Alan Bennett - Genealogy Genealogy Join the world's largest family tree Gender Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love Build your family tree online Share photos and videos Partner of <private> (Thomas) and Anne Bennett Brother of <private> Bennett Lilian Mary Peel, Walter Bennett Wife: Walter Bennett, Lilian Bennett (born Peel) Brother: About Alan Bennett Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. He was born in Leeds and attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with the Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research medieval history at the university for several years. His collaboration as writer and performer with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival brought him instant fame. He gave up academia, and turned to writing full-time, his first stage play Forty Years On being produced in 1968.

His work includes The Madness of George III and its film adaptation, the series of monologues Talking Heads, the play and subsequent film The History Boys, and popular audio books, including his readings of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh. Early life Bennett was born in Armley in Leeds.[1] The son of a co-op butcher, Walter, and his wife Lilian Mary (née Peel), Bennett attended Christ Church, Upper Armley, Church of England School (in the same class as Barbara Taylor Bradford), and then Leeds Modern School (now Lawnswood School), learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists during his national service and gained a place at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.[2] However, having spent time in Cambridge during national service, and partly wishing to follow the object of his unrequited love, he decided to apply for a scholarship at Oxford University. He was accepted by Exeter College, Oxford, from which he graduated with a first-class degree in history. While at Oxford he performed comedy with a number of eventually successful actors in the Oxford Revue. He was to remain at the university for several years, where he researched and taught Medieval History, before deciding he was not cut out to be an academic.

Career In August 1960 Bennett, along with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook, achieved instant fame by appearing at the Edinburgh Festival in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe. After the festival, the show continued in London and New York. He also appeared in My Father Knew Lloyd George. His highly regarded television comedy sketch series On the Margin (1966) was unfortunately erased; the BBC re-used expensive videotape rather than keep it in the archives. However, in 2014 it was announced that copies of the entire series had been found. Around this time Bennett often found himself playing vicars and claims that as an adolescent he assumed he would grow up to be a Church of England clergyman, for no better reason than that he looked like one. Bennett's first stage play Forty Years On, directed by Patrick Garland, was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose, and broadcasting and many appearances as an actor.

Bennett's distinctive, expressive voice (which bears a strong Leeds accent) and the sharp humour and evident humanity of his writing have made his readings of his work very popular, especially the autobiographical writings. Bennett's readings of the Winnie the Pooh stories are also widely enjoyed. Many of Bennett's characters are unfortunate and downtrodden. Life has brought them to an impasse or else passed them by. In many cases they have met with disappointment in the realm of sex and intimate relationships, largely through tentativeness and a failure to connect with others. Despite a long history with both the National Theatre and the BBC - Bennett never writes on commission, declaring "I don't work on commission, I just do it on spec. If people don't want it then it's too bad."[3] Bennett is both unsparing and compassionate in laying bare his characters' frailties. This can be seen in his television plays for LWT from the early 1970s through to his work for the BBC in the early 1980s.

His many works for television include his first play for the medium, A Day Out in 1972, A Little Outing in 1977, Intensive Care in 1982, An Englishman Abroad in 1983, and A Question for Attribution in 1991.[4] But his perhaps most famous screen work is the 1987 Talking Heads series of monologues for television which were later performed at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1992. This was a sextet of poignantly comic pieces, each depicting several stages in the character's decline from an initial state of denial or ignorance of their predicament, through a slow realisation of the hopelessness of their situation, progressing to a bleak or ambiguous conclusion. A second set of six Talking Heads followed a decade later, which was darker and more disturbing. In his 2005 prose collection Untold Stories Bennett has written candidly and movingly of the mental illness that his mother and other family members suffered.

