Alan Bennett’s first play, Forty Years On, was produced in 1968; his most recent, Allelujah! in 2018. The Choral, for which he wrote the screenplay, was released in 2025. Bennett’s diary for 1983 appeared in the LRB, and we carried his diary every year after that until 2023. He now claims his life is so dull he won’t inflict it on LRB readers. The Lady in the Van was first published in the paper, and the LRB has also carried some of his Talking Heads monologues; short stories, such as ‘The Uncommon Reader’; pieces of memoir; and reviews, including ‘The Wrong Blond’, on W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman, and ‘Alas! Deceived’, on Philip Larkin.
4 January, Yorkshire. A heron fishes by the bridge as I walk down to get the papers this morning, but when I draw nearer it takes off and flaps up the beck. Not a rare bird, the heron’s size is never less than spectacular, and grey and white though they are they still seem exotic.
Bitterly cold with snow forecast later so we get off early up the M6 to Penrith and Brampton, hoping to...
28 January 2005. Fly to Rome for a British Council reading. It occurs to me that a lot of the camp has gone out of British Airways and that as the stewards have got older and less outrageous so the service has declined. This morning there is scarcely a smile, not to mention a joke, the whole flight smooth, crowded and utterly anonymous.
The British Council reading is packed, with two hours of...
3 January. Alan Bates dies on 27 December and we break the journey from Yorkshire at Derby in order to go to his funeral. It’s at Bradbourne, a tiny village the taxi-driver has never heard of, and he and his Asian colleagues have a map session before we eventually head off into the Derbyshire hills. The cab is old and draughty, it’s beginning to snow and as we drive through this...
‘Che cos’è la sua data di nascita?’ I turn my head sideways on the blood-soaked pillow. ‘9.5.34.’
Expressionless, the doctor in the Pronto Soccorso writes it down as a thought occurs to me, and I raise my head. ‘Domani il mio giorno natale.’
Hardly a joke, in the circumstances it merits a smile, but from this mirthless young man nothing is...
I have generally done well in examinations and not been intimidated by them. Back in 1948 when I took my O Levels – or School Certificate as they were then called – I was made fun of by the other boys in my class because on the morning of the first paper I turned up in a suit. It was my only suit and already too small but to wear it didn’t seem silly to me then as I thought...
Alan Bennett reads from his 2018 diary, in which he puts on a new play and finds himself on someone’s arm.
Alan Bennett reads from his 2017 diary, in which he finds his métier at last.
Alan Bennett reads from his 2016 diary, in which he wonders what ’memes‘ are and goes to Venice.
Alan Bennett reads from his diary for 2015, in which he shouts at the top of his voice and works the red carpet with Alex Jennings.
Alan Bennett explains his objections to private education.
Alan Bennett reads from his 2014 diary, in which he looks after a dog and his memoir, The Lady in the Van, is made into a film.
Alan Bennett reads from his 2013 diary, in which he refuses to pay his bills and celebrates the National Theatre’s 50th birthday.
Alan Bennett reads from his 2012 diary, in which he appears on Family Guy and starts rehearsals for a new play.
Alan Bennett reads from his 2011 diary, in which he considers the banana skin and is mistaken for ‘another Alan’.
Alan Bennett introduces his latest play, The Habit of Art, and responds to questions from the audience about the play, and about his life and work to date.
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