Bevis Hillier has devoted more than twenty-five years to writing Betjeman's life, a task entrusted to him by the poet himself. Like Betjeman he was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. Later he joined the Times, became editor of The Connoisseur as well as writing for many other papers and journals. He edited Betjeman's Uncollected Poems compiled John Betjeman: A Life in Pictures and is the author of Young Betjeman.