688-2|display-authors=0 |ref=none}}

== Partial filmography ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Title
!Notes
|-
| rowspan="2" |1959
|''[[Monitor (British TV programme)|Monitor]]''
|''A Poet in London''
|-
|''Journey into the Weald of Kent''
|Short film
|-
|1960
|''Monitor''
|''Journey into a Lost World''
|-
| rowspan="3" |1962
|''In View''
|''Men of Steam''
|-
|''John Betjeman Goes by Train: King's Lynn to Hunstanton''
|Short film
|-
|''Let's Imagine''
|''Childhood in the Country''
|-
|1962-3
|''Betjeman's West Country''
|9 episodes
|-
|1963
|''Let's Imagine''
|''A Branch Line Railway''
|-
|1964
|''Discovering Britain with John Betjeman''
|Short film series (10 films)
|-
|1965
|''Bristol My Home''
|TV film
|-
| rowspan="2" |1967
|''Betjeman's London''
|6 episodes
|-
|''The Picture Theatre''
|TV film
|-
| rowspan="3" |1968
|''Contrasts''
|''Marble Arch to Edgware''
|-
|''A Poet Goes North''
|TV film
|-
|''Summer 67''
|''The Isle of Wight in August''
|-
| rowspan="2" |1969
|''Bird's Eye View''
|''Beside the Seaside''
|-
|''Bird's Eye View''
|''An Englishman's Home''
|-
| rowspan="2" |1970
|''Railway's Forever''
|Short film
|-
|''Four with Betjeman: Victorian Architects and Architecture''
|4 episodes
|-
|1971
|''Bird's Eye View''
|''A Land of all Seasons''
|-
|1972
|''Thank God It's Sunday''
|Short film
|-
|1973
|''[[Metro-Land (1973 film)|Metro-land]]''
|TV documentary film
|-
|1974
|''[[A Passion for Churches|A Passion For Churches]]''
|TV documentary film
|-
|1976
|''[[Summoned by Bells (film)|Summoned By Bells]]''
|TV film
|}

