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122-417: The term became common in the late 19th century, especially when the newly rich arrived in key cities such as New York City , Boston , and Newport, Rhode Island , built great mansions and sponsored highly publicized parties. The media lavished attention on them, especially when newspapers devoted whole sections to weddings, funerals, parties and other events sponsored by the local high society. In major cities,

244-476: A Social Register was published that listed the names and addresses of people who properly belonged. Informal identifiers appeared, such as the "upper tens" in mid-19th century New York City, or "the 400," Ward McAllister 's late 19th-century term for the number of people Mrs. William Backhouse Astor, Jr's ballroom could supposedly accommodate, although the actual number was 273. Debutantes are young female members of high society being officially presented for

366-430: A 1962 radio interview he told teenage questioners that he could not write about 'abstract things', preferring places, and faces. Philip Larkin wrote of his work, "how much more interesting & worth writing about Betjeman's subjects are than most other modern poets, I mean, whether so-and-so achieves some metaphysical inner unity is not really so interesting to us as the overbuilding of rural Middlesex ". Prompted by

488-441: A BBC film made in 1968, but not broadcast at that time, Betjeman described the sound of Leeds to be of "Victorian buildings crashing to the ground". He went on to lambast John Poulson 's British Railways House (now City House ), saying how it blocked all the light out to City Square and was only a testament to money with no architectural merit. He also praised the architecture of Leeds Town Hall . In 1969, Betjeman contributed

610-423: A bitter detestation. This situation was perhaps complicated by his enduring love of Oxford, from which he accepted an honorary doctorate of letters in 1974. Betjeman left Oxford without a degree. Whilst there, however, he had made the acquaintance of people who would later influence his work, including Louis MacNeice and W. H. Auden . He worked briefly as a private secretary, school teacher and film critic for

732-733: A candidate to be the new Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom , following the death of John Masefield . He was rejected after the Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary John Hewitt consulted with Dame Helen Gardner , the Merton Professor of English at the University of Oxford (who stated that Betjeman was "a lightweight, amusing but rather trivial" with "critical views about the establishment ") and Geoffrey Handley-Taylor, chair of The Poetry Society (who stated that Betjeman "called himself

854-530: A conversion of importance to his later writing and conception of the arts. Betjeman left Marlborough in July 1925. Betjeman entered the University of Oxford with difficulty, having failed the mathematics portion of the university's matriculation exam, Responsions . He was, however, admitted as a commoner (i.e., a non-scholarship student) at Magdalen College and entered the newly created School of English Language and Literature. At Oxford, Betjeman made little use of

976-612: A decade between Irish immigrants and Black people for work. Rioters burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground. At least 120 people were killed. Eleven Black men were lynched over five days, and the riots forced hundreds of Blacks to flee. The Black population in Manhattan fell below 10,000 by 1865. The White working class had established dominance. It was one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history . In 1886,

1098-616: A dozen books. Five of these were verse collections, including one in the USA. Sales of his Collected Poems in 1958 reached 100,000. The popularity of the book prompted Ken Russell to make a film about him, John Betjeman: A Poet in London (1959). Filmed in 35 mm and running 11 minutes and 35 seconds, it was first shown on the BBC 's Monitor programme. From 1945 till 1951 he lived at The Old Rectory, Farnborough , Wantage, Berkshire. In 1951 he moved to

1220-538: A fairer analysis of his sexuality may be that he was "the hatcher of a lifetime of schoolboy crushes – both gay and straight", most of which progressed no further. Nevertheless, he has been considered "temperamentally gay", and even became a penpal of Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas , the friend of Oscar Wilde . For the last decade of his life, Betjeman suffered increasingly from Parkinson's disease . He died at his home in Trebetherick , Cornwall, on 19 May 1984, aged 77, and

1342-610: A famed barrister; Maurice Baring ; Patrick Shaw-Stewart , a managing director of Barings Bank and war poet; Julian & Billy Grenfell, Nancy Cunard and her friend Iris Tree . In the 1920s ("The Roaring Twenties"), the infamous group known as The Bright Young Things emerged, and included the Mitford Sisters , members of the Guinness family , members of the Tennant family , Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother , Princess Nina of Russia ,

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1464-523: A family firm at 34–42 Pentonville Road which manufactured the kind of ornamental household furniture and gadgets distinctive to Victorians . During the First World War the family name was changed to the less German-looking Betjeman. His father's forebears had actually come from the present day Netherlands more than a century earlier, setting up their home and business in Islington , London, and during

1586-545: A friend who was publicity manager with Shell-Mex & BP , to guide Britain's growing number of motorists around the counties of Britain and their historical sites. They were published by the Architectural Press and financed by Shell . By the start of World War II 13 had been published, of which Cornwall (1934) and Devon (1936) were written by Betjeman. A third, Shropshire , was written with and designed by his good friend John Piper in 1951. In 1939, Betjeman

1708-518: A mile north to more opulent Highgate . From West Hill they lived in the reflected glory of the Burdett-Coutts estate : Here from my eyrie, as the sun went down, I heard the old North London puff and shunt, Glad that I did not live in Gospel Oak. Betjeman's early schooling was at the local Byron House and Highgate School , where he was taught by poet T. S. Eliot . After this, he boarded at

