Poem: ‘‘John Betjeman: A Life in Pictures’’

[1] an old euphemism for lavatory, toilet etc

[2] more copies sold than any poet since Tennyson

[3] a war spent in Ireland

[4] or the Wilsons, though Mary was earlier a friend and later a Lady

[5] too many Beatonish Twenties and Thirties photos

[6] Douglas lived in retirement at Brighton, once a centre of smuggling

[7] Roy Fuller perhaps?

[8] blame for overselling always attaches to publishers, not authors