A Letter from John Betjeman

John Betjeman explains to producer Edward Mirzoeff that his name has been used by the BBC to get support for their filming of 'The Englishman's Home'. The problem was that Betjeman had not yet agreed to narrate and write for the film at this stage and he had been forced to deal with several embarrassing enquiries from his friends in country estates.

In his letter, John Betjeman refers to Lord Bath and 'the bloody animals', which is a reference to the safari park at Longleat. In 1966 the marquess of Bath, Henry Frederick Thynne, opened a safari park with circus impresario Jimmy Chipperfield. His decision to have a lion enclosure earned him the title 'the mad marquess' in the press. Despite this, Longleat safari park was a massive success and attracted over 100,000 visitors when it first opened.