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|40em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book|last=Brooke|first=Jocelyn |author-link=Jocelyn Brooke|title=Ronald Firbank: John Betjeman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4PwsAAAAIAAJ|year=1962|publisher=Longmans, Green & Co.|location=London}}
* {{cite book|last1=Games|first1=Stephen |last2=Betjeman|first2=John |author-link2=John Betjeman|title=Trains and buttered toast: selected radio talks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dspkAAAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=John Murray|location=London|isbn=9780719561269|display-authors=1}}
* {{cite book|last=Betjeman|first=John |author-link=John Betjeman|editor-first=Stephen|editor-last= Games|title=Tennis Whites and Teacakes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8cofAQAAIAAJ|year=2007a|publisher=John Murray|isbn=978-0-7195-6903-6|display-authors=0|location=London}}
* {{cite book|last=Betjeman|first=John |author-link=John Betjeman|editor-first=Stephen|editor-last= Games|title=Sweet Songs of Zion: Selected Radio Talks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ujQQAQAAIAAJ|year=2007b|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|isbn=978-0-340-94376-2|display-authors=0|location=London}}
* {{cite book|last=Betjeman|first=John |author-link=John Betjeman|editor-first=Stephen|editor-last= Games|title=Betjeman's England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ksLVs3ItiNQC|date= 2010|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|isbn=978-1-84854-380-5|display-authors=0|location=London}}
* {{cite book|last=Gardner|first=Kevin J.|editor-first=David Scott|editor-last= Kastan|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DlMUSz-hiuEC&pg=PA181|year=2006a|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-516921-8|chapter=John Betjeman}}
* {{cite book|editor-first=Kevin J |editor-last=Gardner|last=Betjeman|first=John |author-link=John Betjeman|title=Faith and Doubt of John Betjeman: An Anthology of His Religious Verse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KGjUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|year=2006b|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-8272-3|display-authors=0}}
* Gardner, Kevin J. (2010) ''Betjeman and the Anglican Tradition,'' London, SPCK.
* {{cite book|editor-first=Kevin J |editor-last=Gardner|last=Betjeman|first=John |author-link=John Betjeman|title=Betjeman on Faith: An anthology of his religious prose|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6WWpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT9|year=2011|publisher=[[SPCK]]|isbn=978-0-281-06663-6|display-authors=0}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Gardner|first1=Kevin J.|title=Anglicanism and the Poetry of John Betjeman|journal=Christianity & Literature|volume=53|issue=3|year=2016|pages=361–383|issn=0148-3331|doi=10.1177/014833310405300306|jstor=44313326}}
* Green, Chris (2006). ''John Betjeman and the Railways''. Transport for London
* [[Bevis Hillier|Hillier, Bevis]] (1984). ''John Betjeman: a life in pictures''. London: John Murray.
* Hillier, Bevis (1988). ''Young Betjeman''. London: John Murray. {{ISBN|0-7195-4531-5}}.
* Hillier, Bevis (2002). ''John Betjeman: new fame, new love''. London: John Murray. {{ISBN|0-7195-5002-5}}.
* Hillier, Bevis (2004). ''Betjeman: the bonus of laughter''. London : John Murray. {{ISBN|0-7195-6495-6}}.
* Hillier, Bevis (2006). ''Betjeman: the biography''. London: John Murray. {{ISBN|0-7195-6443-3}}
* [[Candida Lycett Green|Lycett Green, Candida]] (Ed.) (Methuen, 1994). ''Letters: John Betjeman, Vol.1, 1926 to 1951''. London: Methuen. {{ISBN|0-413-77595-X}}
* Lycett Green, Candida (Ed.) (Methuen, 1995). ''Letters: John Betjeman, Vol. 2, 1951 to 1984''. London: Methuen. {{ISBN|0-413-77596-8}}
* Lycett Green, Candida, ''Betjeman's stations'' in ''The Oldie'', September 2006
* Matthew, H.C.G. and Harrison, B. (eds), (2004). ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (vol. 5). Oxford: OUP.
* [[Edward Mirzoeff|Mirzoeff, Edward]] (2006). ''Viewing notes'' for ''Metro-land'' (DVD) (24pp)
* [[Mowl, Timothy]] (2000). ''Stylistic Cold Wars, Betjeman versus Pevsner''. London: John Murray. {{ISBN|0-7195-5909-X}}
* Schroeder, Reinhard (1972). ''Die Lyrik John Betjemans''. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. (Thesis).
* Sieveking, Lancelot de Giberne (1963). ''John Betjeman and Dorset''. Dorchester: Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society.
* Stanford, Derek (1961). ''John Betjeman, a study''. London: Neville Spearman.
* Taylor-Martin, Patrick (1983). ''John Betjeman, his life and work''. London: Allen Lane. {{ISBN|0-7139-1539-0}}
* [[A. N. Wilson|Wilson, A. N.]] (2006). ''Betjeman''. London: Hutchinson. {{ISBN|0-09-179702-0}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*Payton, P. (2010). ''John Betjeman and Cornwall''. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. {{ISBN|978-0-85989-847-8}}. Paperback: {{ISBN|978-0-85989-848-5}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
* {{npg name}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p025jt33 Betjeman documentaries] on [[BBC iPlayer]]
* [http://www.betjemanpoetrycompetition.com/ John Betjeman Poetry Competition for Young People website]
* [http://voyager.library.uvic.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=2016033 John Betjeman fonds] at University of Victoria, Special Collections
* [http://spcoll.library.uvic.ca/Digit/Betjeman/webcon/wholeweb/framconc.htm John Betjeman Concordance] at University of Victoria, Special Collections
* [http://www.betjemansociety.com The Betjeman Society]
* [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/john-betjeman Poetry Foundation profile]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/betjemanj1.shtml BBC4 audio interviews from ''People Today'' 24 December 1959 Home Service]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110120200122/http://www.libripublishing.co.uk/popular-culture/shell-eye-on-england David Heathcote's A Shell Eye on England]
* [http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS032-001965920 Betjeman Archive]{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at the [[British Library]]
* [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0079216/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 John Betjeman] at [[IMDb]]
* [[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.betjeman|John Betjeman Collection]]. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
* [https://www.exeter.ac.uk/departments/library/special-collections/collections/rare-books-and-maps/ John Betjeman's Library] University of Exeter Special Collections

{{Poets Laureate of the United Kingdom}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Betjeman, John}}
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