Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984), Poet Laureate, writer and broadcaster
Sitter in 38 portraits
Born in London of Dutch origin, Betjeman was a friend of W.H. Auden and Louis MacNeice at Oxford. He began writing for the Architectural Review in 1931. At the Architectural Press he proposed the Shell Guides and became the series editor. As an early champion of Victorian architecture, Betjeman exercised, as he put it, his own 'topographical predeliction for suburbs and gaslights and Pont Street and Gothic Revival churches and mineral railways, provincial towns and garden cities'. His published poetry includes A Few Late Chrysanthemums (1954), the blank verse autobiography Summoned by Bells (1960), and A Nip in the Air, published in 1972, the year he became Poet Laureate.
by Mark Gerson
modern bromide print, November 1960
NPG x88199
by Godfrey Argent
bromide print, 17 January 1968
NPG x165061
by Granville Davies
black and white glossy print, December 1982
NPG x17992
by Granville Davies
black and white glossy print, December 1982
NPG x17993
by Granville Davies
black and white glossy print, December 1982
NPG x17994
by Stephen Hyde
bromide print, August 1983
NPG x24946
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