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John Betjeman
62 quotes
“Phone for the fish-knives, Norman As Cook is a little unnerved; You kiddies have crumpled the serviettes And I must have things daintily served.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Milk and then just as it comes dear? I’m afraid the preserve’s full of stones; Beg pardon, I’m soiling the doileys With afternoon tea-cakes and scones.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the Garden City Café with its murals on the wall Before a talk on "Sex and Civics" I meditated on the Fall.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gaily into Ruislip Gardens Runs the red electric train, With a thousand Ta’s and Pardon’s Daintily alights Elaine; Hurries down the concrete station With a frown of concentration, Out into the outskirt’s edges Where a few surviving hedges Keep alive our lost Elysium—rural Middlesex again.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was sun enough for lazing upon beaches, There was fun enough for far into the night. But I’m dying now and done for, What on earth was all the fun for? For God’s sake keep that sunlight out of sight.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Child of the First War, Forgotten by the Second. We called you Metro-Land. We laid our schemes Lured by the lush brochure, down byways beckoned, To build at last the cottage of our dreams, A City clerk turned countryman again, And linked to the Metropolis by train.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Sitting at table] Is this Buckingham Palace? Are we at the Ritz? No. This is the Chiltern Court Restaurant, built above Baker Street station, the gateway between Metro-land out there and London down there. The creation of the Metropolitan Railway.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And here, screened by shrubs, Walled in from public view, Lived the kept women. What puritan arms have stretched within these rooms To touch what tender breasts, As the cab-horse stamped in the road outside. Sweet secret suburb on the City's rim, St John's Wood.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Standing in centre of the pitch at Wembley] This was where London's failed Eiffel Tower stood. Watkins' Folly as it was called. Here on this Middlesex turf, and since then the site has become quite well-known.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Standing in front of a house in Harrow] A verge in front of your house and grass and a tree for the dog. Variety created in the façades of each of the houses — in the colouring of the trees. In fact, the country had come to the suburbs. Roses are blooming in Metro-Land just as they do in the brochures.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Steam took us onwards, through the ripening fields, Ripe for development. Where the landscape yields Clay for warm brick, timber for post and rail Through Amersham to Aylesbury and the Vale. In those wet fields the railway didn't pay. The Metro stops at Amersham to-day.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Standing and leaning on a bridge] Where are the advertisements? Where the shopping arcade, the coal merchant and the parked cars? This is a part of the Metropolitan Railway that's been entirely forgotten. Beyond Aylesbury it lies in flat fields with huge elms and distant blue hills.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source