1830-510: A part of the colony of New York . It became a center of slavery , with 42% of households enslaving Africans by 1730. Most were domestic slaves ; others were hired out as labor. Slavery became integrally tied to New York's economy through the labor of slaves throughout the port, and the banking and shipping industries trading with the American South . During construction in Foley Square in

1952-454: A poetic hack and there was some truth to this"). Prime Minister Harold Wilson ultimately selected Cecil Day-Lewis after Hewitt recommended him over Betjeman, whom Hewitt described to Wilson as a "backward-looking choice" and "the songster of tennis lawns and cathedral cloisters". Betjeman would become Poet Laureate in 1972 following the death of Day-Lewis, the first Knight Bachelor to be appointed (the only other, Sir William Davenant ,

2074-510: A reputation as a despotic leader. He instituted regulations on liquor sales, attempted to assert control over the Dutch Reformed Church , and blocked other religious groups from establishing houses of worship. In 1664, unable to summon any significant resistance, Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam to English troops, led by Colonel Richard Nicolls , without bloodshed. The terms of the surrender permitted Dutch residents to remain in

2196-524: A result of Sandy, and the economic losses in New York City were estimated to be roughly $ 19 billion. The disaster spawned long-term efforts towards infrastructural projects to counter climate change and rising seas, with $ 15 billion in federal funding received through 2022 towards those resiliency efforts. In March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the city was confirmed. With its population density and its extensive exposure to global travelers,

2318-476: A speech denying the request, which was paraphrased on the front page of the New York Daily News as "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD." The Municipal Assistance Corporation was formed and granted oversight authority over the city's finances. While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through that decade and into

2440-580: A third" – but he had informed the tutorial board that he thought Betjeman would not achieve an honours degree of any class. Permission to sit the Pass School was granted. Betjeman decided to offer a paper in Welsh. Osbert Lancaster tells the story that a tutor came by train twice a week (first class) from Aberystwyth to teach Betjeman. However, Jesus College had a number of Welsh tutors who more probably would have taught him. Betjeman finally had to leave at

2562-513: A time when it was unfashionable, and he was a founding member of The Victorian Society . He wrote on this subject in First and Last Loves (1952) and more extensively in London's Historic Railway Stations in 1972, defending the beauty of 12 stations. He led the campaign to save Holy Trinity, Sloane Street , in London when it was threatened with demolition in the early 1970s. He was also a founding member of

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2684-618: A well-regarded television documentary for the BBC called Metro-Land , directed by Edward Mirzoeff . In 1974, Betjeman and Mirzoeff followed up Metro-Land with A Passion for Churches , a celebration of Betjeman's beloved Church of England , filmed entirely in the Diocese of Norwich . In 1975, he proposed that the Fine Rooms of Somerset House should house the Turner Bequest , so helping to scupper

2806-467: Is an established safe haven for global investors. As of 2023 , New York City is the most expensive city in the world for expatriates and has by a wide margin the highest U.S. city residential rents; and Fifth Avenue is the most expensive shopping street in the world. New York City is home by a significant margin to the highest number of billionaires , individuals of ultra-high net worth (greater than US$ 30 million), and millionaires of any city in

2928-427: Is buried nearby at St Enodoc's Church . Betjeman was an Anglican and his religious beliefs come through in some of his poems. In a letter written on Christmas Day 1947, he said: "Also my view of the world is that man is born to fulfil the purposes of his Creator i.e. to Praise his Creator, to stand in awe of Him and to dread Him. In this way I differ from most modern poets, who are agnostics and have an idea that Man

3050-439: Is much more valued, and the very expensive housing is not as conspicuous to ordinary pedestrians as the famous old mansions. There are far fewer servants, but much more attention to security. Remote ski resorts in places like Vail and Aspen are especially popular with high society. However, the rise of social media services such as Instagram and Facebook has given a new outlet to practices of conspicuous consumption that characterize

3172-410: Is recorded in his blank verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells , published in 1960 and made into a television film in 1976. It is a common misapprehension, cultivated by Betjeman himself, that he did not complete his degree because he failed to pass the compulsory holy scripture examination, known colloquially as "Divvers" , short for "Divinity". In Hilary term 1928, Betjeman failed Divinity for

3294-476: Is similarly redolent of time and place, continually seeking out intimations of the eternal in the manifestly ordinary. There are constant evocations of the physical chaff and clutter that accumulates in everyday life, the miscellanea of an England now gone but not beyond the reach of living memory. He talks of Ovaltine and Sturmey-Archer bicycle gears. "Oh! Fuller's angel cake, Robertson's marmalade," he writes, " Liberty lampshades, come shine on us all." In

3416-530: Is that cluster of towers and pinnacles seen from Pentonville Hill and outlined against a foggy sunset and the great arc of Barlow 's train shed gaping to devour incoming engines and the sudden burst of exuberant Gothic of the hotel seen from gloomy Judd Street". On the reopening of St Pancras station in 2007, the Statue of John Betjeman was commissioned from curators Futurecity. A proposal by artist Martin Jennings

