Betjeman

American  

[bech-uh-muhn] / ˈbɛtʃ ə mən /

noun

1. Sir John, 1906–84, English poet: poet laureate 1972–84.

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Betjeman British  

/ ˈbɛtʃəmən /

noun

1. Sir John . 1906–84, English poet, noted for his nostalgic and humorous verse and essays and for his concern for the preservation of historic buildings, esp of the Victorian era. Poet laureate (1972–84)

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Example Sentences

John Betjeman, for example, was for a time England’s bestselling poet, until his optimism, traditionalism and accessibility earned him the smear of being “retrograde.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

The alternative, Betjeman, would be a "backward-looking choice", he said.

From BBC • Jul. 18, 2023

By 1961, he had become an important enough voice to discuss the state of poetry on television with John Betjeman, who would later be named Britain’s poet laureate.

From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2023

That’s why the apparently hand-typed letter I received from the then poet laureate Sir John Betjeman in 1978 is possibly the most important of my collection.

From The Guardian • Apr. 27, 2019

During the first half of the show, Frost interviewed John Betjeman, the poet laureate.

From The New Yorker • Feb. 25, 2019