For delicate Arcatistes, the face-lifted Archibald Ormsby-Gore ("Archie") and his companion Jumbo, the teddy bears of Sir John Betjeman. Visitors to St Pancras International station on Tuesday 20th October will be given a rare opportunity to see the bear who was like a surrogate brother to Betjeman and the model for Aloysius, Sebastian Flyte's bear in Evelyn Waugh's
Brideshead Revisited.
So, the invitation....
Trains and Buttered Toast
John Betjeman Young People's Poetry Competition Awards Ceremony
With Roger McGough, Laura Dockrill, Jamal Msebele and Betjeman's Teddy Bear Archie.
Tuesday 20 October, 3.30 - 4.30pm St Pancras International station
And the "before" Archie and Jumbo
5 comments:
Your clickers might also like to know that Sir John is over the moon to hear that, just a little further along the road, the great Euston Arch is to be rebuilt using most of its original stone which, following demolition, was thrown into a canal. John fought and failed to save this magnificent masterpiece but the Euston redevelopment will restore it. Oh, it's wonderful to feel that past mistakes can be put right!
Best wishes, Duncan Fallowell
But Sir John is dead
Oh don't be so pedantic!
And Fallowell did say 'over the moon . . . '
My apologies for getting pics muddled up - we now have the before and after images.
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