John Betjeman
Enoch Powell wasn’t racist – he just craved attention
Dining in splendour beneath Van Dycks as we forked in the delicious venison, it was hard not to agree with…
Altar, font and arch and pew
John Betjeman, the patron saint of English parish churches, once warned against praising British buildings too much. Be careful before…
Osbert Lancaster: a national treasure rediscovered
True to his saw that ours is ‘a land of rugged individualists’, Osbert Lancaster, in his self-appointed role of popular…
North Cornwall
In a documentary filmed at the end of his life, Sir John Betjeman, who lived in the village of Trebetherick…
Restoration drama
Yes William Cook Rejoice! Rejoice! Fifty-four years after its destruction, Euston Arch has returned to Euston. Well, after a fashion.…
Cathedrals on wheels
Stephen Bayley hails the automobile – a miracle of technical and artistic collaboration – and mourns its demise
Dear Mary
Q. What is the correct thing to say to a writer friend whose book you haven’t read? I buy most…
Love, care and laughter
Remembering Candida Lycett Green
Out of this world
I’m willing to bet it’s only on the BBC’s Radio 3 that you’ll find yourself listening to a programme quite…
Diary
Like many inward-looking children, I always doodled stories and poems. Knowing one wanted to be a writer is a different…
For the love of Cornwall
Before writing this review I spent an hour looking for my original Pevsner paperback on Cornwall, published in 1951 (the…
Another country
William Cook has moved to Metroland. He contemplates John Betjeman’s vision of it
Last man standing
Like Mel Brooks’s character the Two Thousand-Year-Old Man, Peter Lewis has met everyone of consequence. Though he doesn’t mention being…
Battle of the buildings
A rare jewel sits in the middle of the Hyde Park Corner roundabout. The Quadrant Gallery, run by English Heritage,…