3538-509: Is the centre of the Universe or is a helpless bubble blown about by uncontrolled forces." He combined piety with a nagging uncertainty about the truth of Christianity. Unlike Thomas Hardy , who disbelieved in the truth of the Christmas story while hoping it might be so, Betjeman affirms his belief even while fearing it might be false. In the poem "Christmas", one of his most openly religious pieces,

3660-609: The Evening Standard , where he also wrote for their high-society gossip column, the " Londoner's Diary ". He was employed by the Architectural Review between 1930 and 1935, as a full-time assistant editor, following their publishing of some of his freelance work. Timothy Mowl (2000) says, "His years at the Architectural Review were to be his true university". At this time, while his prose style matured, he joined

3782-837: The Atlantic port to the agricultural markets and commodities of the North American interior via the Hudson River and the Great Lakes . Local politics became dominated by Tammany Hall , a political machine supported by Irish and German immigrants . In 1831, New York University was founded. Several prominent American literary figures lived in New York during the 1830s and 1840s, including William Cullen Bryant , Washington Irving , Herman Melville , Rufus Wilmot Griswold , John Keese , Nathaniel Parker Willis , and Edgar Allan Poe . Members of

High society - Misplaced Pages Continue

3904-876: The Crown , with as many as 10,000 escaped slaves crowded into the city during the British occupation, the largest such community on the continent. When the British forces evacuated New York at the close of the war in 1783, they transported thousands of freedmen for resettlement in Nova Scotia , England, and the Caribbean . The attempt at a peaceful solution to the war took place at the Conference House on Staten Island between American delegates, including Benjamin Franklin , and British general Lord Howe on September 11, 1776. Shortly after

4026-627: The Dragon School preparatory school in North Oxford and Marlborough College , a public school in Wiltshire. In his penultimate year, he joined the secret Society of Amici in which he was a contemporary of both Louis MacNeice and Graham Shepard . He founded The Heretick , a satirical magazine that lampooned Marlborough's obsession with sport. While at school, his exposure to the works of Arthur Machen won him over to High Church Anglicanism ,

4148-628: The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War had, ironically, added the extra "-n" to avoid the anti-Dutch sentiment existing at the time. Betjeman was baptised at St Anne's Church, Highgate Rise, a 19th-century church at the foot of Highgate West Hill . The family lived at Parliament Hill Mansions in the Lissenden Gardens private estate in Gospel Oak in north London. In 1909, the Betjemanns moved half

4270-729: The Friends of Friendless Churches in 1957. He fought a spirited but unsuccessful campaign to save the Propylaeum, known commonly as the Euston Arch , London. He is considered instrumental in helping to save St Pancras railway station , London, and was commemorated when it became an international terminus for Eurostar in November 2007. He called the plan to demolish St Pancras a "criminal folly". About it he wrote, "What [the Londoner] sees in his mind's eye

4392-691: The MARS Group , an organisation of young modernist architects and architectural critics in Britain. In 1937, Betjeman was a churchwarden at Uffington , the Berkshire village (in Oxfordshire since boundary changes of 1974) where he lived from 1934 to 1945. That year, he paid for the cleaning of the church's royal arms and later presided over the conversion of the church's oil lamps to electricity. The Shell Guides were developed by Betjeman and Jack Beddington ,

4514-699: The New York City Fire Department and 71 law enforcement officers. The area was rebuilt with a new World Trade Center , the National September 11 Memorial and Museum , and other new buildings and infrastructure, including the World Trade Center Transportation Hub , the city's third-largest hub. The new One World Trade Center is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere and the seventh-tallest building in

4636-592: The New York metropolitan area , the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area . New York is a global center of finance and commerce , culture , technology , entertainment and media , academics and scientific output , the arts and fashion , and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations , international diplomacy . With an estimated population in 2023 of 8,258,035 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km ),

4758-947: The Northwest Passage to the Orient for the Dutch East India Company . He sailed up what the Dutch called North River (now the Hudson River), named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange . Hudson claimed the region for the Dutch East India Company. In 1614, the area between Cape Cod and Delaware Bay was claimed by the Netherlands and called Nieuw-Nederland (' New Netherland '). The first non–Native American inhabitant of what became New York City

4880-470: The Persian Empire's 2500th anniversary . The cost of the party is estimated by some to be in the hundreds of millions. Kings, Queens, Emperors, Empresses, Princes, Princesses, Dukes, Duchess, aristocrats, Presidents, Prime Ministers and all other important people from around the world attended, in one of the biggest gatherings of foreign royalty ever. High society is less visible in the 21st century—privacy

5002-577: The Renaissance , and the Victorian Gothic . These massive homes were visible in dense cities like New York, they sprinkled main avenues that belonged to the wealth or middle class and stayed clear of the poor areas that were dense and littered with filth and the poor working class. Richard Morris Hunt played a large role in giving many members of high society what they were looking for: homes that represented their cosmopolitan outlook and outshine all that

High society - Misplaced Pages Continue

5124-573: The Royal Ascot , Wimbledon , operas and flower shows. In the 1910s, the group known as The Coterie (or "Corrupt Coterie") emerged in high society. Its members included Lady Diana Manners , then considered a famous beauty in England and the daughter of a Duke and Duchess; Duff Cooper , who became a Conservative politician and a diplomat; Raymond Asquith , son of the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and

