Friday September 15th.
I’d never been to to a plaque unveiling ceremony before, so when I heard that Betjeman’s childhood home, 31 West Hill, Highgate, was getting one, I took my camera along. It’s a short walk from my own home, after all.
West Hill is a rather busy, narrow road linking Highgate Village to Kentish Town. There was a fairly decent crowd for the unveiling, spilling out from the house’s front garden onto the thin pavement. Just as well the speakers had a PA system, otherwise they’d have been utterly drowned out by the traffic. A few police were there, which was consoling as a crowd is still a crowd, Betjeman fans or no.
Rather a lot of photographers, too. One of whom was a bit pushy – clearly from a newspaper – and demanded that I help him identify some names he’d been told to snap.
Him: Do you know what A.N. Wilson looks like?
Me: Not entirely.
I now wish I’d said “Yes, that’s me. I am A.N. Wilson”, just to make life more interesting. As it happened, someone took my photo anyway. I wonder what it was for.
A man from English Heritage, who do the blue plaques, reminded us that they’re suggested by the public, and that the person on the plaque must be dead for at least 20 years. Betjeman died in 1984, so that explains why there hasn’t been a plaque here till now. Mr Motion, the Poet Laureate, told us that Betjeman had once read out one of his own poems when he was a schoolboy. I felt he was going to add “So there.” Then he read the section of Summoned By Bells that contains the line “Deeply I loved thee, 31 West Hill.”
Andrew Motion:
The plaque itself is only a temporary metal version, as we’re told that the proper ceramic one was broken en transit to the English Heritage offices. At some point in the future, a ceramic replacement will go up, without any ceremony. If the man from EH hadn’t brought this up, I’d never have noticed.
When I mentioned the event to Ms Stone the previous day, she said I should try to get off with someone, if only to later tell people, hand in hand, “We met at a John Betjeman plaque unveiling ceremony.” Well, I didn’t manage that, though I couldn’t resist asking a gentleman called Chris who was walking around with a teddy bear – like Betjeman did – if he would pose with me for a photo.
