The Betjeman Connection
In John Betjeman’s poem, ‘The Outer Suburbs’ (1932), there is a reference to Oakleigh Park as ‘Oakley Park’: ‘The weary walk from Oakley Park/Through the soft suburban dark’. This is not a spelling that occurs elsewhere, but may be personal idiosyncrasy, rather than a simple mistake, given that Betjeman was, at the time, a schoolmaster in the area. (It could possibly be childhood association. The Betjemans became acquainted with a family called Oakley during holidays in Cornwall. The person universally associated with that name – the American sharp-shooter, Annie Oakley, who died in 1926 – also spelt her name thus.)
Read more about this topic: Oakleigh Park
Famous quotes containing the words betjeman and/or connection:
“What a treat to hear Thy Word
Where the bones of leading statesmen,
Have so often been interred.”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)
“One must always maintain one’s connection to the past and yet ceaselessly pull away from it. To remain in touch with the past requires a love of memory. To remain in touch with the past requires a constant imaginative effort.”
—Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962)