5246-569: The Statue of Liberty , a gift from France , was dedicated in New York Harbor. The statue welcomed 14 million immigrants as they came to the U.S. via Ellis Island by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is a symbol of the United States and American ideals of liberty and peace. In 1898, the City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then a separate city),

5368-683: The Stonewall riots were a series of violent protests by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village . They are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights . Wayne R. Dynes , author of the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality , wrote that drag queens were

5490-586: The steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River , killing 1,021 people. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire , the city's worst industrial disaster, killed 146 garment workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major improvements in factory safety standards. New York's non-White population was 36,620 in 1890. New York City

5612-498: The waterfronts since Dutch colonial times; reclamation is most prominent in Lower Manhattan, with developments such as Battery Park City in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the natural relief in topography has been evened out, especially in Manhattan. John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman , CBE ( / ˈ b ɛ tʃ ə m ən / ; 28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He

5734-419: The "Emergency" (the war) including "The Irish Unionist's Farewell to Greta Hellstrom in 1922" (written during the war) which contained the refrain "Dungarvan in the rain". The object of his affections, "Greta", remained a mystery until revealed to have been a member of a well-known Anglo-Irish family of Western county Waterford . His official brief included establishing friendly contacts with leading figures in

5856-535: The 1990s, the African Burying Ground was discovered; the cemetery included 10,000 to 20,000 graves of colonial-era Africans, some enslaved and some free. The 1735 trial and acquittal in Manhattan of John Peter Zenger , who had been accused of seditious libel after criticizing colonial governor William Cosby , helped to establish freedom of the press in North America . In 1754, Columbia University

5978-418: The 19th century, the city was transformed by both commercial and residential development relating to its status as a national and international trading center , as well as by European immigration, respectively. The city adopted the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 , which expanded the city street grid to encompass almost all of Manhattan. The 1825 completion of the Erie Canal through central New York connected

6100-409: The British occupation began, the Great Fire of New York destroyed nearly 500 buildings, about a quarter of the structures in the city, including Trinity Church . In January 1785, the assembly of the Congress of the Confederation made New York City the national capital. New York was the last capital of the U.S. under the Articles of Confederation and the first capital under the Constitution of

6222-410: The Bronx , and Staten Island . Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District, Manhattan , New York City has been called both the world's premier financial and fintech center and the most economically powerful city in the world. As of 2022 , the New York metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan economy in the world , with a gross metropolitan product of over US$ 2.16 trillion. If

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6344-399: The County of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens. The opening of the New York City Subway in 1904, first built as separate private systems, helped bind the new city together. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. In 1904,

6466-460: The Curzon sisters, members of the Spencer-Churchill family , John Betjeman , Cecil Beaton , and various other aristocrats and royals. The group was known for their infamous treasure hunts around London. The 20th century saw some of the most lavish high society parties, including Truman Capote 's Black and White Ball in 1966, a masquerade attended by all of New York's elite. Another was Elizabeth Taylor 's 40th birthday bash in 1972, whilst she

6588-427: The Dublin literary scene: he befriended Patrick Kavanagh , then at the very start of his career. Kavanagh celebrated the birth of Betjeman's daughter with a poem "Candida"; another well-known poem contains the line Let John Betjeman call for me in a car . From March to November 1944 Betjeman was assigned to another wartime job, working on publicity for the Admiralty in Bath . By 1948, Betjeman had published more than

6710-459: The Dutch West India Company relinquished its monopoly over the fur trade, leading to growth in the production and trade of food, timber, tobacco, and slaves (particularly with the Dutch West Indies ). In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant began his tenure as the last Director-General of New Netherland. During his tenure, the population of New Netherland grew from 2,000 to 8,000. Stuyvesant has been credited with improving law and order; however, he earned

6832-413: The Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit , as charged by the Dutch West India Company , purchased the island of Manhattan from the Canarsie , a small Lenape band, for "the value of 60 guilders " (about $ 900 in 2018). A frequently told but disproved legend claims that Manhattan was purchased for $ 24 worth of glass beads. Following the purchase, New Amsterdam grew slowly. To attract settlers,

6954-478: The Dutch instituted the patroon system in 1628, whereby wealthy Dutchmen ( patroons , or patrons) who brought 50 colonists to New Netherland would be awarded land, local political autonomy, and rights to participate in the lucrative fur trade. This program had little success. Since 1621, the Dutch West India Company had operated as a monopoly in New Netherland, on authority granted by the Dutch States General . In 1639–1640, in an effort to bolster economic growth,

7076-404: The Mead in Wantage, until 1971. His daughter Candida was married in the church there in May 1963. Betjeman continued writing guidebooks and works on architecture during the 1960s and 1970s and began to broadcast. Betjeman was closely associated with the culture and spirit of Metro-land , as outer reaches of the Metropolitan Railway were known before the war. In 1967, Betjeman was considered as

7198-420: The Native Americans and epidemics brought on by contact with the Europeans caused sizeable population losses for the Lenape between 1660 and 1670. By 1700, the Lenape population had diminished to 200. New York experienced several yellow fever epidemics in the 18th century, losing ten percent of its population in 1702 alone. In the early 18th century, New York grew in importance as a trading port while as

