Coordinates: 51°23′00″N 1°20′00″E / 51.3833°N 1.3333°E / 51.3833; 1.3333

Westgate-on-Sea
West Bay
Westgate-on-Sea  Westgate-on-Sea shown within Kent
Population	6,594 (2001 census)
OS grid reference	TR321701
District	Thanet
Shire county	Kent
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WESTGATE-ON-SEA
Postcode district	CT8
Dialling code	01843
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	North Thanet
List of places: UK • England • Kent

Westgate-on-Sea is a seaside town in northeast Kent, England, with a population of 6,600. It is within the Thanet local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate. Its two sandy beaches have remained a popular tourist attraction since the town's development in the 1860s from a small farming community.

The town is notable for once being the location of a Royal Naval Air Service seaplane base at St Mildred's Bay, which defended the Thames Estuary coastal towns during World War I. The town is the subject of Sir John Betjeman's poem, Westgate-on-Sea. Residents have included the 19th century surgeon Sir Erasmus Wilson and former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple. The artist Sir William Quiller Orchardson painted several of his most well-known pictures while living in Westgate-on-Sea. The British composer Arnold Cooke attended the town's Streete Preparatory School in the early 20th century.

History[link]

Before the 1860s, Westgate consisted of only a farm, a coastguard station (built 1791 and still standing in Old Boundary Road) and a few cottages for the crew that surrounded it. These were located beside the coast at St Mildred's Bay, named after Mildrith, Thanet's patron saint and a one-time Abbess of Minster. The town inherited its name from the Westgate Manor, which was located in the area in medieval times. In the early 20th century, the remains of a Roman villa were discovered in what is now Beach Road, where a stream once used to flow. Fresh water can still be seen rising from the sand at low tide.

During the late 1860s, businessmen developed the area into a seaside resort for the upper to middle-classes.^[1] A stretch of sea wall, with promenade on top, was constructed around the beaches at St Mildred's Bay and West Bay, and the land divided into plots to be sold for what would become an exclusive development by the sea for wealthy metropolitan families^[2] within a 'gated community', rather than for occasional tourists.^[3][4] The opening of a railway station, in 1871, led to the rapid expansion of the population,^[1] which reached 2,738 by 1901.^[5] The demands of the increasing population led to the building of the parish churches of St. James in 1872^[6] and St. Saviour in 1884.^[7] St. Saviour's was designed by the architect C.N. Beazley.^[7] In 1884 it was reported that Essex, on the other side of the Thames Estuary, was hit by a tremor so large that it caused the bells of St. James' Church to ring.^[8] In 1884, ownership of most of the resort passed to Coutts Bank, after the previous proprietors had gone bankrupt.^[3][9]

Around twenty schools were opened during the late 19th century, although many had only a few pupils or closed within a few years. The largest of the schools were Streete Court School, Wellington House and St Michael's School.^[10][11][12] Streete Court School was opened in 1894 by John Vine Milne, the father of the author A. A. Milne. In the 1890s, the school was attended by St John Philby, the father of the spy Kim Philby.^[13][14]

The Coronation Bandstand was built by the cliff edge in 1903, at a cost of £350, to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII.^[15] The following year, a group of French Ursuline nuns, who were banned from teaching in France, fled with some of their pupils to Westgate-on-Sea and established the Ursuline Convent School, which in 1995 was re-established as Ursuline College.^[16] In 1910, a Swiss-Gothic styled town hall was built. However, it was soon decided that the building could be put to better use, and in 1912, it was transformed into the Town Hall Cinema. In 1932, it was renamed the Carlton Cinema.^[17]

On 1 August 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, a Royal Navy seaplane base was opened by the coast to defend the Thames Estuary naval towns against attack. It was at first used for both seaplanes and landplanes, but due to landing problems, a separate landplane base was opened in Manston in 1916. After the war, the seaplane base was decommissioned, and the landplane base in Manston eventually became Kent International Airport.^[18][19] During the war, the Coronation Bandstand was converted into sleeping quarters for use by the Royal West Kent Regiment. In 1925, the bandstand was refurbished and reopened as the 600-seat Westgate Pavilion theatre.^[15] By 1931, the town's population had reached 4,554.^[5] During World War II, several schools were evacuated to inland areas,^[16][20] with some, such as Streete Court School, leaving the town permanently.^[14] On 24 August 1942, a German fighter pilot, Herbert Bischoff, was captured after being shot down and crash landing in a field adjacent to Linksfield Rd, just south of the town.^[21][22]

