Tennis Whites and Teacakes

Product Description Tennis Whites and Teacakes brings together the best of Betjeman's poetry, private letters, journalism and musings to present a fully rounded picture of what he stood for. From his arguments for new steel buildings to his amusement about the etiquette of village teashops, it reveals Betjeman not just as a sentimentalist but as a passionate observer with a wonderful sense of humour and an acute eye. Review "A real treat . . . a lovely, lovely anthology." --"Daily Mail", on "Trains and Buttered Toast" "Games . . . has produced a volume which no Betjemaniac will be without." --"Evening Standard", on "Trains and Buttered Toast" "Excellent." --"Spectator", on "Trains and Buttered Toast" "Informative and entertaining." --"Scotsman", on "Trains and Buttered Toast" A real treat . . . a lovely, lovely anthology. "Daily Mail," on "Trains and Buttered Toast"" Games . . . has produced a volume which no Betjemaniac will be without. "Evening Standard," on "Trains and Buttered Toast"" Excellent. "Spectator," on "Trains and Buttered Toast"" Informative and entertaining. "Scotsman," on "Trains and Buttered Toast"" Book Description The real England, the real John Betjeman About the Author John Betjeman was born in 1906 in London, and went to the Highgate Junior School, where his teachers included T.S. Eliot. After leaving Oxford without a degree, Betjeman was briefly a schoolmaster, then worked for Shell as Editor of their Town Guides, and for the Architectural Review. An increasingly popular poet and television personality, he published his long autobiographical poem SUMMONED BY BELLS in 1960, the same year he was awarded his CBE. He was knighted in 1968 and appointed Poet Laureate in 1974. He died in 1984. John Betjeman was born in London on 28 August 1906. He was educated at Marlborough and Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1931 his first book of poems, 'Mount Zion', was published by an old Oxford friend, Edward James. His second book was 'Ghastly Good Taste', a commentary on architecture, published in 1934. He was knighted in 1969 and was appointed Poet Laureate in 1972. John Betjeman died on 19 May 1984 at his home in Trebetherick, Cornwall and was buried at the nearby church of St Enodoc. Stephen Games writes about architecture and language. He was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, made documentaries for BBC Radio 3 and has worked for the Independent, the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, and was deputy editor of the RIBA Journal. In 2002, he edited the radio talks of Nikolaus Pevsner. He has edited several collections of John Betjeman's work including TRAINS AND BUTTERED TOAST, TENNIS WHITES AND TEACAKES and BETJEMAN'S ENGLAND.