7320-405: The New York metropolitan area were its own country , it would have the tenth-largest economy in the world . Despite having a 24/7 rapid transit system , New York also leads the world in urban automobile traffic congestion . The city is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by market capitalization of their listed companies: the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq . New York City

7442-578: The Revolutionary War and escaped slaves, a significant free-Black population gradually developed in Manhattan. The New York Manumission Society worked for abolition and established the African Free School to educate Black children. It was not until 1827 that slavery was completely abolished in the state . Free Blacks struggled with discrimination and interracial abolitionist activism continued. New York City's population jumped from 123,706 in 1820 (10,886 of whom were Black and of which 518 were enslaved) to 312,710 by 1840 (16,358 of whom were Black). Also in

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7564-408: The Supernatural . He was susceptible to the supernatural; Diana Mitford recalled Betjeman staying at her country home, Biddesden House in Wiltshire, in the 1920s. She said: "he had a terrifying dream, that he was handed a card with wide black edges, and on it his name was engraved, and a date. He knew this was the date of his death". On 29 July 1933, Betjeman married the Hon. Penelope Chetwode ,

7686-415: The United States . As the U.S. capital, New York City hosted the inauguration of the first President, George Washington , and the first Congress , at Federal Hall on Wall Street . Congress drafted the Bill of Rights there. The Supreme Court held its first organizational sessions in New York in 1790. In 1790, for the first time, New York City surpassed Philadelphia as the nation's largest city. At

7808-422: The academic opportunities. His tutor, a young C. S. Lewis , regarded him as an "idle prig" and Betjeman in turn considered Lewis unfriendly, demanding, and uninspiring as a teacher. Betjeman particularly disliked the coursework's emphasis on linguistics, and dedicated most of his time to cultivating his social life, his interest in English ecclesiastical architecture , and private literary pursuits. At Oxford, he

7930-419: The advantages of apartment living, where a full-time staff handled the upkeep and maintenance, as well as security. In most French cities the very rich, often holding an old aristocratic title, maintained an elaborate high society well into the 20th century. Hiring ten to twenty servants demonstrated the taste for conspicuous consumption. The richest households in Paris typically employed 30 servants. After 1945

8052-432: The area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême (New Angoulême ). A Spanish expedition, led by the Portuguese captain Estêvão Gomes sailing for Emperor Charles V , arrived in New York Harbor in January 1525 and charted the mouth of the Hudson River , which he named Río de San Antonio ('Saint Anthony's River'). In 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson rediscovered New York Harbor while searching for

8174-493: The beginning of the 1990s. By the mid-1990s, crime rates started to drop dramatically due to revised police strategies, improving economic opportunities, gentrification , and new residents, both American transplants and new immigrants from Asia and Latin America. New York City's population exceeded 8 million for the first time in the 2000 United States census ; further records were set in 2010 , and 2020 U.S. censuses. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley , emerged in

8296-534: The business elite lobbied for the establishment of Central Park , which in 1857 became the first landscaped park in an American city. The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, of whom more than 200,000 were living in New York by 1860, representing over a quarter of the city's population. Extensive immigration from the German provinces meant that Germans comprised another 25% of New York's population by 1860. Democratic Party candidates were consistently elected to local office, increasing

8418-510: The city from New Jersey. The East River—a tidal strait —flows from Long Island Sound and separates the Bronx and Manhattan from Long Island. The Harlem River , another tidal strait between the East and Hudson rivers, separates most of Manhattan from the Bronx. The Bronx River , which flows through the Bronx and Westchester County , is the only entirely freshwater river in the city. The city's land has been altered substantially by human intervention, with considerable land reclamation along

8540-425: The city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles , the nation's second-most populous city. With more than 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City is one of the world's most populous megacities . The city and its metropolitan area are

8662-439: The city rapidly replaced Wuhan , China as the global epicenter of the pandemic during the early phase, straining the city's healthcare infrastructure. Through March 2023, New York City recorded more than 80,000 deaths from COVID-19-related complications. New York City is situated in the northeastern United States , in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston . Its location at

8784-613: The city's economy. The advent of Y2K was celebrated with fanfare in Times Square . New York City suffered the bulk of the economic damage and largest loss of human life in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks . Two of the four airliners hijacked that day were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, resulting in the collapse of both buildings and the deaths of 2,753 people, including 343 first responders from

8906-776: The city's ties to the South and its dominant party. In 1861, Mayor Fernando Wood called on the aldermen to declare independence from Albany and the United States after the South seceded, but his proposal was not acted on. Anger at new military conscription laws during the American Civil War (1861–1865), which spared wealthier men who could afford to hire a substitute, led to the Draft Riots of 1863 , whose most visible participants were ethnic Irish working class. The draft riots deteriorated into attacks on New York's elite, followed by attacks on Black New Yorkers after fierce competition for

9028-665: The colony and allowed for religious freedom. In 1667, during negotiations leading to the Treaty of Breda after the Second Anglo-Dutch War , the victorious Dutch decided to keep the nascent plantation colony of what is now Suriname , which they had gained from the English, and in return the English kept New Amsterdam. The settlement was promptly renamed "New York" after the Duke of York (the future King James II and VII). The duke gave part of