Much of his work draws on his Leeds background and while he is celebrated for his acute observations of a particular type of northern speech ("It'll take more than Dairy Box to banish memories of Pearl Harbour"), the range and daring of his work is often undervalued. His television play The Old Crowd includes shots of the director and technical crew, while his stage play The Lady in the Van includes two characters named Alan Bennett. The Lady in the Van was based on his experiences with a tramp called Miss Shepherd, who lived on Bennett's driveway in several dilapidated vans for more than fifteen years. A radio play of the same title was broadcast on 21 February 2009 on BBC Radio 4, with actress Maggie Smith reprising her role of Miss Shepherd and Alan Bennett playing himself. The work has also been published in book form. Alan Bennett adapted The Lady in the Van for the stage. Bennett adapted his 1991 play The Madness of George III for the cinema. Entitled The Madness of King George (1994), the film received four Academy Award nominations: for Bennett's writing and the performances of Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren. It won the award for best art direction.

Bennett's critically acclaimed The History Boys won three Laurence Olivier Awards in 2005, for Best New Play, Best Actor (Richard Griffiths), and Best Direction (Nicholas Hytner), having previously won Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actor and Best Play. Bennett also received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre.[5] The History Boys won six Tony Awards on Broadway, including best play, best performance by a leading actor in a play (Richard Griffiths), best performance by a featured actress in a play (Frances de la Tour), and best direction of a play (Nicholas Hytner). A film version of The History Boys was released in the UK in October 2006. Bennett wrote the play Enjoy in 1980. It was one of the rare flops in his career and barely scraped a run of seven weeks at the Vaudeville Theatre, in spite of the stellar cast of Joan Plowright, Colin Blakely, Susan Littler, Philip Sayer, Liz Smith (who replaced Joan Hickson during rehearsals) and, in his first West End role, Marc Sinden.

It was directed by Ronald Eyre.[6] A new production of Enjoy attracted very favourable notices during its 2008 UK tour[7] and moved to the West End of London in January 2009.[8] The West End show took over £1m in advance ticket sales[9] and even extended the run to cope with demand.[10] The production starred Alison Steadman, David Troughton, Richard Glaves, Carol Macready and Josie Walker. At the National Theatre in late 2009 Nicholas Hytner directed Bennett's play The Habit of Art, about the relationship between the poet W.H. Auden and the composer Benjamin Britten.[11] Bennett's new play People opened at the National Theatre in October 2012.[12] Personal life In September 2005, Bennett revealed that, in 1997, he had undergone treatment for cancer, and described the illness as a "bore".

His chances of survival were given as being "much less" than 50%.[13] He began Untold Stories (published 2005) thinking it would be published posthumously, but his cancer went into remission. In the autobiographical sketches which form a large part of the book Bennett writes openly for the first time about his homosexuality (Bennett has had relationships with women as well, although this is only touched upon in Untold Stories). Previously Bennett had referred to questions about his sexuality as like asking a man who has just crawled across the Sahara desert to choose between Perrier or Malvern mineral water.[14] Bennett lives in Camden Town in London, and shares his home with Rupert Thomas, the editor of World of Interiors magazine.[15] Bennett also had a long-term relationship with his former housekeeper, Anne Davies, until her death in 2009.[16] In 2010, Bennett described how he was mugged by two women who surreptitiously squirted him with ice cream in Marks & Spencer, Camden Town.

As they purported to wipe off the confection with tissues, the robbers stole £1,500 cash he had withdrawn from the bank minutes earlier. Bennett, who initially was grateful the women had helped clean him, said the experience afterwards made him 'less likely to believe in the kindness of strangers'.[17] Bennett is a lapsed Anglican; raised in the church, he became very religious as a teenager, but has "slowly left it [The Church] over the years," though he still holds a faith, and is often supportive of the restoration of churches through Britain.[18] Archive In October 2008 Bennett announced that he was donating his entire archive of working papers, unpublished manuscripts, diaries and books to the Bodleian Library, stating that it was a gesture of thanks repaying a debt he felt he owed to the British welfare state that had given him educational opportunities which his humble family background would otherwise never have afforded.[19] Depictions In the film for television Not Only But Always about the careers of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Alan Cox played Alan Bennett.

Along with the other members of Beyond the Fringe, Bennett is portrayed in the play Pete and Dud: Come Again, by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde. Bennett voices himself in the episode Brian's Play of the animated series Family Guy.

