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Betjeman's World

Readings by Tamsin Greig and archive recordings of former poet laureate John Betjeman 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...

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

Christmas Day 2025 17:00
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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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. Ensemble: Banana Blush Ensemble. Conductor: Jim Parker.
    • Virgin VCCCD19.
    • Tr6.

  • John Betjeman

    Excerpt from 麻豆社 Television series 鈥楩our with Betjeman: Victorian Architects and Architecture鈥� (Episode 2)

  • Alan Bennett

    Excerpt from 鈥楽ix Poets: Hardy to Larkin鈥�, read by Tamsin Greig

  • 00:22

    Johann Abraham Peter Schulz

    We Plough the Fields and Scatter

    Performer: John Keys.
    • 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.

  • 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. Conductor: Suzi Digby.
    • Harmonia Mundi HMM905305.
    • Tr7.

  • John Betjeman

    Extract from a letter to John Murray, Betjeman鈥檚 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 鈥楲et鈥檚 Imagine鈥� A Branch Line Railway with John Betjeman鈥�

  • 00:56

    Gustav Holst

    A Somerset Rhapsody

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: David Lloyd鈥怞ones.
    • 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.
  • 01:05

    London Philharmonic Orchestra, Osmo Vanska (conductor)

    Tintagel

    • LPO LPO0036D.
    • Tr1.

  • Philip Paynton

    John Betjeman鈥檚 Funeral, read by Tamsin Greig

  • John Betjeman

    The Last Laugh, read by Tamsin Greig

  • 01:10

    Michael Flanders and Donald Swann

    The Slow Train

    • EMI CDS7974642.
    • Tr8.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 12 May 2024 18:00
    麻豆社 Radio 3
  • Christmas Day 2025 17:00
    麻豆社 Radio 3

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