9150-604: The colony to proprietors George Carteret and John Berkeley . On August 24, 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War , Anthony Colve of the Dutch navy seized New York at the behest of Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and rechristened it "New Orange" after William III , the Prince of Orange . The Dutch soon returned the island to England under the Treaty of Westminster of November 1674. Several intertribal wars among

9272-499: The daughter of Field Marshal Lord Chetwode . The couple lived in Berkshire and had a son, Paul, in 1937, and a daughter, Candida , in 1942. She became a Roman Catholic in 1948. The couple drifted apart and in 1951 he met Lady Elizabeth Cavendish , with whom he developed an immediate and lifelong friendship. Betjeman's sexuality can best be described as bisexual . His longest and best documented relationships were with women, and

9394-417: The development of large housing tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County , with Wall Street leading America's place as the world's dominant economic power. The United Nations headquarters was completed in 1952, solidifying New York's global geopolitical influence, and the rise of abstract expressionism in the city precipitated New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art world. In 1969,

9516-506: The early 1970s, he began a recording career of four albums on Charisma Records - Banana Blush , Late Flowering Love (both 1974), Sir John Betjeman's Britain (1977) and Varsity Rag (1981) where his poetry reading is set to music composed by Jim Parker with overdubbing by leading musicians of the time. Madeleine Dring set five of Betjeman's poems to music in 1976, just before her death. His recording catalogue extends to nine albums, four singles and two compilations. In 1973, he made

9638-406: The end of 1790, the national capital was moved to Philadelphia . During the 19th century, New York City's population grew from 60,000 to 3.43 million. Under New York State's gradual emancipation act of 1799, children of slave mothers were to be eventually liberated but to be held in indentured servitude until their mid-to-late twenties. Together with slaves freed by their masters after

9760-470: The end of the Michaelmas term , 1928. Betjeman did pass his Divinity examination on his third try but was expelled after failing the Pass School. He had achieved a satisfactory result in only one of the three required papers (on Shakespeare and other English authors). Betjeman's academic failure at Oxford rankled him for the rest of his life and he was never reconciled with C. S. Lewis, towards whom he nursed

9882-479: The first time, at debutante balls or cotillions . An example of a high society debutante ball is the prestigious International Debutante Ball at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Gold and silver mining, in the mid 19th century brought enormous wealth overnight to certain small towns such as Central City, Colorado and Leadville, Colorado . The new rich typically build a lavish opera house in

10004-580: The foreword to Derek Linstrum's Historic Architecture of Leeds . Betjeman was for over 20 years a trustee of the Bath Preservation Trust and was vice-president from 1965 to 1971, at a time when Bath —a city rich in Georgian architecture —was coming under increasing pressure from modern developers and a road had been proposed to cut across it. He also created a short television documentary, Architecture of Bath , in which he voiced his concerns about

10126-457: The founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island . In 1625, construction was started on a citadel and Fort Amsterdam , later called Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam), on present-day Manhattan Island. The colony of New Amsterdam extended from the southern tip of Manhattan to modern-day Wall Street , where a 12-foot (3.7 m) wooden stockade was built in 1653 to protect against Native American and English raids. In 1626,

10248-633: The house permanently, with his potential liability for £10,000 of renovations upon the expiry of the lease. After damage from vandals, restoration began in 1966. Betjeman's lease included furniture from the house by Burges and Betjeman gave three pieces, the Zodiac settle , the Narcissus washstand and the Philosophy cabinet, to Evelyn Waugh . He edited, and wrote large sections of, The Collins Guide to English Parish Churches (1958); his substantial editorial preface

10370-466: The ice (and its subsequent retreat) contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island. That action left bedrock at a relatively shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of Manhattan's skyscrapers. The Hudson River flows through the Hudson Valley into New York Bay . Between New York City and Troy, New York , the river is an estuary . The Hudson River separates

10492-542: The last American stronghold in Manhattan, causing George Washington and his forces to retreat across the Hudson River to New Jersey , pursued by British forces. After the battle, in which the Americans were defeated, the British made the city their military and political base of operations in North America. The city was a haven for Loyalist refugees and escaped slaves who joined the British lines for freedom promised by

10614-438: The last three stanzas that proclaim the wonder of Christ's birth do so in the form of a question "And is it true...?" His views on Christianity were expressed in his poem "The Conversion of St. Paul", a response to a radio broadcast by humanist Margaret Knight : But most of us turn slow to see The figure hanging on a tree And stumble on and blindly grope Upheld by intermittent hope, God grant before we die we all May see

10736-415: The light as did St. Paul. Betjeman's poems are often humorous, and in broadcasting he exploited his bumbling and fogeyish image. His wryly comic verse is accessible and has attracted a great following for its satirical and observant grace. Auden said in his introduction to Slick But Not Streamlined , "so at home with the provincial gaslit towns, the seaside lodgings, the bicycle, the harmonium ." His poetry

10858-524: The mining town, but then moved to a major city, especially Denver or San Francisco, where their wealth could be more suitably displayed and enjoyed. Given conventional gender roles that were dominant in society, the men attended to business affairs, while women generally took charge of comings and goings and doings in high society. Starting with the Stuyvesant luxury apartment house that opened in 1869, and The Dakota in 1884, affluent New Yorkers discovered