Bennett was portrayed by Harry Enfield as Stalin, in an episode of "Talking Heads of State", in BBC Two's satirical Harry and Paul's Story of the Twos, broadcast in May 2014.[20] Bennett was portrayed by Reece Dinsdale in a production of Untold Stories at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in June 2014.[21] Work Television My Father Knew Lloyd George (also writer), 1965 Famous Gossips, 1965 Plato—The Drinking Party, 1965 Alice in Wonderland, 1966 On the Margin series (actor & writer), 1966–67 A Day Out (also writer), 1972 Sunset Across the Bay (also writer), 1975 A Little Outing (also writer), 1975 A Visit from Miss Prothero (writer), 1978 Me—I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf (writer), 1978 Doris and Doreen (Green Forms) (writer), 1978 The Old Crowd (writer) with Lindsay Anderson (director), LWT 1979 Afternoon

 Off (actor & writer), 1979 One Fine Day (writer), 1979 All Day On the Sands (writer), 1979 Objects of Affection (also writer), 1982 The Merry Wives of Windsor (actor), 1982 Intensive Care (writer, actor), 1982 An Englishman Abroad (writer), 1983 The Insurance Man (writer), 1986 Breaking Up, 1986 Man and Music (narrator), 1986 Talking Heads (also writer), 1987 The Wind in the Willows , The Willows in Winter (Mole), 1995–1996 The Story Store (Voices and Narrator), 1995 Meg and Mog (Owl) Down Cemetery Road: The Landscape of Philip Larkin (presenter), 1987 Fortunes of War series (actor), 1987 Dinner at Noon (narrator), 1988 Poetry in Motion (presenter), 1990 102 Boulevard Haussmann (writer), 1990 A Question of Attribution

 (writer), 1991 Selling Hitler, 1991 Poetry in Motion 2 (presenter), 1992 A Night In (presenter), 1992 The Long Summer (narrator), 1993 Portrait or Bust (presenter), 1994 The Abbey (presenter), 1995 A Dance to the Music of Time (actor), 1997 Talking Heads 2, 1998 Telling Tales (writer, as himself), 2000 The South Bank Show (documentary), 2005 Being Alan Bennett (BBC documentary), 2009 Mark Lawson Talks To Alan Bennett (BBC, extended interview), 2009 Bennett On Bennett (5 10-minute monologues, as himself), 2009 Family Guy (Brian's Play, as himself), 2013 Stage Better Late, 1959 Beyond the Fringe (also co-writer), 1960 The Blood of the Bambergs, 1962 A Cuckoo in the Nest, 1964 Forty Years On (also writer), 196

8 Sing a Rude Song (co-writer), 1969 Getting On (writer), 1971 Habeas Corpus (also writer), 1973 The Old Country (writer), 1977 Enjoy (writer), 1980 Kafka's Dick (writer), 1986 A Visit from Miss Prothero (writer), 1987 Single Spies (An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution) (also writer and director), 1989 The Wind in the Willows (adaptation), 1990 The Madness of George III (writer), 1991 Talking Heads (Waiting for the telegram, A Chip in the Sugar, Bed Among the Lentils, A Lady of Letters, Her Big Chance, Soldiering On, A Cream Cracker Under the Settee) (also writer), 1992 The History Boys (writer), 2004 The Habit of Art (writer), 2009 People (writer), 2012 Hymn (writer), 2012 Cocktail Sticks (writer), 2012 Film Long Shot, 1980 Dreamchild (

voice only), 1985 The Secret Policeman's Ball, 1986 The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, 1982 A Private Function (screenplay), 1986 Pleasure At Her Majesty's, 1987 Prick Up Your Ears (screenplay), 1987 Little Dorrit, 1987 Wind in the Willows animated adaptation, 1995 Parson's Pleasure (writer), 1995 The Madness of King George (screenplay from his play "The Madness of George III" and cameo appearance), 1995 The History Boys (screenplay, from his play of the same name), 2006 The Lady in the Van (screenplay, from his play of the same name), 2015 Radio The Great Jowett, 1980 Denmark Hill, 1982[22] Dragon, 1982 Uncle Clarence (writer, narrator), 1985 Better Halves (narrator), 1988 The Lady in the Van (writer, narrator), 1990 Winnie-the-Pooh (narr

ator), 1990 Books The gravestone, in Larch Wood (Railway Cutting) cemetery, of Alan Bennett's Uncle Clarence, subject of a 1985 radio monologue.

