Yet this relationship with Elizabeth Cavendish was first publicly aired in 1977 and was detailed at length in Bevis Hillier’s excellent official biography in 2002. Even recent BBC documentaries about Betjeman have named her.
The same newspaper also accused the BBC of “failing to mark” the 100th anniversary of the poet’s birth on August 28. But I’ve counted eight programmes on Betjeman. Hardly a failure. I’m amused, too, by current DVD adverts that scream: “The lost films of Sir John Betjeman have been found!” Yet these films about West Country towns have long been on video and were aired on Channel 4.
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Also on display will be some intriguing letters the artist wrote to his friends Robert and Lisa Sainsbury. Quite a few are the begging kind, such as one dated December 5, 1955: “Dear Bob, I’m in rather bad money difficulties and wonder if you could lend me £400 till the start of April.”
At the time, £400 was the equivalent of at least £10,000 today. No wonder a flush Bacon fled to Tangier a few weeks later, where the boys and the booze were abundant. It turned out to be the most creative period of his career.
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It’s the sort of play that should transfer to a small West End theatre. Maybe the New Ambassadors, dark since July, and with nothing scheduled.