10980-424: The most important role in establishing members of high society. Members of high society usually must attend social gatherings throughout the year while also putting together social gatherings in their own homes. The sociological distinction is the use of social capital in order to attend or be invited to certain events. Members of high society tend to be aware of the connections that should be made in order to move up

11102-419: The most populous urbanized area in the world in the early 1920s, overtaking London . The metropolitan area surpassed 10 million in the early 1930s, becoming the first megacity . The Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance. Returning World War II veterans created a post-war economic boom and

11224-598: The mouth of the Hudson River , which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and then into the Atlantic Ocean , has helped the city grow in significance as a trading port. Most of the city is built on the three islands of Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island. During the Wisconsin glaciation , 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City area was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet . The erosive forward movement of

11346-456: The names of the people in the portraits rather than the quality of the portraits. The art community changed its focus to portraiture and became a tight-knit circle of patrons (who were, more often than not, also subjects), artists, and critics. Stanford White (1853–1906) was the most influential architect for high society. High society was also immortalized through the building of mansions glittered in decadence and detail that were reminiscent of

11468-492: The only " transgender folks around" during the June 1969 Stonewall riots. The transgender community in New York City played a significant role in fighting for LGBT equality. In the 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates. Growing fiscal deficits in 1975 led the city to appeal to the federal government for financial aid; President Gerald Ford gave

11590-600: The plan of the Minister for the Arts for a Theatre Museum to be housed there. In 1977, the BBC broadcast The Queen's Realm: A Prospect of England , an aerial anthology of English landscape, music and poetry, selected by Betjeman and produced by Edward Mirzoeff, in celebration of the Queen's Silver Jubilee . Betjeman was fond of the ghost stories of M. R. James and supplied an introduction to Peter Haining 's book M. R. James – Book of

11712-415: The possession of money. The art of high society focused greatly on absorbing cultures from around the world, and referencing great architecture from the past, and commissioning artists that were from Europe. The culture was to possess knowledge and artifacts from other cultures or at least replicated it very well. Acquiring rare and valuable items was another way of high society representing its prestige. Art

11834-415: The preface of his collection of architectural essays First and Last Loves he wrote We accept the collapse of the fabrics of our old churches, the thieving of lead and objects from them, the commandeering and butchery of our scenery by the services, the despoiling of landscaped parks and the abandonment to a fate worse than the workhouse of our country houses, because we are convinced we must save money. In

11956-482: The premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States . As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In 2021, the city was home to nearly 3.1 million residents born outside the U.S., the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world. New York City traces its origins to Fort Amsterdam and a trading post founded on Manhattan Island by Dutch colonists around 1624. The settlement

12078-488: The rapid development of the Buckinghamshire town before World War II , Betjeman wrote the ten-stanza poem " Slough " to express his dismay at the industrialisation of Britain. He later came to regret having written it. The poem was first included in his 1937 collection Continual Dew . Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now, ... Betjeman had a fondness for Victorian architecture at

12200-698: The second time. He had to leave the university for the Trinity term to prepare for a retake of the exam; he was then allowed to return in October. Betjeman then wrote to the Secretary of the Tutorial Board at Magdalen , G. C. Lee, asking to be entered for the Pass School, a set of examinations taken on rare occasions by undergraduates who are deemed unlikely to achieve an honours degree . In Summoned by Bells Betjeman claims that his tutor, C. S. Lewis, said "You'd have only got

12322-470: The social ladder. New York City New York , often called New York City or NYC , is the most populous city in the United States , located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors . The city comprises five boroughs , each coextensive with a respective county . The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and

12444-435: The society artists such as John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) until the late 20th century. Portraiture became the most common art in order for people in high society to record and have evidence of their accomplishment and valuable possessions. New York City started its Great Portrait Exhibition , focused on high society. The exhibition became a place for people to see Who's Who in New York City high society and focused more on

12566-569: The supply of servants dried up and there was a move to smaller inner city apartments in elite neighborhoods. In the 20th century, the London Social Season continued to be held annually with debutantes being presented to court at the Queen Charlotte's Ball until 1958. These debutantes (usually aged 17-21) were required to be sponsored by former debutantes, and thus tended to be members of high society. The Season includes events such as

12688-406: The upper class. Philanthropy is a high-prestige activity in high society. Sociologist Francie Ostrower states: The wealthy take philanthropy and adapt it into an entire way of life that serves as a vehicle for the social and cultural life of their class. This is reflected in the widespread popularity of educational and cultural causes among donors. Art in this time was almost exclusively linked to

12810-701: The way the city's architectural heritage was being mistreated. From 1946 to 1948, he had served as Secretary to the Oxford Preservation Trust . Betjeman was also instrumental in saving the Duke of Cornwall Hotel in Plymouth . The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings annually presents a John Betjeman award to recognise the repair and conservation of places of worship in England and Wales. The John Betjeman Poetry Competition for Young People began in 2006 and

12932-578: The world by pinnacle height, with its spire reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet (541.3 m), a reference to the year of U.S. independence . The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and popularizing the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide. New York City