Beyond the Fringe (with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore).

London: Souvenir Press, 1962, and New York: Random House, 1963 Forty Years On, London: Faber, 1969 Getting On, London: Faber, 1972 Habeas Corpus, London: Faber, 1973 The Old Country, London: Faber, 1978 Enjoy, London: Faber, 1980 Office Suite, London: Faber, 1981 Objects of Affection, London: BBC Publications, 1982 A Private Function, London: Faber, 1984 Forty Years On; Getting On; Habeas Corpus, London: Faber, 1985 The Writer in Disguise, London: Faber, 1985 Prick Up Your Ears: The Film Screenplay, London: Faber, 1987 Two Kafka Plays, London: Faber, 1987 Talking Heads, London: BBC Publications, 1988; New York: Summit, 1990 Single Spies, London: Faber, 1989 Single Spies and Talking Heads, New York

: Summit, 1990 The Lady in the Van, 1989 Poetry in Motion, (with others).

1990 The Wind in the Willows, London: Faber, 1991 Forty Years On and Other Plays, London: Faber, 1991 The Madness of George III, London: Faber, 1992 Poetry in Motion 2 (with others) 1992 Writing Home (memoir & essays) London: Faber, 1994 The Madness of King George (screenplay), 1995 Father ! Father !

Burning Bright (prose version of 1982 TV script, Intensive Care), 1999 The Laying on of Hands (stories), 2000 The Clothes They Stood Up In (novella), 2001 Untold Stories (autobiographical and essays), London, 2005, ISBN 0-571-22830-5 The Uncommon Reader (novella), London, 2007 A Life Like Other People's (memoir), London, 2009 Smut: two unseemly stories (stories), London, 2011 Audio releases Alan Bennett At The BBC (compilation) Diaries 1980–1990 Diaries 1997–2004 Telling Tales Hymn The Lady In The Van Alan And Thora Untold Stories Smut: Two Unseemly Stories: The Greening of Mrs Donaldson & The Shielding of Mrs Forbes Written On The Body A Common Assault Beyond The Fringe Alan Bennett's On The Margin Forty Years On (1973 version) Forty Years On (2003 version) Kafka's Dick

 An Englishman Abroad (1983 version) An Englishman Abroad (2006 version) A Question Of Attribution The Madness Of King George III The History Boys The Lady In The Van (play) A Woman Of No Importance The Clothes They Stood Up In The Laying On Of Hands Father!

Father!

Burning Bright Say Something Happened A Visit From Miss Protheroe Two In Torquay The Uncommon Reader Dear Philip, Dear Kingsley (with Robert Hardy) Poetry In Motion Winnie The Pooh (narrator) The House At Pooh Corner (narrator) A Party For Pooh (narrator) The Wind In The Willows (narrator) Peter Pan And Wendy (narrator) The Story Of Doctor Dolittle (narrator) The Voyages Of Doctor Dolittle (narrator) Doctor Dolittle's Garden (narrator) The Owl & The Pussycat (narrator) The Little Prince (narrator) Animal Farm (narrator) Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass (narrator) Awards and honours Awards 1963 Tony Award, Special Award: Beyond the Fringe (shared with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore) 1963 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Special Award: Beyond the Fringe (shared with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore) 1968 Evening Standard Award, Special Award: Forty Years On 1985 Evening Standard British Film Award, Best Screenplay

