News about Cecil Day-Lewis
government dismissed John Betjeman as a 'lightweight' as they search for a new Poet Laureate in 1967, five years before he was granted the honour
www.dailymail.co.uk,
July 19, 2023
According to newly released documents, John Betjeman was dismissed by Harold Wilson's administration as a 'lightweight' in 1967. The beloved poet was omitted from Cecil Day-Lewis, but the post was published five years later, when Ted Heath was in No. 10 and Betjeman was chosen. Government documents published today by the National Archives shed a new light on the cut-throat process, in which No. 10 aides assembled a classified list of candidates.