On 27 April 1944 a Liberator aircraft from the 392nd USAAF bombing group Based in East Anglia near Wendling, Norfolk, crashed off the beach, adjacent to the Westgate Pavilion, with five of the crew killed and four injured in the crash. A special memorial service was held for the crew by the Mayor of Margate and veterans organisations on 27 April 2009 at the war memorial overlooking the crash site.

In 1975, five historic church bells were transferred to St Saviour's Church from the Holy Cross Church in Canterbury, which had closed in 1972. Three of the bells date back to the early 17th century and one was cast in 14th century.^[23] From the 1970s to the 1990s, the Westgate Pavilion was a bingo hall, after which it closed and became derelict. In 2001, a group of volunteers formed a charitable trust to repair the pavilion and it was eventually reopened as a theatre.^[15]

Geography[link]

A view of Westgate-on-Sea from the neighbouring village of Birchington-on-Sea

Westgate-on-Sea is located in northeast Kent, on the coast of the Thames Estuary. It is bordered by the town of Margate to the east and the village of Birchington-on-Sea to the west. The town is built beside the two sandy bays of St Mildred's Bay and West Bay, which both have a sea wall and groynes to prevent coastal flooding. Chalk cliffs are present in between the bays and either side of the bays. The whole of the northeast Kent coast has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.^[24]

The town is situated on the Isle of Thanet, a separate island from mainland Kent until around two hundred years ago, when the channel in between silted up. The geology of Thanet consists mainly of chalk, deposited when the area was below the sea. Isle of Thanet became exposed above sea-level once the English Channel broke through between Kent and France, causing the sea-level to fall.^[25]

Climate[link]

In East Kent, the warmest time of the year is July and August, when maximum temperatures average around 21 °C (70 °F). The coolest time of the year is January and February, when minimum temperatures average around 1 °C (34 °F).^[26] The average maximum and minimum temperatures are around 1/2 °C higher than the national average.^[27] East Kent's average annual rainfall is about 728 millimetres (29 in), with October to January being the wettest months,^[26] compared with the national average of 838 millimetres (33 in).^[27]

These are average temperature and rainfall figures taken between 1971 and 2000 at the Met Office weather station in Wye, around 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Westgate-on-Sea:

Transport links[link]

Westgate-on-Sea railway station is on the Chatham Main Line, which runs between Ramsgate in East Kent and London Victoria. Other stations on this line include Broadstairs, Margate, Herne Bay, Faversham, Gillingham, Rochester and Bromley South.^[29] Westgate-on-Sea is around 1 hour and 45 minutes to London by fast-service train. A National Express coach service runs between London Victoria and Ramsgate,^[30] and a selection of trains run to London's Cannon Street station, primarily for business commuting. There is a Stagecoach bus service running to neighbouring Birchington and Margate, and a service running between Broadstairs and Canterbury via Westgate-on-Sea.^[31] The A28 road runs between Hastings and Margate via Ashford, Canterbury, Birchington and Westgate-on-Sea. 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Westgate-on-Sea, the A28 crosses the A299 road, which leads along North Kent towards London, becoming the M2 motorway at Faversham.^[32]

Demographics[link]

As of the 2001 UK census, the Westgate-on-Sea electoral ward had 6,594 residents and 2,845 households. Of those households, 38.0% were married couples, 8.4% were cohabiting couples and 9.4% were lone parents. 39.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 21.9% had someone living alone at pensionable age. 23.6% of households included children aged under 16, or a person aged 16 to 18 who was in full-time education. There was a high percentage of households made up of individuals, compared with the percentage for the whole of England. The average household size was 2.7.^[33]

