"Summoned by Bells" was the autobiography of which British Poet Laureate?

"Summoned by Bells", the blank verse autobiography by John Betjeman, describes his life from his early memories of a middle-class home in Edwardian Highgate, London, to his premature departure from Magdalen College, Oxford.

The book was first published in November 1960 by Betjeman's London publisher, John Murray, and was read by the author, chapter by chapter, in a series of radio broadcasts on the Third Programme (later to become Radio Three) of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). A later, illustrated edition with line and water colour illustrations by Hugh Casson was published in 1989 by Murray (ISBN 0-7195-4696-6). A paperback edition appeared in 2001.

Sir John Betjeman (28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, helping to save St Pancras railway station from demolition. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television.