Fall on Slough

A friend reminded me of Betjeman's poetic denunciation of the industralistion of sunny Slough.

I know little of Betjeman's work and life.According to Wikipedia he was born in London in 1906 into some privilege. He attended Oxford as a young man and left without a degree. He ended up working on the Architectural Review magazine.Like Princes Charles he was a conservative figure defending Victorian Architecture and taking a dim view of the carbuncles sprouting in pre war Slough. By chance I came upon his commerative statute while waiting at St Pancreas station. He was a staunch advocate of retaining the station when plans were mooted to demolish it.

Betjeman died in 1984 regretting his poetic vilification of poor Slough. His daughter apologised for the poem and said her father regretted have written it. The poem was used in the TV programme the Office. Final words shall go to Mr. Gervais character David Brent."You don't solve town planning problems by dropping bombs all over the place".

That said " Come, friendly bombs, ...."