John McGlashan was a quiet, reserved man who brought a rare sense of poetry and spirituality to his camerawork. This endeared him to John Betjeman, with whom he had a true rapport.
One morning during the filming of Metro-land (1973), about the Metropolitan line from Baker Street in central London to Buckinghamshire, Sir John arrived at the location in an agitated state, caused by confusion in the arrangements about collecting him from the station.
We were at Moor Park, on the golf course, and for the first sequence, at 28:40, he had to talk to camera and then drive off a tee shot. Take one: Sir John, still upset, swung wildly at the ball – and missed. John McGlashan had the instinct to carry on filming, as the poet turned to us and burst into peals of joyous laughter.
McGlashan had captured the most memorable moment of Betjeman on film.
