JOHN BETJEMAN

People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors.

Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.

I don't think I am any good. If I thought I was any good, I wouldn't be.

Silver and ermine and red faces full of port wine.

Too many people in the modern world view poetry as a luxury, not a necessity like petrol. But to me it's the oil of life.

Now if the harvest is over, And the world cold, Give me the bonus of laughter, As I lose hold.

Lovers of Norfolk churches can never agree which is the best and I think one is either a Salle or a Cawston man.

I am still reeling with delight at the soaring majesty of Norfolk.

I have a Vision of the Future, chum. The workers flats in fields of soya beans tower up like silver pencils, score on score.

One mark of good verse is surprise

I ought to warn you that my verse is of no interest to people who can think.

Oh Wasn't it naughty of Smudges? Oh, Mummy, I'm sick with disgust. She threww me in front of the judges, And my silly old collar-bone's bust.

And behind their frail partitions Business women lie and soak, Seeing through the draughty skylight Flying clouds and railway smoke. Rest you there, poor unbelov'd ones, Lap your loneliness in heat, All too soon the tiny breakfast, Trolley-bus and windy street!

Gracious Lord, oh bomb the Germans. Spare their women for Thy Sake, And if that is not too easy, We will pardon Thy Mistake. But, gracious Lord, whate'er shall be, Don't let anyone bomb me.

Topography is one of my chief themes in my poetry, about the country, the suburbs and the seaside. Then there comes love... and increasingly; the fear of death.

And I think it was the outline of that church tower at Belaugh against the sky which gave me a passion for churches so that every church I've past since I've wanted to stop and look in.

And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait Because I have a luncheon date.

There are two thing you need for a jolly good hymn.The first is a set of words that expresses the mood or sentiment of the worshipper.The second-and perhaps even more important- is a good tune..with a simple popular melody.

History must not be written with bias, and both sides must be given, even if there is only one side.

Norfolk would not be Norfolk without a church tower on the horizon or round a corner up a lane. We cannot spare a single Norfolk church. When a church has been pulled down the country seems empty or is like a necklace with a jewel missing.

Ludlow....is probably the loveliest town in England with its hill of Georgian houses ascending from the river Teme to the great tower of the cross-shaped church, rising behind a classic market building.

Hymns are the poetry of the people.

Imprisoned in a cage of sound, even the trivial seems profound