: A Private Function (shared with Malcolm Mowbray) 1987 Critics' Circle Film Award, Screenwriter of the Year: Prick Up Your Ears 1987 Evening Standard British Film Award, Best Screenplay: Prick Up Your Ears 1989 Hawthornden Prize: Talking Heads 1990 Laurence Olivier Award, Best New Comedy: Single Spies 1992 British Academy Television Award, Best Single Drama: A Question of Attribution 1992 Laurence Olivier Award, Best Entertainment: Talking Heads 1992 Laurence Olivier Award, Best Actor in a Musical: Talking Heads 1995 Critics' Circle Film Award, Screenwriter of the Year: The Madness of King George 1995 Evening Standard British Film Award, Best Screenplay: The Madness of King George 1995 British Book Award, Book of the Year: Writing Home 1996 British Academy Film Award, Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film: The Madness of King George 2000 British Comedy Award, Lifetime Achievement Award 2002 British Book Award, Audiobook of the Year: The Laying on of Hands 20

03 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Best Foreign Play: Talking Heads 2003 British Book Award, Lifetime Achievement Award 2004 Critics' Circle Theatre Award, Best New Play: The History Boys 2004 Evening Standard Award, Best Play: The History Boys 2005 Laurence Olivier Award, Best New Play: The History Boys 2005 Laurence Olivier Award, Society of London Theatre Special Award 2005 Critics' Circle Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts 2006 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Play: The History Boys 2006 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Best Play: The History Boys 2006 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Broadway Play: The History Boys 2006 Tony Award, Best Play: The History Boys 2006 J.

R.

Ackerley Prize for Autobiography: Untold Stories 2006 British Book Award, Author of the Year 2008 Bodley Medal Nominations 1984 British Academy Film Award, Best Original Screenplay: A Private Function 1987 British Academy Film Award, Best Adapted Screenplay: Prick Up Your Ears 1989 British Academy Television Award, Best Actor: A Chip in the Sugar 1989 British Academy Television Award, Best Drama Series: A Cream Cracker under the Settee (shared with Innes Lloyd) 1989 British Academy Television Award, Best Single Drama: A Bed Among the Lentils (shared with Innes Lloyd) 1989 British Academy Television Award, Best Single Drama: A Lady of Letters (shared with Innes Lloyd and Giles Foster) 1994 Academy Award, Best Adapted Screenplay: The Madness of King George 1995 British Academy Film Award, Best Adapted Screenplay: The Madness of King George 1999 British Academy Television Award, Best Single Drama: Waiting for the Telegram (shared with Mark Shivas and Stuart Burge) 1999 British Academy Television Award

, Best Single Drama: Playing Sandwiches (shared with Mark Shivas and Udayan Prasad) 2003 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Play: Talking Heads 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Off-Broadway Play: Talking Heads 2006 Samuel Johnson Prize: Untold Stories 2007 GLAAD Media Award, Outstanding Film - Limited Release: The History Boys 2008 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize: The Uncommon Reader Bennett was made an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, in 1987.

He was also awarded a D.Litt by the University of Leeds in 1990[23] and an honorary doctorate from Kingston University in 1996. In 1998 he refused an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, in protest at its acceptance of funding for a chair from press baron Rupert Murdoch.[24] He also declined a CBE in 1988 and a knighthood in 1996.[25] He has stated that, although he is not a republican, he would never wish to be knighted, saying it would be a bit like having to wear a suit for the rest of his life.[26] Bennett earned Honorary Membership of The Coterie in the 2007 membership list. In December 2011 Bennett returned to Lawnswood School, nearly 60 years after he left, to unveil the renamed Alan Bennett Library.[27] He said he "loosely" based The History Boys on his experiences at the school and his admission to Oxford.

Lawnswood School dedicated its library to the writer after he emerged as a vocal campaigner against public library cuts.[28] Plans to shut local libraries were "wrong and very short-sighted", Bennett said, adding: "We're impoverishing young people." References Bennett, Alan (2014). "Fair Play". London Review of Books 36 (12): 29–30. Retrieved 13 June 2014.

