John Betjeman Goes By Train (1962)

Directed by

Malcolm Freegard

Genre

documentary film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

10 min

Rating

5.7 of 10 from 3 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Poet John Betjeman rides a train through Norfolk, pointing out sights and praising old rural stations. He stops at Wolferton and Snettisham along the way.

nostalgicgentleobservantleisurelywarmcharmingwhimsical

What happens

John Betjeman Goes By Train is a 1962 short documentary film directed by Malcolm Freegard and made by British Transport Films and BBC East Anglia. The 10-minute-long film features future poet laureate John Betjeman as he takes a memorable journey by train from King's Lynn railway station to Hunstanton railway station in Norfolk, pointing out various sights and stopping off at Wolferton station on the Sandringham Estate and Snettisham station, where he extols the virtues of rural branchline stations. An early example of a Betjeman travelogue film, a similar idea was later used for his 1973 documentary Metro-land. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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• A Passion for Churches (1974)
• John Betjeman: A Poet in London (1959)
• Late Flowering Lust (1994)
• Metro-Land (1973)
• The Travel Game (1958)
• Blue Pullman (1960)
• Great Railway Journeys (1994)