The town has a low proportion of non-white people compared to national figures; the ethnicity recorded in the 2001 census was 97.4% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.4% Chinese, 0.6% other Asian, 0.3% black and 0.3% other.^[33] The number of foreign-born residents is relatively low, with the place of birth of residents in 2001 being 94.5% United Kingdom, 1.0% Republic of Ireland, 0.5% Germany, 0.6% other Western Europe countries, 0.3% Eastern Europe, 0.8% Far East, 0.6% North America, 0.5% Africa, 0.4% South Asia, 0.2% Middle East and 0.2% Oceania.^[33] Religion was recorded as 75.8% Christian, 0.5% Muslim, 0.2% Hindu, 0.1% Buddhist and 0.3% Jewish. 14.4% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 8.3% did not state their religion.^[33]

The age distribution was 5% aged 0–4 years, 13% aged 5–15 years, 5% aged 16–19 years, 28% aged 20–44 years, 22% aged 45–64 years and 27% aged 65 years and over. There was a high percentage of residents over 65, compared with the national average of 16%, mainly due to seaside towns being popular retirement destinations. For every 100 females, there were 85.7 males.^[33]

Economy[link]

As a seaside resort, the economy is mainly based around tourism; there are several hotels and guest houses near the seafront, to accommodate the influx of visitors during the summer. The High Street has a variety of shops and services, and there are a small number of factories. The elderly population has led to many health and social care jobs at local care homes. As of the 2001 UK census, 6.9% of the population resided in a medical or care establishment, compared with the national average of only 0.8%.^[33]

Carlton Cinema

As of the 2001 census, the economic activity of residents in the Westgate-on-Sea electoral ward was 32.9% in full-time employment, 12.3% in part-time employment, 7.8% self-employed, 4.3% unemployed, 2.1% students with jobs, 4.3% students without jobs, 18.1% retired, 6.2% looking after home or family, 9.5% permanently sick or disabled and 2.3% economically inactive for other reasons. The percentage of retired people was significantly higher than the national figure of 14% and the percentage of unemployed people was high compared with the national rate of 3.4%. The number of permanently sick or disabled people was much higher than the national figure of 5.3%. 12% of residents aged 16–74 had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 20% nationwide.^[33] The Office for National Statistics estimated that during the period of April 2001 to March 2002, the average gross weekly income of households was £430 (£22,421 per year).^[34]

The industry of employment of residents, at the 2001 census, was 16% retail, 16% health and social work, 13% manufacturing, 9% construction, 9% real estate, 9% education, 7% transport and communications, 5% public administration, 5% hotels and restaurants, 3% finance, 1% agriculture and 6% other community, social or personal services. Compared with national figures, there was a relatively high number of workers in the construction and health and social care industries and a relatively low number in finance and real estate.^[33] Many residents commute to work outside the town; as of the 2001 census, the town had 2,388 employed residents, but only 1,464 jobs.^[33]

Politics[link]

Since the constituency was created in 1983, the Member of Parliament for North Thanet, covering northern Thanet and Herne Bay, has been the Conservative Roger Gale. At the 2005 general election, the Conservatives won a majority of 7,634 and 49.6% of the vote in North Thanet. Labour won 32.2% of the vote, Liberal Democrats 14.4% and United Kingdom Independence Party 3.9%. At the 2001 general election, the Conservatives had a higher share of the vote with 50.3% but a lower majority of 6,650. During Labour's landslide victory at national level at the 1997 general election, the Conservative majority in North Thanet was reduced to 2,766, with the Conservatives on 44.1% of the vote and Labour on 38.4%. The voter turnout during the past three general elections has been between 59.3% and 68.8%.^[35]

The town is in the Thanet local government district. It is within the electoral ward of Westgate-on-Sea, which has three of the fifty six seats on the Thanet District Council. At the 2007 local elections, two of those seats were won by the Conservative Party and one by an independent candidate.^[36] Conservative candidates in the ward won 45.8% of the vote, independent candidates won 27.0%, Labour Party candidates 17.6% and a Grey Party candidate 4.6%. The turnout was 34.5%.^[37]

Education[link]