Alan Bennett, The History Boys, Introduction, Faber and Faber, British edition, 2004 #quotes Jury, Louise."Historic night for Alan Bennett as his new play dominates the Olivier awards", The Independent, 21 February 2005 Shenton, Mark."Which flops are ripe for revival?" Theatre Blog, guardian.co.uk, 28 August 2008 Let's enjoy Alan Bennett's revival play for what it is – Daniel Tapper on Alan Bennett's Enjoy guardian.co.uk, 6 February 2009 Enjoy by Alan Bennett at the Gielgud Theatre, review Telegraph, 3 February 2009 Curtain re-opens on Bennett Play BBC News, 29 January 2009 Bennett's Enjoy extends two weeks to 16 May 2009 London Theatre, 18 February 2009 "Nicholas Hytner on his time at the National Theatre", Times Online, 9 February 2009 "Alan Bennett's new play to open at National Theatre", The Guardian, 23 January 2012 "Alan Bennett reveals cancer fight", BBC News, 24 September 2005

 "Inside Bennett's fridge", Telegraph, 30 October 2004 The Guardian profile: Alan Bennett The Guardian,_14_May 2004 Alan Bennett reveals that his lover, 'Café Anne', is dead The Independent, 22 November 2009 Cable, Simon (13 December 2010).

How two women 'well-wishers' conned Sir Alan Bennett out of £1,500 in 'Mustard Squirter' scam, Daily Mail, Retrieved 8 September 2013 Video on YouTube Kennedy, Maev "A small way of saying thank you: Bennett donates his life's work to the Bodleian", The Guardian, 24 October 2008 [1] "Alan Bennett contemporary Hamlet 'Denmark Hill' heading for Radio 4". Radio Times. Retrieved 21 October 2013.

An evening with Alan Bennett University of Leeds, 29 October 2007 "Bennett snubs Oxford over Murdoch chair", BBC News, 15 January 1999 "Birthday boy" – Blake Morrison salutes Alan Bennett as the writer approaches his 75th birthday The Guardian, 7 May 2009 Featured interview: Alan Bennett In Conversation Front Row archive, BBC Radio 4 (Audio, 1 hr) 'Alan Bennett: Playwright returns to Leeds school' (Video, 2 mins) Yorkshire Evening Post "Alan Bennett warns over tuition fees" at BBC News, Entertainment & Arts Further reading Peter Wolfe, Understanding Alan Bennett, University of South Carolina Press, ISBN 1-57003-280-7 Alexander Games (2001). Backing Into The Limelight: The Biography of Alan Bennett. Headline. ISBN 0-7472-7030-9. Joseph H.

O'Mealy, Alan Bennett: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, 2001, ISBN 0-8153-3540-7 Kara McKechnie, Alan Bennett, The Television Series, Manchester University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7190-6806-5 Robert Hewison Footlights – A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy, Methuen, 1983 Roger Wilmut From Fringe to Flying Circus – Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980, Eyre Methuen, 1980 External links Wikiquote has quotations related to: Alan Bennett Profile at the British Council Interview BBC archive 6 December 2009 with Mark Lawson. (Video, 1 hr) BBC Interview Radio 4 Front Row archive. (Audio, 1 hr) Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery (3 pages) [2] IMDB listing "Curtain re-opens on Bennett play" BBC News, 29 January 2009 – Video interview with Alan Bennett Profile.

British Film Institute: Screenonline Guardian profile "Birthday boy" 7 May 2009 by Blake Morrison. Alan Bennett Macmillan Books Comedify.com - Alan Bennett Comedify.com Follow @Comedify Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English author, actor, humorist and playwright. Bennett was born in Armley in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The son of a co-op butcher, Bennett attended Leeds Modern School (now Lawnswood School), learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists during his National Service, and gained a place at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. However, having spent time in Cambridge during national service, and partly wishing to follow the object of his unrequited love, he decided to apply for a scholarship at Oxford University. He was accepted by Exeter College, Oxford and went on to receive a first-class degree in history. While at Oxford he performed comedy with a number of future successful actors in the Oxford Revue. He was to remain at the university for several years, where he researched and taught Medieval History, before deciding he was not cut out to be an academic.

