Lovely Bits of Old England: John Betjeman at The Telegraph

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Who built what in 1801 and where Lord Uphisownarse bought his horses get plenty of coverage; people almost never. I love this post, probably cause you share some of my most treasured Florence spots too (piazza della passera, Il santino– I recognized the wine shelf immediately!

Taken together they offer a eulogy for what was lost and an impassioned defence of the past in the face of progress’s relentless onward march. A few years ago one of my dearest friends – you – showed me another Florence and from that moment on I’ve been loving it because I was looking at the city from a new perspective. I find it’s so much more enjoyable and rewarding to get to know one small pocket at snail’s pace rather than run around like a madwoman on a mission all over a city! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. The majority of the pieces are on architecture and landscape with the remainder comprising book reviews, travelogues and some miscellaneous one off pieces such as a review of the Victorian and Edwardian exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1952.

Stayed in an apartment near the lovely Mercato Sant’Ambrogio (wonderful neighborhood), ended up doing a cooking class near Piazza della Passera, which we stumbled upon at night–charming and romantic, oh and on top of that ate a few lunches of Gusta Pizza on the steps of the church by Via Santo Spirito, and had a lovely meal at a restaurant there as well…loved being anywhere that tourists were not…thanks for the suggestions! John Betjeman began writing for the Telegraph in 1951 and continued to do so for a quarter of a century. To kick-off our first foray into the CD world we present to you a double CD compilation brimming with a wonderfully eclectic selection of forward-thinking music from some of our favourite artists.

Yet, these glorious moments and hidden corners are hardly enough for making living in Venice easy, or even tollerable. Spence himself is considered to be "an architect of imagination and with a sense of detail as well as plan, as his Sea and Ships Pavilion on the South Bank and this cathedral fully testify. D. Salinger, through prescient warnings about the threat posed to the English skyline by office blocks, motorways and concrete lamp-standards, to elegiac paeans to Norman churches and, of course, the gothic majesty of St Pancras station, Lovely Bits of Old England collects the very best of Betjeman s contributions to the Telegraph for the first time.

In 1953 about 'Casino Royale' he says: "It suffers from falling apart two-thirds of the way through. In one piece for example the Royal Arcade of Newcastle is described as being threatened with demolition but the book does not explain that it was demolished from 1963-64 or that it had been built in an unfashionable part of town which resulted in a lack of commercial success and demolition being considered as early as the 1880s.As a country girl, for years I’ve just been annoyed by the crowds of tourists, the heat of summer and the absence of a place to leave my car when visiting Florence. If you’d like to file an allegation of infringement, you’ll need to follow the process described in our Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy. The palazzi that rise up on either side of the street prove that it has long been a respectful, noble street. This collection of newspaper articles, from book reviews to longer pieces on towns / architecture, was patchy.

The quality of the essays is a little variable, some were enjoyable and thought provoking whilst others were a little flat and uninspired. As well as being a noted poet Betjeman was well known for his enthusiasm for Victorian architecture and the suburbs of Britain, whose virtues were extolled in the 1973 BBC documentary Metroland.Especially after living in Florence (I think it must be a side effect) I have always tried to do this when travelling in places I’ve never been before. In 1951 'The Catcher in the Rye' and 'The Day of The Triffids' were afforded a single paragraph in The Telegraph. San Niccolò: This was one of the first Florentine neighbourhoods I got to know really well, while studying etching here when I was just 20. The little parcels of pear and taleggio ‘fiochetti’ are a main-stay of their menu for a good reason. e cinque is a great spot for a healthy, organic lunch or snack and next door to that is Il Magazzino, a tripperia and a wonderful place to see what Tuscans can do with offal.