St Saviour's Church

The town's secondary school is Ursuline College, a specialist sports college and Roman Catholic aided comprehensive school, with nearly 800 pupils and facilities for boarding students.^[38] In 2005, 32% of its pupils gained at least five GCSEs at grades A*–C including English and maths, ranking it 71st out of Kent's 120 secondary schools.^[39] Many secondary students commute to schools in other nearby towns, especially to the grammar schools in Ramsgate and Broadstairs. There is the Westgate College For Deaf People for students aged 16 and over,^[40] and London House School of English, which provides English language courses for foreign students.^[41]

The primary state schools are St Crispin's Infant School and St Saviour's Church of England Primary School,^[42] which is owned by the church but run by Kent County Council.^[43] Chartfield School is a private primary school.^[44]

Culture[link]

The town has sandy beaches at both St Mildred's Bay and West Bay. The larger of the beaches is at St Mildred's Bay, where it is possible to hire beach huts, deck chairs and jet-skis. The beach is a short distance from tennis courts and a golf putting course. At West Bay, there are many small rock pools, which are popular with children. Each beach has nearby cafés, restaurants and public houses, and a European Blue Flag Award is shared between them due to their cleanliness and safety.^[45]

Westgate-on-Sea Cricket Club

The town centre has several Victorian canopied shops, a library and the three-screen Carlton Cinema. In addition to the theatre, the Westgate Pavilion is a venue for discos, yoga, indoor bowls and dance classes.^[15]

Formed in 1896,^[46] Westgate and Birchington Golf Club has an 18-hole 4,889-yard (4,471 m) course on the cliff tops between Westgate and Birchington.^[47] Based at Hawtreys Field, Westgate-on-Sea Cricket Club runs two Saturday teams and two Sunday teams. As of the 2007 season, both Saturday teams played in the Kent Cricket Feeder League East; the Saturday 1st XI team in Division 1C and the Saturday 2nd XI in Division 2C. The Sunday teams do not play in competitive matches.^[48] In 2006, Thanet Council opened a free skatepark at the Lymington Road recreation ground. Designed by local young people, the park caters for skateboarders and in line skaters of all ages and skill levels.^[49]

Local media[link]

Newspapers[link]

There are four local weekly newspapers providing news on the Thanet district area. Isle Of Thanet KM Extra is owned by the KM Group,^[50] and the Isle of Thanet Gazette, Thanet Adscene and Thanet Times are owned by Trinity Mirror.^[51] Isle Of Thanet KM Extra and Thanet Adscene are free newspapers, whereas the other two are paid-for. KOS publish newspapers covering this area.

Radio[link]

KMFM Thanet is a radio station on frequency 107.2FM, owned by the KM Group and previously known as TLR (Thanet Local Radio).^[52] Community radio station Academy FM (Thanet) launched in 2010 on 107.8.

Notable residents[link]

Notable residents of the town have included the 19th century surgeon Sir Erasmus Wilson, who spent the latter part of his life in the town until his death in 1884,^[53] and former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple, who died in the town in 1944.^[54] In 1888, the astronomer and journalist Joseph Norman Lockyer built an observatory on the side of his house in Westgate-on-Sea, from where he took observations that formed the basis for his book, The Sun's Place in Nature.^[55] British composer Arnold Cooke attended Streete Preparatory School in the early 20th century.^[56] The artist Sir William Quiller Orchardson painted several of his most well-known pictures while living in Westgate-on-Sea. He was buried in the town in 1910.^[57] While staying at nearby Birchington-on-Sea in the 1930s, the poet Sir John Betjeman wrote about the town in his poem Westgate-on-Sea. In 1957, suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams spent two weeks in hiding in the town (to escape the press) following his controversial acquittal at the Old Bailey.^[58]

External links[link]

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Westgate-on-Sea" article dated 2008-02-16, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• Westgate-on-Sea Heritage Centre
• Westgate-on-Sea Conservation Area Advisory Group
• Westgate-on-Sea and Westbrook Residents' Association
• Westgate-on-Sea Pavilion
• List of clubs and societies in Thanet

References[link]

v t e Towns and villages in the Thanet district of Kent, England Unparished areas Margate Civil parishes Acol Birchington Broadstairs and St Peter's (town) Cliffsend Manston Minster Monkton Ramsgate (town) Sarre St Nicholas-at-Wade Other settlements Broadstairs Brooks End Cliftonville Ebbsfleet Flete Garlinge Newington Palm Bay Sevenscore St Peters Westbrook Westgate-on-Sea Westwood List of places in Kent

