Betjeman's values
Sir: Lord Aberdeen remembers Sir John Betjeman applying two tests to architecture: love and liveliness (Letters, 9 June). 1 can give the noble marquess a further example of Betjeman's values. In December 1980 he launched on BBC television an appeal to build the Parkinson's Disease Society research centre in South-East London. Discussing the script with him during shooting of the film at his Chelsea home, he told me that while the centre's architecture was not entirely (1) to his liking he was warmly enthusiastic about the building's purpose. Parkinson's disease had been diagnosed in him at the age of 68 and such was his love for his fellow human beings that with liveliness and sense of purpose he ensured that the appeal succeeded. He lived to know that the £650,000 research centre was opened by Princess Margaret on 3 May this year, and hosts of his fellow Parkinsonians will bless him for that.
C.A.A. Kilmister
Executive Director, Parkinson's Disease Society, 36 Portland Place, London WI
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