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In November 2007 London's St.Pancras International station was reopened following a multimillion
pound redevelopment as the new terminus for the Eurostar link with Paris and Brussels.
Standing on the platform is a larger-than-lifesize statue of poet John Betjeman by Martin Jennings.
Betjeman had been the driving force behind efforts to save the site when it was threatened by development
plans during the 1960's and the sculpture stands as a tribute from London and Continental Railways to
the man who made their redevelopment of the station possible.
Work on the sculpture began in May 2007. A month earlier Martin had won a competition for the commission
organised by arts consultancy Futurecity Limited.
The 2.1m high sculpture was completed in clay within two months and casting began immediately in
Gloucestershire-based foundry Pangolin Editions.
While this was proceeding Martin and members of his workshop set about inscribing in Cumbrian slate the
various quotations he had chosen from Betjeman's poetry that were subsequently set in the platform around the sculpture.
The completed work was jointly unveiled on 12th November by Betjeman's daughter Candida Lycett-Green and Poet Laureate Andrew Motion.
"Jennings's amazing work is a fitting tribute for a national icon"
Justin Gowers, Guardian.
"Jennings's Betjeman - the best statue I've seen of a well-known figure - is so bright, so visually striking,
that it's possible to believe that he actually embalmed the poet in bronze.
Betjeman is so realistic that you think he's about to walk down the platform"
Duncan Hamilton, Yorkshire Post.
Bronze casts of the original maquette for the statue are available for sale in a limited edition of 20.
The edition is almost sold out but a few remain. The maquette is 40cm high including a circular base.
Each cast will be patinated in the dark green colour of the statue itself, numbered and signed by the artist.
For further details please contact Claire Foster either by email at claire@futurecity.co.uk or by telephone on 02074 070500.
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