Here is a letter written by John Betjeman (1906-84) on 6th August 1969. I was given it a couple of Chrismases ago. I don’t know much about Betjeman, although I do like his poem about his father, ‘On a Portrait of a Deaf Man’ (‘The kind old face, the egg-shaped head, / The tie, discreetly loud’); and I do like any text that anchors itself vividly to a moment in the past.
This is, of course, why so many "period" films and TV shows fail to convince: the costume and props people clothe everyone in synchronous fashions, and place them among settings from that year's Ideal Home magazine (or "Perfick Hovel", to which my own ancestors subscribed).
This is, of course, why so many "period" films and TV shows fail to convince: the costume and props people clothe everyone in synchronous fashions, and place them among settings from that year's Ideal Home magazine (or "Perfick Hovel", to which my own ancestors subscribed).
Mike
Love this piece. (Son of Sam takes me into the moodscape of Russian Doll.)