From the leafy streets of Edwardian Hampstead to the halls of Oxford, this is the stirring early life of John Betjeman told in his own lively blank verse. Betjeman describes in lush detail his formative years: the sounds and smells of a middle-class childhood spent in Cornwall; his discovery of literature and poetry; his turning away from the life of trade set before him. Stunning and engaging, Betjeman’s words continue to strike and thrill successive generations of poets.