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Betjeman's World

Readings by Tamsin Greig and archive recordings of former poet laureate John Betjeman, who died 40 years ago, are set alongside music by Butterworth, Grieg and Flanders and Swan.

...Ringers in an oil-lit belfry - Bitton? Kelston? who shall say? -
Smoothly practicing a plain course, caverned out the dying day
As their melancholy music flooded up and ebbed away...

John Betjeman, former poet laureate and much-loved broadcaster, was born in Islington in 1906 and died in St Enedoc, Cornwall 40 years ago this month. Today's Words and Music hears 麻豆社 archive recordings of Betjeman performing some of his best-loved poems - A Subaltern's Love Song and Christmas - and excerpts from broadcasts he gave on two of his passions: Victorian Architecture and the regional railway. Tamsin Greig reads more of his poetry, including his tender tribute to his dead father, On a Portrait of a Deaf Man, alongside assessments of the poet from the likes of Alan Bennett and former chair of the Arts Council Lord Goodman.

The world Betjeman evokes is one in which beauty is prized above all else - not a Romantic ideal of beauty but an everyday kind of beauty: the beauty of a still day at the seaside, the beauty of a peal of bells across a landscape, and yes, the beauty of the women who were frequently his muses. A man of his time, he was simultaneously nostalgic for the past and ahead of the curve in many respects. His acute observation, his wit, and his palpable passions fill his work with a genuineness that brings his subjects to life vividly and directly.

The music we hear ranges from Grace Williams's Welsh seascape to Arnold Bax's dramatic depiction of the Cornish coast, via Anglican hymns, Pink Floyd and Flanders and Swan's comic and moving rendition of The Slow Train. There are musical settings of Betjeman's poetry from Madeleine Dring and Jim Parker, the latter taken from Banana Blush, a niche recording made in the 1970s and featuring Betjeman himself reciting his poetry. And there are bells - lots of bells.

Producer: David Fay, in collaboration with 麻豆社 Archives.

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 12 May 2024 18:00
麻豆社 Radio 3

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:01

    Grace Williams

    Calm Sea in Summer (Sea Sketches, No 5)

    Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: David Atherton.
    • Lyrita SRCD323.
    • Tr5.

  • John Betjeman

    A Bay in Anglesey, read by John Betjeman

  • John Betjeman

    Myfanwy at Oxford, read by Tamsin Greig

  • 00:09

    Thomas Morley

    Now is the Month of Maying

    Performer: The King鈥檚 Singers.
    • EMI CDC7492652.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:10

    Vincent Youmans

    Tahiti Trot (Tea for Two)

    Music Arranger: Dmitry Shostakovich. Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme J盲rvi.
    • Chandos CHAN8587.
    • Tr12.

  • John Betjeman

    A Subaltern聮s Love-song, read by John Betjeman

  • Lord Goodman, Chair of Arts Council England

    Excerpt from a letter written in 1967 to John Hewitt Prime Minister Harold Wilson聮s Secretary for Appointments, read by Tamsin Greig

  • 00:15

    George Butterworth

    Loveliest of Trees (Songs from A Shropshire Lad)

    Singer: Christopher Maltman. Performer: Roger Vignoles.
    • Hyperion CDA67378.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:17

    Jim Parker

    A Shropshire Lad

    Narrator: Sir John Betjeman. Performer: Banana Blush. Performer: Jim Parker.
    • Virgin VCCCD19.
    • Tr6.

  • John Betjeman

    Excerpt from 麻豆社 Television series 聭Four with Betjeman: Victorian Architects and Architecture聮 (Episode 2)

  • Alan Bennett

    Excerpt from 聭Six Poets: Hardy to Larkin聮, read by Tamsin Greig

  • 00:22

    Johann Abraham Peter Schulz

    We Plough the Fields and Scatter

    Performer: John Keys (organ).
    • John Keys AW5086679.
    • Tr.

  • John Betjeman

    Harvest Hymn, read by John Betjeman

  • 00:23

    Johann Abraham Peter Schulz

    We Plough the Fields and Scatter

    Choir: Norwich Cathedral Choir. Conductor: Simon Johnson.
    • Priory PRCD5018.
    • Tr3.
  • 00:24

    Johann Abraham Peter Schulz

    We Plough the Fields and Scatter

    Performer: Neil Taylor. Choir: Norwich Cathedral Choir. Conductor: Simon Johnson.
    • Virgin.

  • John Betjeman

    On a Portrait of a Deaf Man, read by Tamsin Greig

  • 00:27

    Edvard Grieg

    Aase's Death (Peer Gynt Suite No 1)

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Paavo Berglund.
    • EMI 5 74731 2.
    • Tr5.
  • 00:32

    Traditional English

    Bristol Surprise Maximus

    Performer: Change Ringing on Handbells Group.
    • Saydisc SDL 310.
    • Tr8.

  • John Betjeman

    Christmas, read by John Betjeman

  • 00:36

    Morten Lauridsen

    O Magnum Mysterium

    Choir: ORA. Composer: Suzi Digby.
    • Harmonia Mundi HMM905305.
    • Tr7.

  • John Betjeman

    Extract from a letter to John Murray, Betjeman聮s publisher; read by Tamsin Greig

  • 00:43

    Madeleine Dring

    Song of a Nightclub Proprietess (Betjeman songs, No 5)

    Singer: Ad猫le Charvet. Performer: Susan Manoff.
    • Alpha ALPHA556.
    • Tr8.
  • 00:45

    Pink Floyd

    Have a Cigar

    Performer: Pink Floyd.
    • Pink Floyd Records : 5099902984452.
    • Tr.

  • John Betjeman

    Executive, read by John Betjeman

  • 00:49

    Arthur Honegger

    Pacific 231

    Orchestra: Tonhalle-Orchester Z眉rich. Conductor: David Zinman.
    • Decca 4553522.
    • Tr6.

  • John Betjeman

    Excerpt from 麻豆社 Television programme 聭Let聮s Imagine聟 A Branch Line Railway with John Betjeman聮

  • 00:56

    Gustav Holst

    A Somerset Rhapsody

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones.
    • Naxos 8.553696.
    • Tr1.

  • John Betjeman

    Bristol, read by Tamsin Greig

  • 00:00

    Traditional English

    Stedman Triples

    Performer: Evercreech Church Ringers, Somerset.
    • 麻豆社 Sound Effect Archive.
    • Tr1.

  • Philip Paynton

    John Betjeman聮s Funeral, read by Tamsin Greig

  • 01:06

    Arnold Bax

    Tintagel

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo V盲nsk盲.
    • Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3 - Bax: Tintagel.
    • London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • 101.

  • John Betjeman

    The Last Laugh, read by Tamsin Greig

  • 01:11

    Michael Flanders

    Slow Train

    Composer: Donald Swann. Singer: Michael Flanders. Performer: Donald Swann.
    • The Complete Flanders and Swann: At The Drop Of Another Hat.
    • EMI.
    • 12.

Broadcast

  • Sun 12 May 2024 18:00
    麻豆社 Radio 3

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