Summoned by bells

the long version

John Betjeman has written his autobiography. It is, as one would have hoped, in verse--the clear, captivating, unabashedly musical verse which has made Betjeman one of the best loved English poets since Tennyson. It shines, as one would expect with the poet's love for the English countryside, his delight in the small good things of life, his sure eye for the comical in himself and in others. Above all, it is the touching story of a boy's growth to manhood.