Sir John Betjeman
Statue of John Betjeman at St Pancras station.
Born	(1906-08-28)28 August 1906 Parliament Hill Mansions, Lissenden Gardens, Hampstead, London, England, United Kingdom
Died	19 May 1984(1984-05-19) (aged 77) Trebetherick, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Poet, writer, broadcaster
Spouse(s)	Hon. Penelope Chetwode (m. 1933–1951)
Partner(s)	Lady Elizabeth Cavendish (1951–1984)
Children	Paul Betjeman Candida Lycett Green

Sir John Betjeman, CBE ( /ˈbɛtʃəmən/; 28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".

He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture. Starting his career as a journalist, he ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate to date and a much-loved figure on British television.

Life[link]

Early life and education[link]

Betjeman was born "John Betjemann"; this was changed to the less German "Betjeman" during the First World War. His parents, Mabel (née Dawson) and Ernest Betjemann had a family firm which manufactured the kind of ornamental household furniture and gadgets distinctive to Victorians. His father's forebears had come from the Netherlands,^[1] more than a century earlier, setting up their home and business in Islington, London. Betjeman was baptised at St. Anne's Church Highgate Rise, a 19th Century church situated just at the foot of Highgate West Hill. The family lived at Parliament Hill Mansions in the Lissenden Gardens private estate in Highgate 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 Burdett-Coutts estate:

"Here from my eyrie, as the sun went down,

I heard the old North London puff and shunt,

Glad that I did not live in Gospel Oak."^[2]

Betjeman's early schooling was at the local Byron House and Highgate School, where he was taught by the poet T. S. Eliot. After this, he boarded at the Dragon School preparatory school in North Oxford and Marlborough College, a public school in Wiltshire. In his penultimate year, he joined the secret 'Society of Amici'^[3] in which he was a contemporary of both Louis MacNeice and Graham Shepard. 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.^[4]

Magdalen College, Oxford[link]

Betjeman entered the University of Oxford with considerable difficulty, having failed the mathematics portion of the university's matriculation exam, Responsions. He was, however, admitted as a commoner (i.e., a non-scholarship student) at 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 uninspired as a teacher.^[5] Betjeman particularly disliked the coursework's emphasis on linguistics, and dedicated most of his time to cultivating his social life, his interest in English ecclesiastical architecture, and to private literary pursuits. During his time at Oxford he was a friend of Maurice Bowra, Dean of Wadham. He had a poem published in Isis, the university magazine and was editor of the Cherwell student newspaper during 1927. His first book of poems was privately printed with the help of fellow-student Edward James. He famously brought his teddy bear Archibald Ormsby-Gore up to Magdalen with him, the memory of which later inspired his Oxford contemporary Evelyn Waugh to include Sebastian Flyte's teddy 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.^[6]

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, known as Divinity, or, colloquially, as "Divvers". In Hilary Term 1928, Betjeman failed Divinity for the second time. He had to leave the university (rustication) 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, 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 honours degree. In his verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells, Betjeman claims that his tutor, C. S. Lewis, said "You'd have only got a third". However, Lewis had informed the tutorial board that he thought Betjeman would not achieve an honours degree of any class.^[5]

Permission to sit the Pass School was granted. Betjeman famously 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 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.^[7] Betjeman did pass his Divinity examination on his third try but was 'sent down' after failing the Pass School. He had achieved a satisfactory result in only one of the three required papers (on Shakespeare and other English authors).^[5] 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 doctorate of letters in 1974.^[5]

After university[link]

The John Betjeman Centre Memorabilia Room showing the office from his home in Trebetherick

Betjeman left Oxford without a degree but he had made the acquaintance of people who would influence his work, including Louis MacNeice and W. H. Auden.^[8] After university, Betjeman worked briefly as a private secretary, school teacher and film critic for the Evening Standard. 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. Mowl (2000) says, "His years at the Architectural Review were to be his true university".^[9] At this time, while his prose style matured, he joined the MARS Group, an organisation of young modernist architects and architectural critics in Britain.

