John Betjeman on Trains

London: Methuen, 2006. May be a third printing. Hardcover. Very good. xi, [1], 111, [5] pages. Frontis. Illustrations. Occasional footnotes. Format is approximately 4.25 inches by 6 inches. Jonathan Glancey, FRIBA is an architectural critic and writer who was the architecture and design editor at The Guardian, a position he held from 1997 to February 2012. He previously held the same post at The Independent. He also has been involved with the architecture magazines Building Design, Architectural Review, The Architect and Blueprint. He is an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, RIBA. Following in the footsteps of Ian Nairn he made a series of four films, Outrage Revisited (2010) on the banality of Britain's postwar buildings. Currently he reports on architecture and design for the website BBC Culture. Sir John Betjeman, CBE (28 August 1906 - 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television. John Betjeman was a great champion of British heritage and a devotee of the railways. This small, beautiful volume, edited and annotated by Jonathan Glancey, describes all that Betjeman found of value in the landscape and architecture of this country as he cut a nostalgic, personality-filled arc through a long-lost Britain. Jonathan Glancey is the architecture and design editor of the Guardian. This little volume is based on "ten letters selected by his daughter each describing a journey that Betjeman made or that he planned to make or that he planned for a friend or relative." Indeed, some of these letters that form the "chapter headings" of each of the pieces are no more than a few quick lines that Betjeman jotted down for intending visitors in order to ensure they chose the right train, or alighted at the right station. From these few tidbits the author has assembled satisfying exposition. Glancey's elaborations on Betjeman's friends and visitor, reinforced by his observations of the trains, the geography, views are then elaborated upon with commentary on the history of the locale or the subject of an intended meeting. Some of the content are presented in greater detail by the poet laureate himself in his work Trains and Buttered Toast.