Candida Lycett Green
Candida Rose Lycett Green | |
---|---|
Born | Candida Rose Betjeman 22 September 1942 Dublin, Ireland |
Died | 19 August 2014 England | (aged 71)
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | British |
Spouse | |
Children | 5 |
Relatives | Sir John Betjeman (father) Penelope Chetwode (mother) |
Candida Rose Lycett Green (née Betjeman; 22 September 1942 – 19 August 2014) was a British author who wrote sixteen books including English Cottages, Goodbye London, The Perfect English House, Over the Hills and Far Away and The Dangerous Edge of Things. Her television documentaries included The Englishwoman and the Horse, and The Front Garden. Unwrecked England, based on a regular column of the same name she wrote for The Oldie[1] from 1992, was published in 2009.
Green has been described as "the finest writer of our time on the English countryside".[
She was a member of the
Early years
Candida Rose Betjeman was born on 22 September 1942 in
In 2007, Lycett Green attributed to Ernest Betjemann, said by her father to be a hater of verse, a poem found in the log book of a yacht he had sailed on the
Education
Known to her parents as "Wibz", Candida was educated at
Ingrams, who had gone up to Oxford after
Marriage and family
On 25 May 1963, Candida Betjeman married
1960s
During the
Journalism and writing
Lycett Green edited two volumes of her father’s letters (1994–95) and an anthology of his prose, Coming Home (1997). In the second volume of letters, she described herself as a hoarder of correspondence (unlike her brother) and referred to her late father (with her husband) as her best friend. Lycett Green contributed to magazines such as Queen (from which she was dismissed because of her association with Private Eye),[13] Vogue, Country Life and The Oldie. [citation needed]
Lycett Green shared some of her father's campaigning zeal, as regards, in particular, the perceived erosion of England's fabric. They both found an outlet in the "Nooks and Corners" column in Private Eye (to which Betjeman was the first contributor in 1971) and she later contributed to "Unwrecked England" in The Oldie (founded by Ingrams).[citation needed]
In an article in Country Life in 2003, Lycett Green identified several aspects of English life which had become "universal fixtures in our mind's eye": cricket on the village green, Trooping the Colour, bands playing in a town park, the Women's Institute singing Jerusalem, pearly kings and queens at the Lord Mayor's Show and discussions about the weather over a pint of beer in the local pub.[14] In her autobiography, Over the Hills and Far Away, she writes about her experiences with cancer.[15]
Betjeman centenary (2006)
In 2006, Lycett Green organised various events to mark the centenary of her father’s birth. These included a gala at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London and a jamboree in Cornwall for eight thousand people.
There were excursions by train from
Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now.
Lycett Green wrote about the organisation of these various events, noting the intricacies of the rail schedules ("How long will the train stop at Ruislip so that [the poem] Middlesex can be read over the tannoy?")[17] and being followed around Cornwall by a television crew ("I have had a microphone down my bra for almost two days now").[18]
In 2007, Lycett Green was a member of "an alarmingly grown up" panel of judges to select a sculptor (Martin Jennings) for the Statue of John Betjeman that was erected on the concourse of the redeveloped London St Pancras station.[19]
Death
Candida Lycett Green died at the age of 71 on 19 August 2014 from pancreatic cancer. She was survived by her husband Rupert and their five children.[20]
Notes
- ^ The Oldie Magazine website, accessed 22 August 2014.
- ^ The Guardian; 26 October 2002.
- ^ Girvin, Brian (2006) The Emergency: Neutral Ireland 1939–45
- ^ The Strenuous Life: "On the cabin roof lie I / Gazing into vacancy ..." (The Times, 6 January 2007)
- ^ The Times, 6 January 2007.
- ^ Country Life, 1 February 2007.
- ^ Been and gone: Lady who collected curious crisp BBC News 4 September 2014
- ^ See Humphrey Carpenter in Oxford Today, Hilary, 2001.
- ^ Thompson, Harry (1994) Richard Ingrams: Lord of the Gnomes.
- ^ John Crosby, Weekend Telegraph, 16 April 1965.
- ^ "Among friends: Inside the new King and Queen Consort's inner circle". Tatler. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ See Lines on the Underground (compiled by Dorothy Meade & Tatiana Meade, 1994), p. 203.
- ^ Thompson, Richard Ingrams: Lord of the Gnomes
- ^ Country Life, 9 October 2003.
- ^ Profile, skylightrain.com; accessed 1 September 2014.
- ^ "Berkshire: Poetic justice at last for Slough", BBC News; accessed 22 August 2014.
- ^ Country Life, 8 June 2006
- ^ Country Life, 7 September 2006.
- ^ Country Life, 26 April 2007.
- ^ Rosemary Hill. "Candida Lycett Green obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 August 2014.