On 29 July 1933 Betjeman married the Hon. Penelope Chetwode, the daughter of Field Marshal Lord Chetwode. The couple lived in Berkshire and had a son, Paul, in 1937. Their daughter, Candida Lycett Green was born in 1942.

The Shell Guides, were developed by Betjeman and Jack Beddington, a friend who was publicity manager with Shell-Mex Ltd. The series aimed 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 Shell. By the start of World War II 13 had been published, of which Cornwall (1934) and Devon (1936) had been written by Betjeman. A third, Shropshire, was written with and designed by his good friend John Piper in 1951.

In 1939, Betjeman was rejected for active service in World War II but found war work with the films division of the Ministry of Information. In 1941 he became British press attaché in Dublin, Ireland, then a neutral country, working with Sir John Maffey. He may have been involved with the gathering of intelligence. He is reported to have been selected for assassination by the IRA. The order was rescinded after a meeting with an unnamed Old I.R.A. man who was impressed by his works. Betjeman wrote a number of poems based on his experiences in "Emergency" World War II Ireland including "The Irish Unionist's Farewell to Greta Hellstrom in 1922" (actually written during the war) which contained the refrain "Dungarvan in the rain". " Greta", the object of his affections, has remained a mystery until recently revealed to have been a member of a well known West Waterford Ascendancy family. 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.

After the Second World War[link]

Betjeman's house at Cloth Fair in the City

John's wife, Penelope Betjeman became a Roman Catholic in 1948. The couple drifted apart and in 1951 he met Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, with whom he developed an immediate and lifelong friendship.

By 1948 Betjeman had published more than a dozen books. Five of these were verse collections, including one in the USA. Sales of his Collected Poems in 1958 reached 100,000.^[10] The popularity of the book prompted Ken Russell to make a film about him, John Betjeman: A Poet in London (1959). Filmed in 35mm and running 11 minutes and 35 seconds, it was first shown in England on BBC's Monitor programme.^[11] He continued writing guidebooks and works on architecture during the 1960s and 1970s and started broadcasting. He was also a founder member of The Victorian Society (1958). Betjeman was also closely associated with the culture and spirit of Metro-land, as outer reaches of the Metropolitan Railway were known before the war. In 1973 he made a widely acclaimed television documentary for the BBC called Metro-land, directed by Edward Mirzoeff. On the centenary of Betjeman's birth in 2006, his daughter led two celebratory railway trips: one from London to Bristol, the other, through Metro-land, to Quainton Road. 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 for a Theatre Museum to be housed there.

Betjeman was fond of the ghost stories of M.R. James and supplied an introduction to Peter Haining's book M.R. James – Book of the Supernatural. He was susceptible to the supernatural. Diana Mitford tells the story of Betjeman staying at her country home, Biddesden House, in the 1920s. She says, "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".^[12]

John Betjeman's grave

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 half a mile away in the churchyard at St Enodoc's Church.^[13]

Poetry[link]

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 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 the Sturmey-Archer bicycle gear. "Oh! Fuller's angel cake, Robertson's marmalade," he writes, "Liberty lampshades, come shine on us all."^[14] In a 1962 radio interview he told teenage questioners that he could not write about 'abstract things', preferring places, and faces.^[15] 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".^[16]

Betjeman was a practising Anglican and his religious beliefs come through in some of his poems. 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.^[4] 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 Knight: <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>

Betjeman became Poet Laureate in 1972, the first Knight Bachelor ever to be appointed (the only other, Sir William Davenant, had been knighted after his appointment). This role, combined with his popularity as a television performer, ensured that his poetry eventually reached an audience enormous by the standards of the time. Similarly to Tennyson, he appealed to a wide public and 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.^[17] In the early 1970s, he began a recording career of four albums on Charisma Records which included "Banana Blush" (1973) and "Late Flowering Love" (1974), where his poetry reading is set to music with overdubbing by leading musicians of the time.^[18]

Betjeman and architecture[link]

Betjeman Statue in St Pancras.

