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Barker's daughter Raffaella, who is also a writer, wrote Come and
Tell Me Some Lies (1994) - a semi-autobiographical
novel about growing up in the house. She also appeared
as an extra, alongside her mother, in the cricket scene
in Joseph Losey's The
Go-Between. The scene was shot on nearby
Thornage common in the summer of 1970.
George Barker was
renowned as a hard drinker and womaniser and had a total
of 15 children by various women.
He also regularly used Methedrine and Benzedrine.

Bintree House
Barker also had a affair
with the Canadian poet Elizabeth Smart which inspired
her to write By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and
Wept. (Elizabeth Smart lived for many years at
Flixton in Suffolk and is buried in the churchyard at
St. Cross South Elmham.)

The River Bure
In his poem Morning in Norfolk Barker provides us
with a beautiful description of the River Bure:
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