'Summoned by Betjeman' with Robert Daws

Date: Saturday 30 January 2010

On the afternoon of Sunday 31st January, the St Edmund's School Foundation was proud to present a unique, one-man show featuring the renowned TV actor, and son of former pupil (1953 vintage Clem Daws), Robert Daws, seen very recently in the prequel to 'Only Fools and Horses' entitled 'Rock and Chips', where he played the sleazy cinema manager, keen to lure Mrs Trotter into his office, and offer her promotion, provided that....!

This was a very different show, and as it promised in the programme, it was a 'respite from the cold outside' and it did 'warm the intellect' as Mr Daws took on the persona of the former Poet Laureate, and for two hours whisked us off into the world of Marlborough, Oxford, and the 'aesthetes' with whom he lived and worked for the majority of his career as a broadcaster, journalist, and social commentator - not to mention Princess Margaret's favourite poet!

Working with his pianist and musical director Peter Dale, Robert Daws totally engaged an audience of 150-plus, all of whom were of a generation to appreciate Betjeman's sardonic wit, and his hobbies of 'church-crawling' and of falling in love frequently with a wide range attractive women, before marrying the 'Propellor', a woman from an Indian army background, seemingly capable of driving all before her, and finally betraying Betjeman's love by joining the Roman Catholic church.

Extracts from his most famous poems, were conjoined with autobiographical snippets, delivered with sheer panache, and a passion for the subject. As a cricketer myself, I apppreciated Betjeman's horrors at being appointed as cricket coach at a prep schol - he hated the game and had no aptitude for it - and as a historian, his stories of bigotry from the 'Great War' when Betjeman, of Dutch extraction, was pilloried as a schoolboy for being a German spy.

There was something for everybody in the audience, and over £2800 towards the Astroturf fund from the generosity of Mr Daws who offered his services gratis, and donations from our guests for the day. Well done, in particular, to Emily Smith, for organising the event, and to Chairman of the Governors, Michael Terry, for persuading Clem Daws to offer his son to us for the afternoon.