Betjeman had a fondness for Victorian architecture and was a founding member of Victorian Society. He wrote London's Historic Railway Stations in 1972, defending the beauty of the twelve of London's railway stations. He led the campaign to save Holy Trinity, Sloane Street in London when it was threatened with demolition in the early 1970s.^[19] He fought a spirited but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to save the Propylaeum, known commonly as the Euston Arch, London. He is considered instrumental in helping to save the famous façade of St Pancras railway station, London and was commemorated when it re-opened as an international and domestic terminus in November 2007. He called the plan to demolish St Pancras a "criminal folly".^[20] About the station itself 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 Barlow's train shed gaping to devour incoming engines, and the sudden burst of exuberant Gothic of the hotel seen from gloomy Judd Street." On the re-opening St Pancras in 2007, a statue of Betjeman by Martin Jennings was erected in the station at platform level.^[20]

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 says: "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 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 lambaste John Poulson's building, British Railways House (now City House) saying how it blocked all the light out to City Square and was only a testament to money with no architectural merit. He also praised the architecture of Leeds Town Hall.^[21][22] In 1969 Betjeman contributed the foreword to Derek Linstrum's Historic Architecture of Leeds.^[23]

Legacy[link]

• A memorial window, designed by John Piper, is set in All Saints' Church, Farnborough, Berkshire, where Betjeman lived in the adjoining Rectory.
• The Betjeman Millennium Park at Wantage in Oxfordshire (formerly in Berkshire), was where he lived from 1951 to 1972 and where he set his book, Archie and the Strict Baptists
• The John Betjeman Young People's Poetry Competition was inaugurated in 2006 to celebrate Betjeman's centenary. The competition is open to 11–14 year olds living anywhere in the British Isles and the Republic of Ireland. The spirit behind the competition is to encourage young people to understand and appreciate the importance of place.^[24]
• One of the two engines used on the pier railway at Southend-on-Sea is named Sir John Betjeman (the other being Sir William Heygate).
• In 2003, to mark their Centenary, the residents of Lissenden Gardens in London put up a plaque to mark Betjeman's birth place.
• The statue of John Betjeman at St Pancras station by sculptor Martin Jennings was unveiled in 2007.

Honours[link]

• 1960 Queen's Medal for Poetry
• 1960 CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire)
• 1968 Companion of Literature, the Royal Society of Literature
• 1969 Knight Bachelor
• 1972 Poet Laureate
• 1973 Honorary Member, the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Poetry Collections[link]

• Mount Zion (1932)
• Continual Dew (1937)
• Old Lights For New Chancels (1940)
• New Bats In Old Belfries (1945)
• A Few Late Chrysanthemums (1954)
• Poems In The Porch (1954)
• Summoned By Bells (1960)
• High and Low (1966)
• A Nip In The Air (1974)

Bibliography[link]

• Matthew, H.C.G. and Harrison, B. (eds), (2004). Oxford dictionary of national biography (vol. 5). Oxford: OUP.
• Brooke, Jocelyn (1962). Ronald Firbank and John Betjeman. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
• Games, Stephen (2006). Trains and Buttered Toast, Introduction. London: John Murray.
• Games, Stephen (2007). Tennis Whites and Teacakes, Introduction. London: John Murray.
• Games, Stephen (2007). Sweet Songs of Zion, Introduction. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
• Games, Stephen (2009). Betjeman's England, Introduction. London: John Murray.
• Gardner, Kevin J. (2005). "John Betjeman." The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Gardner, Kevin J. (2011) Betjeman on Faith: An anthology of his religious prose. London: SPCK.
• Gardner, Kevin J. (2010) Betjeman and the Anglican Tradition, London, SPCK.
• Green, Chris (2006). John Betjeman and the Railways. Transport for London
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Wilson, A. N. (2006). Betjeman. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-179702-0

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Betjeman, John (1960). Summoned by Bells. London: John Murray.
• Mowl, Timothy (2000). Stylistic Cold Wars, Betjeman versus Pevsner. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5909-X

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Betjeman

• John Betjeman Young People's Poetry Competition website
• John Betjeman archive at University of Victoria, Special Collections
• The Betjeman Society
• Poetry Foundation profile
• profile and poems written and audio at the Poetry Archive
• BBC4 audio interviews from People Today 24 December 1959 Home Service
• David Heathcote's A Shell Eye on England