Favourite Betjeman poem

[Robert G]

It cannot have escaped your notice (can it?) that 2006 marks the centenary of poet laureate Sir John Betjeman's birth.

What is your favourite JB poem and why?

[gary baldy]

Its got be:

Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow
Swarm over, Death!

Come, bombs, and blow to smithereens
Those air-conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans
Tinned minds, tinned breath.

etc etc

[pega]

The Christmas poem Last lines are

Nor all the steeple shaking bells

can with the single truth compare

That God was man in Palestine

And lives today in Bread and Wine.

[shaneystar2]

It's got to be Death in Leamington.A lot of his work was quite witty but there were serious undertones.I only remember this particular poem vividly because we studied him at school in Eng.Lit. .For impressionable schoolgirls this poem had an element of the macabre in it !

[vehelpfulguy]

The Slough poem comes to mind, but I am not a great fan of any poetry.

My favorite thing he did was the TV program Metroland (he also wrote a poem Metroland I believe).

In the program he looked at how the London underground system spread north west from Baker Street out to North West London.

He visited some amazing places and showed how they were before the trains came.

For example, did you know they started to build a tower like the Eiffel Tower where Wembley Stadium is now ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watkins'_Tower

I lived in north west London at the time and found it a fascinating program.

http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/metropolitan.html

[Grunty]

I think I would have chosen 'Slough' but I rather like this one:

I am a young executive. No cuffs than mine are cleaner;
I have a Slimline brief-case and I use the firm's Cortina.
In every roadside hostelry from here to Burgess Hill
The ma�tres d'h�tel all know me well, and let me sign the bill.

You ask me what it is I do. Well, actually, you know,
I'm partly a liaison man, and partly P.R.O.
Essentially, I integrate the current export drive
And basically I'm viable from ten o'clock till five.

For vital off-the-record work - that's talking transport-wise -
I've a scarlet Aston-Martin - and does she go? She flies!
Pedestrians and dogs and cats, we mark them down for slaughter.
I also own a speedboat which has never touched the water.

She's built of fibre-glass, of course. I call her 'Mandy Jane'
After a bird I used to know - No soda, please, just plain -
And how did I acquire her? Well, to tell you about that
And to put you in the picture, I must wear my other hat.

I do some mild developing. The sort of place I need
Is a quiet country market town that's rather run to seed
A luncheon and a drink or two, a little savoir faire -
I fix the Planning Officer, the Town Clerk and the Mayor.

And if some Preservationist attempts to interfere
A 'dangerous structure' notice from the Borough Engineer
Will settle any buildings that are standing in our way -
The modern style, sir, with respect, has really come to stay.

[Cetti]

Just so many wonderful poems with that ra ta ta easy rhythm. I love How to Get On in Society, Hunter Trials, Christmas, In a Bath Teashop and The Church Mouse but Dorset has to the special one simply because I love the names and know most of the places. It starts off:

Rime Intrinsica, Fontmell Magna, Sturminster Newton and Melbury Bubb,

Whist upon whist upon whist upon whist drive, in Institute, Legion and Social Club.

Horny hands that hold the aces which this morning held the plough - While Tranter reuben, T.S. Eliot, H.G. Wells and Edith Sitwell lie in Mellstock Churchyard now.

[mydogsandme]

They **** you up, your mum and dad. That is a Betjeman, isn't it?

[Robert G]

No, mydogsandme, that was Philip Larkin.

Thanks, everyone for your answers.