Sir John Betjeman - A Passion for Churches - Part 1

"What would you be, you wide East Anglian sky,
Without church towers to recognise you by?".

"A Celebration of the C. of E. with John Betjeman". Terrible technical quality I know (including a sound dropout towards the middle: 6:11 - 8:05) but for me, a priceless survival. I found this very old VHS tape in a dark corner!

Filmed entirely within the Anglican Diocese of Norwich, what I find very special about this film above all is John Betjeman's poetic, often wry but gentle narrative (he was Poet Laureate at the time). It's also wonderful to be reminded of the beautiful City of Norwich, its Norman Cathedral, St. Peter Mancroft Parish Church, and the vast treasures of mediaeval architecture within the Diocese: Ranworth, Trunch, Stratton Strawless; Knapton, Great Snoring, Cley Next-the-Sea, Walsingham, Wymondham, Happisburgh - the list goes on and on! Compelling human interest here too, made the more interesting by Sir John's insightful approach.

It's also lovely to see former Bishop of Norwich, Maurice Wood. During my time in Norwich I became acquainted with Canon Claude Palfrey, who was Precentor of Norwich Cathedral when this film was made. A High Anglican, Fr. Claude rather regretted that +Maurice, who was from the evangelical wing of the C of E, was disinclined to wear the mitre, despite Claude's subtle entreaties! Belying his often grand outward appearance, he sometimes revealed a whimsical, slightly naughty side to his character. For example, he once told me he slipped a mitre into +Maurice's travelling trunk ahead of an episcopal progress around the Diocese, in the hope that the Bishop would eventually succumb. He didn't. Fr. Claude was concurrently Rector of St. John the Baptist at Maddermarket in Norwich, where he gave expression to his High Anglo-Catholic sentiments in ways which had to be confined to his parochial role. Upon returning to his Precentor's duties via one of the great portals of the Cathedral Close, he knew he had to "behave", and he did - mostly... . "Wide is the compass of the C. of E." indeed!

If the "powers that be at the Beeb " decide to take this down, at least make it available for purchase please. (Note: I now see that it was released by the BBC on DVD in 2007 - hooray! Given that it was shot on 16mm film, my expectations of much, much higher quality than my rescued VHS tape are high! I'll be buying it of course!).

(c) BBC 1974

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• churches;
• norfolk;
• norwich;cley;maurice
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• michael;knapton;trunch;st
• peter
• mancroft;claude
• palfrey
• precentor;
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• austen

[FansSAUK]

I think at 11:33 you can see Hugh Blackburne. He was Bishop of Thetford from 1977 until 1981. He confirmed me! He was also Rector of Ranworth (and you see him else where in the program) out on a boat trying to get people to come to the Easter Day service.

[AntPDC]

@FansSAUK Thank you! Yes, he appears in Part 3, which I also uploaded. What a lovely man he is too! I was happy to learn (courtesy of your good self) that he later became Bishop of Thetford.

[SarahRayneAuthor]

What a lovely piece of film. I enjoyed Betjeman's enthusiasm so much - and I do love his line, 'Towards the light come out the nightmare figures of marsh and forest' - which was beautifully illustrated in the video. Also, I was strongly reminded of M.R.James's marvellous, gently eerie ghost stores.

[AntPDC]

@SarahRayneAuthor Thank you. I very much agree about "the nightmare figures...struggling up the bench-ends", and especially Betjeman's rather heartbreaking observation that "they know they can never reach the winged, celestial hosts".

[abips2011]

Poetry in every sense, but then perhaps I’m bias; I was born and raised in Suffolk. I know many of the churches well which brought childhood memories flooding back; thank you for uploading this little treasure. As you rightly acknowledged, there are some technical difficulties not least the sound drop-out but nonetheless, a pleasure to watch. Thank you again.

[AntPDC]

@abips2011 Thank you. I flagged the dropout in the vid, and added some more backround information. I also upload the rest of this film: Parts 2 and 3.

Best wishes.

[ksranji]

It was broadcast in a 4 by 3 ratio yet it appears here to have been stretched.

[Blightyish]

Anyone who knows how to resume this video after the stop ??