13054-458: The world. In 1664, New York was named in honor of the Duke of York (later King James II of England ). James's elder brother, King Charles II , appointed the Duke as proprietor of the former territory of New Netherland , including the city of New Amsterdam , when the Kingdom of England seized it from Dutch control. In the pre-Columbian era , the area of present-day New York City

13176-422: Was Juan Rodriguez , a merchant from Santo Domingo who arrived in Manhattan during the winter of 1613–14, trapping for pelts and trading with the local population as a representative of the Dutch colonists. A permanent European presence near New York Harbor was established in 1624, making New York the 12th-oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States , with

13298-509: 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. Betjeman was born in London to a prosperous silverware maker of Dutch descent. His parents, Mabel ( née  Dawson ) and Ernest Betjemann, had

13420-552: Was heavily affected by Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012. Sandy's impacts included flooding that led to the days-long shutdown of the subway system and flooding of all East River subway tunnels and of all road tunnels entering Manhattan except the Lincoln Tunnel . The New York Stock Exchange closed for two days due to weather for the first time since the Great Blizzard of 1888 . At least 43 people died in New York City as

13542-720: Was a friend of Maurice Bowra , later to be Warden of Wadham (1938 to 1970). Betjeman had a poem published in Isis , the university magazine, and served as editor of the Cherwell student newspaper during 1927. His first book of poems was privately printed with the help of fellow student Edward James . He brought his teddy bear Archibald Ormsby-Gore up to Magdalen with him, the memory of which inspired his Oxford contemporary Evelyn Waugh to include Sebastian Flyte 's teddy Aloysius in Brideshead Revisited . Much of this period of his life

13664-525: Was a prime destination in the early 20th century for Blacks during the Great Migration from the American South, and by 1916, New York City had the largest urban African diaspora in North America. The Harlem Renaissance of literary and cultural life flourished during the era of Prohibition . The larger economic boom generated construction of skyscrapers competing in height. New York City became

13786-402: Was also a way of representing taste level and someone's ability to commission the right artist or chose the best piece to have installed in their homes. Portrait painters were in high demand in London. Meanwhile, the smaller corps of American artists shifted their focus from painting the great landscapes of America to making portraits of great Americans. However art historians generally ignored

13908-417: Was around it. For more on the homes of this time era see List of Gilded Age mansions . Members of high society depend greatly on the people and social circles they are surrounded by. In many cases an elite member can confirm status by hiring servants, people who remove a mundane task from everyday life, or can patronize artists and performers, whose talent and skills are at their disposal. Social groups play

14030-550: Was described by The Times Literary Supplement as "pure gold". The classic status of this book is acknowledged by Simon Jenkins in his England's Thousand Best Churches : "Three ghosts inhabit all English churches ... They are those of John Betjeman, Alec Clifton-Taylor and Nikolaus Pevsner ." Betjeman responded to architecture as the visible manifestation of society's spiritual life as well as its political and economic structure. He attacked speculators and bureaucrats for what he saw as their rapacity and lack of imagination. In

14152-720: Was founded. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October 1765, as the Sons of Liberty organization emerged in the city and skirmished over the next ten years with British troops stationed there. The Battle of Long Island , the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War , was fought in August 1776 within modern-day Brooklyn. A British rout of the Continental Army at the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776 eliminated

14274-569: Was inhabited by Algonquians , including the Lenape . Their homeland, known as Lenapehoking , included the present-day areas of Staten Island , Manhattan , the Bronx , the western portion of Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens ), and the Lower Hudson Valley . The first documented visit into New York Harbor by a European was in 1524 by explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano . He claimed

14396-412: Was knighted after his appointment). This role, combined with his profile from television appearances, ensured that his poetry reached a wider audience. Similarly to Tennyson , he managed to voice the thoughts and aspirations of many ordinary people while retaining the respect of many of his fellow poets. This is partly because of the apparently simple traditional metrical structures and rhymes he uses. In

14518-417: Was married to Richard Burton . Princess Gloria von Thurn and Taxis (the 80s it-girl known as "Princess TNT" and the "punk princess"), threw the ultimate 60th birthday party for her husband (who was the grandson of the pretender to the throne of Portugal) in 1986, attended by various royals and aristocrats. In 1971, Iran's Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi threw the most expensive party ever thrown to commemorate

14640-468: Was named New Amsterdam in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was temporarily renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York , before being permanently renamed New York in November 1674. New York City was the U.S. capital from 1785 until 1790. The modern city was formed by the 1898 consolidation of its five boroughs : Manhattan , Brooklyn , Queens ,

14762-659: Was rejected for military service in World War II but found war work with the films division of the Ministry of Information . In 1941, he became British press attaché in neutral Dublin , Ireland, working with Sir John Maffey . He is reported to have been selected for murder by the IRA . The order was rescinded after a meeting with an unnamed Old IRA man who was impressed by his works. Betjeman wrote poems based on his experiences in Ireland during

14884-493: Was selected from a shortlist. The finished work was erected in the station at platform level, including a series of slate roundels depicting selections of Betjeman's writings. Betjeman was given the remaining two-year lease on Victorian Gothic architect William Burges 's Tower House in Holland Park after leaseholder Mrs E. R. B. Graham died in 1962. Betjeman felt he could not afford the financial implications of taking over

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