Like Dylan Thomas, John Betjeman was well aware of the power of the media to disseminate his work. Through a series of carefully chosen performances, as well as radio and gramophone recordings, he transformed himself into a genuinely popular poet, one whose work appealed to everyone. Poems such as "Come Friendly Bombs, and Fall on Slough" became part of an entire discourse on the future of architecture.
Betjeman also became a powerful personality in his own right as a presenter of historical and architectural documentaries. Right up until the late Seventies, viewers could see him tramping through the British landscape commenting on the architectural virtues of a particular church, or the advantages of a verdant landscape, in a language deliberately calculated to solicit their attention. Many modern-day presenters of documentaries - who are perhaps too much concerned with factual narratives - could take a lesson from Betjeman's book in the art of impressionistic observations delivered direct to camera or in voice-over.
In his offscreen life, however, Betjeman was a far more complex personality. In RETURN TO BETJEMANLAND his biographer A. N. Wilson traced the former Poet Laureate's life by revisiting some of the places most associated with him; his birthplace, his college, and the Cornish landscape where he passed away in 1984. Betjeman apparently had a miserable childhood; his only real friend was his teddy-bear Archie, who remained with him for the rest of his life. To compensate for his inadequacies Betjeman deliberately cultivated a public persona of being the fool, the butt of everyone's jokes, as well as being something of a joker himself; this made him ideally suitable for television, but told us nothing about the real person underneath. Although ostensibly happily married, Betjeman had a long-standing affair that caused considerable heartache for his wife, but Betjeman never had the strength of character to end it. He wanted to have his cake and eat it, so to speak. Perhaps this vanity was another manifestation of his basic loneliness.
Although sympathetic to Betjeman's character, Wilson was not blind to the poet's faults. Nonetheless, Wilson did point out the most important point - despite his personal traumas, Betjeman left behind a body of work that remains timeless.
Betjeman also became a powerful personality in his own right as a presenter of historical and architectural documentaries. Right up until the late Seventies, viewers could see him tramping through the British landscape commenting on the architectural virtues of a particular church, or the advantages of a verdant landscape, in a language deliberately calculated to solicit their attention. Many modern-day presenters of documentaries - who are perhaps too much concerned with factual narratives - could take a lesson from Betjeman's book in the art of impressionistic observations delivered direct to camera or in voice-over.
In his offscreen life, however, Betjeman was a far more complex personality. In RETURN TO BETJEMANLAND his biographer A. N. Wilson traced the former Poet Laureate's life by revisiting some of the places most associated with him; his birthplace, his college, and the Cornish landscape where he passed away in 1984. Betjeman apparently had a miserable childhood; his only real friend was his teddy-bear Archie, who remained with him for the rest of his life. To compensate for his inadequacies Betjeman deliberately cultivated a public persona of being the fool, the butt of everyone's jokes, as well as being something of a joker himself; this made him ideally suitable for television, but told us nothing about the real person underneath. Although ostensibly happily married, Betjeman had a long-standing affair that caused considerable heartache for his wife, but Betjeman never had the strength of character to end it. He wanted to have his cake and eat it, so to speak. Perhaps this vanity was another manifestation of his basic loneliness.
Although sympathetic to Betjeman's character, Wilson was not blind to the poet's faults. Nonetheless, Wilson did point out the most important point - despite his personal traumas, Betjeman left behind a body of work that remains timeless.
