John Betjeman: The Biography - Couverture souple

Hillier's enthralling, many-voiced biography is an awesome achievement. But it is no more than Betjeman's due (John Carey, Sunday Times)

'This user-friendly trade paperback... will be welcomed as a crucial reference work by students and aficionados alike' (Oxford Times)

Fascinating (Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday Times)

Sharply perceptive ... compelling ... A biography this good abolishes time in its own way, and triumphantly ensures Betjeman's survival (Peter Conrad, Observer)

A mosaic in which the true face of the man and his times is revealed (Mail on Sunday)

The chubbiest, juiciest book of the year (Barry Humphries, Daily Telegraph)

Strikes just the right note. (Telegraph)

An awe-inspiring piece of scholarship ... Betjeman has had the best and most sympathetic biographer he could have wished for (Artemis Cooper, Evening Standard)

A triumph (Spectator)

Hilarious and very poignant (Duncan Fallowell, Express)

Bevis Hillier has devoted more than twenty-five years to writing Betjeman`s life, a task entrusted to him by the poet himself. Like Betjeman he was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. Later he joined the Times, became editor of The Connoisseur and a columnist on the Los Angeles Times, as well as writing for many other papers and journals. He edited Betjeman`s `Uncollected Poems` `now included in `Collected Poems``, compiled `John Betjeman: A Life in Pictures` and is the author of `Young Betjeman`. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Hampshire.