In Praise of Churches - Tapa blanda

John Betjeman's delightful evocation in verse and prose, of the church and church life, is gracefully rendered in 80 watercolor paintings. No one has capturedas completely that intimate world, with its clergy, congregation, architecture, and ritual, than the late poet laureate."

John Betjeman was born in London on 28 August 1906. He was educated at Marlborough and Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1931 his first book of poems, 'Mount Zion', was published by an old Oxford friend, Edward James. His second book was 'Ghastly Good Taste', a commentary on architecture, published in 1934. He was knighted in 1969 and was appointed Poet Laureate in 1972. John Betjeman died on 19 May 1984 at his home in Trebetherick, Cornwall and was buried at the nearby church of St Enodoc.