Michael Palin: John Betjeman, A Celebration Of His Life

To celebrate the centenary of John Betjeman's birth, Keats Community Library is presenting a very special evening entitled John Betjeman: a Celebration of his life.

Michael Palin will be reading extracts from Summoned By Bells, which describes, most beautifully, Betjeman's early life in Gospel Oak and Highgate.

Michael will be joined on stage by Lee Montague who devised the programme and will contribute some surprising biographical details, with interludes of music chosen from John Betjeman's choice for Desert Island Discs.

Michael Palin took very little persuading to accept this invitation. He is a very active Patron of the volunteer-run community library and feels a close connection to Betjeman. His enthusiasm is infectious:

A love of John Betjeman's wonderfully recitable poetry was one of the few literary pleasures I shared with my father. Summoned By Bells was one of his favourite books, and later it became one of mine. I think we both responded to the rich seam of humour that runs through so much of his work.

Betjeman really should be a verb - to "betjeman", meaning to appreciate the odd, the eccentric, the individual and be prepared to be odd, eccentric and individualistic in their defence. Thanks to Betjeman's energetic betjemaning we still have Saint Pancras station and the Midland Hotel, the Huguenot houses of Spitalfields, and much more besides. To Betjeman nothing was ordinary. He could wax lyrical about a suburban railway station or a park bench or being reincarnated as a bicycle saddle.

And he was a local boy, born in Gospel Oak, my own corner of the borough, one hundred years ago this summer. Much of his time was spent around Hampstead and the Heath. Just one of the many reasons to celebrate a man of great learning and great wit, a poet who could elevate the simple joys of life into unforgettable pleasures.

The Celebration will take place in the Peter Samuel Hall in the Royal Free Hospital which has excellent acoustics and theatre style seating. It should be a very special evening.