Trains and Buttered Toast. Selected Radio Talks

John Betjeman. Edited and Introduced By Stephen Games

ISBN 10: 0719561264 / ISBN 13: 9780719561269

Published by John Murray, London England, 2006

About this Item

Hardback. Foxing to edges and D/J. Trains and Buttered Toast. Price clipped to D/J. Eccentric, sentimental and homespun, John Betjeman's passions were mostly self-taught. he saw his country being devastated by war and progress, and he waged a private battle to save it. His only weapons were words - the pietry for which he is best known and even more influential, the radio talks that first made him a ohenomenon. From fervent pleas for provincial preservation to humoresques on eccentric vicars and his own personal demons, Betjeman's talks combined wit, nostalgia and criticism in a way that touched the sould of his listeners from the 1930s to the 1950s. Now collected in book form for the first time, his broadcasts represent one of the most compelling archives of twentieth-century broadcasting, evoking for the modern reader Betjeman's unique perspective and the compelling magic of the golden age of wireless. 353 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions, Reference books ,and all types of Academic Literature.).

Seller Inventory # 104383

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Trains and Buttered Toast. Selected Radio Talks
• Publisher: John Murray, London England
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0719561264
• ISBN 13: 9780719561269
• Binding: Cloth
• Edition: Reprint
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
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About this title

Synopsis

Eccentric, sentimental and homespun, John Betjeman's passions were mostly self-taught. He saw his country being devastated by war and progress and he waged a private war to save it. His only weapons were words—the poetry for which he is best known and, even more influential, the radio talks that first made him a phenomenon. From fervent pleas for provincial preservation to humoresques on eccentric vicars and his own personal demons, Betjeman's talks combined wit, nostalgia and criticism in a way that touched the soul of his listeners from the 1930s to the 1950s. Now, collected in book form for the first time, his broadcasts represent one of the most compelling archives of 20th-century broadcasting.

About the Author

John Betjeman was born in 1906 and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. His gave his first radio talk in 1932; future appearances made him into a national celebrity. He was knighted in 1969 and became poet laureate in 1972. He died in 1984. Stephen Games writes about in architecture and language. He was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, made documentaries for BBC Radio 3 and was the first arts correspondent on The Independent. His work for the Guardian brought him a British Press Award. He has been a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and deputy editor of the RIBA Journal. In 2002, he edited the radio talks of Nikolaus Pevsner, whose biography he is writing.