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35. BETJEMAN, John. Accounts of his time as a schoolmaster at heddon court.
£98
A small group of correspondence relating to Betjeman’s time as a master at heddon court Prep School (April 1929 to July 1930).
1) A typed letter signed by David Soltau to John Betjeman dated 19th September 1976 in which he reminisces about his time at the school “Although it is over 45 years ago i can remember a good deal about the school and have always felt that we boys owed you a great deal for the teaching and benevolent supervision you gave us. i can remember far more of your teaching than the rest of the staff put together, and you were able to instill in me a great interest in architecture, old churches, and of course the ghost stories of m.R. James!”
Soltau goes on to quote entries he made in a diary that he kept as a schoolboy, including accounts of Betjeman being pushed into the swimming pool and making up songs about the boys “in mr Godfrey’s form room, they are a comic lot. De haviland is off his head, and who said Soltau’s not!”. Soltau refers to a school photograph but this sadly has not survived.
A carbon copy of Betjeman’s typed reply is attached to the TLS. in it Betjeman remembers Soltau fondly “Yes i remember you well and there you are a surgeon and what a nice letter to have from you...Your diary is a treat, at least the extracts are. Little did i know that quiet boy Soltau was going to keep a diary.” Betjeman goes on to respond to a point Soltau raised in his letter about Betjeman not being happy as a schoolmaster “i was very happy at heddon court. i was a fool to give up schoolmastering but i suppose it turns one into an awful martinette and prig unless one has a stronger character than [John Betjeman]”.
Also included is a typed sheet by Soltau giving information about John humphrey hope who was headmaster at heddon court.
2) A autograph letter from another of Betjeman’s heddon court pupils Kenric Rice, who gains a mention in Betjeman’s poem The Cricket Master, to Bevis hillier. Rice applauds hillier for his first volume of biography but queries his comment about Rice visiting Betjeman in Sheffield hospital “What year was this? i certainly have no recollection of visiting him.” With the letter is a heddon court Boxing competition programme for December 1930 (after Betjeman had left) in which Rice appears in the Under 5 stone 10 bout against Tucker iv. it is not recoded who won the bout.
3) A autograph letter to Betjeman from two of his pupils written on one side of a sheet taken from a school book. The letter from Simon harcourt and Paul miller reads “Dear Sir, i hope that you will be well again soon. i have got a design out of Architectural Review and made a calendar and given it to miss Taylor [the matron]. mr hope took Form iii this morning and he is giving us some made up sentences and also Grammer [sic], Love Simon harcourt and Paul miller.”
A touching note from pupils to teacher. Paul miller later became canon of Derby cathedral.
For more information on Betjeman at heddon court see hillier Young Betjeman.
36. [BETJEMAN, John] KITCHING, Alan and WHITE, G.K. Recollections of Betjeman’s Schooldays. 1988-1990.
£248
A small collection of autograph letters from Alan Kitching and G.K. White to Bevis hillier recalling Betjeman’s schooldays at marlborough college.
The Kitching correspondence begins with a letter dated 20 December 1989 in which Kitching, prompted by hearing hillier talking about the first volume of his Biography of Betjeman on the radio, sends hillier some pieces of Betjeman memorabilia. This includes a photocopy of an 8 page
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