John Betjeman: The Biography
The Biography
$38.91
- Paperback
608 pages
- Release Date
1 September 2007
Summary
This biography takes the reader from Betjeman’s troubled childhood in north London, through his blossoming at Oxford; a gay fling with W. H. Auden; a clandestine marriage to a field marshal’s daughter; pranks as a film critic; wartime service and probable espionage in Ireland, to the glory days of his later years when his Collected Poems became a runaway bestseller. This book is a distillation of Bevis Hillier’s three-volume biography, authorized by Betjeman himself.
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780719564444 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0719564441 |
| Author: | Bevis Hillier |
| Publisher: | John Murray Press |
| Imprint: | John Murray Publishers Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 608 |
| Release Date: | 1 September 2007 |
| Weight: | 448g |
| Dimensions: | 197mm x 127mm x 39mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
[Hillier] has unearthed a wealth of detail and anecdote. - Glasgow Herald
Hillier’s enthralling, many-voiced biography is an awesome achievement. But it is no more than Betjeman’s due - John Carey, Sunday TimesFascinating - Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday TimesSharply perceptive … compelling … A biography this good abolishes time in its own way, and triumphantly ensures Betjeman’s survival - Peter Conrad, ObserverA mosaic in which the true face of the man and his times is revealed - Mail on Sunday The chubbiest, juiciest book of the year’ - Barry Humphries, Daily Telegraph Strikes just the right note. - TelegraphAn awe-inspiring piece of scholarship … Betjeman has had the best and most sympathetic biographer he could have wished for - Artemis Cooper, Evening StandardAbout The Author
Bevis Hillier
Bevis Hillier has devoted more than twenty-five years to writing Betjeman’s life, a task entrusted to him by the poet himself. Like Betjeman he was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. Later he joined the Times, became editor of The Connoisseur and a columnist on the Los Angeles Times, as well as writing for many other papers and journals. He edited Betjeman’s ‘Uncollected Poems’ ‘now included in ‘Collected Poems”, compiled ‘John Betjeman: A Life in Pictures’ and is the author of ‘Young Betjeman’. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Hampshire.
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