Summoned by Bells A Verse Autobiography Author:John Betjeman When I returned from school I found we'd moved: — '53 Church Street. Yes, the slummy end'-- — A little laugh accompanied the joke, — For we were Chelsea now and we had friends — Whose friends had friends who knew Augustus John: — We liked bold colour schemes--orange and black-- — And clever daring plays about divorce. — --from Chapter 6, "London" — Shor... more »tly after it was published in 1960, the modern classic Summoned by Bells was heralded as the verse autobiography of the century. It is a uniquely evocative narrative of the agonies and delights of growing up, set against the backgrounds of Highgate, Cornwall, Marlborough, and Oxford, and recounted in a way that has endeared Betjeman to generations of readers.« less