In August 1960, Bennett, along with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, and Peter Cook,... Tracks: Alan Bennett — The Movie Database (TMDb) Read More From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English playwright, screenwriter and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research medieval history at the university for several years. His collaboration as writer and performer with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival brought him instant fame. He gave up academia, and turned to writing full time, his first stage play Forty Years On being produced in 1968. His output includes The Madness of George III and its film incarnation The Madness of King George, the series of monologues Talking Heads, the play The History Boys, and popular audio books, including his readings of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh. Description above from the Wikipedia article Alan Bennett, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Habeas Corpus Written by Alan Bennett Author Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (b1934) Bennett was born in Armley in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire. He graduated with a first-class degree in history at Oxford where he performed comedy with a number of eventually successful actors in the Oxford Revue. He remained at the university for several years, where he researched and taught Medieval History. In 1960, Bennett appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe. Bennett's first stage play, Forty Years On directed by Patrick Garland was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, along with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose and broadcasting, and many appearances as an actor. Many of Bennett's characters are unfortunate and downtrodden, or meek and overlooked. Life has brought them to an impasse, or else passed them by altogether. In many cases they have met with disappointment in the realm of sex and intimate relationships, largely through tentativeness and a failure to connect with others. Bennett is both unsparing and compassionate in laying bare his characters' frailties.

This can be seen in his television plays for LWT in the late 1970s and the BBC in the early 1980s, and in the 1987 Talking Heads series of monologues for television which were later performed at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1992. This was a sextet of poignantly comic pieces, each of which depicted several stages in the character's decline from an initial state of denial or ignorance of their predicament, through a slow realisation of the hopelessness of their situation, and progressing to a bleak or ambiguous conclusion. A second set of six Talking Heads pieces followed a decade later. In his 2005 prose collection 'Untold Stories' Bennett wrote candidly and movingly of the mental illness that afflicted his mother and other family members. Much of his work draws on his Leeds background, and his stage play 'The Lady in the Van' was based on his experiences with a tramp called Miss Shepherd who lived on his driveway in several dilapidated vans for over fifteen years. In 1994 Bennett adapted his popular and much-praised 1991 play The Madness of George III for the cinema which received four Academy Award nominations.

His critically-acclaimed The History Boys won three Laurence Olivier Awards in February 2005. Bennett himself received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre. Bennett was made an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford in 1987. He was also awarded a D.Litt by the University of Leeds in 1990 and a hon PhD from Kingston in 1996. However in 1998 he refused an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, in protest at its accepting funding for a named chair in honour of press baron Rupert Murdoch. He also declined a CBE in 1988 and a knighthood in 1996. He earned Honorary Membership of The Coterie in the 2007 membership list. In 2008 Bennett donated his entire archive of working papers, unpublished manuscripts, diaries and books to the Bodleian Library. It was a gesture of thanks repaying a debt he felt he owed to the UK's social welfare system that had given him educational opportunities which his humble family background would otherwise never have afforded.

PlayHabeas Corpus Habeas Corpus was first performed at the Lyric Theatre in London on 10 May 1973, with Alec Guinness and Margaret Courtenay in the lead roles. Bennett's first play, written in 1973, it is a comedy set in Brighton in the 1960s where the lust and longing of the permissive society has well and truly taken hold of the apparently respectable Wicksteed family. The aging Dr. Arthur Wicksteed pursues his nubile patient, Felicity Rumpers. Wicksteed's wife Muriel lusts after the charming head of the BMA, Sir Percy Shorter. Shorter as well as being Wicksteed's old rival, turns out to be Felicity's father - the result of an under-the-table liaison during an air-raid with Lady Rumpers, her mother. Meanwhile, Wicksteed's spinster-sister Connie, ashamed of her flat-chestedness, has schemes of her own.

Like some saucy Magill seaside postcard as retouched by Magritte, or an end-of-the-pier romp reorganised by Orton, the piece shows how a collection of stock types from Hove find themselves propelled into the permissive society with the arrival of a false-breast fitter from Leatherhead. Identities are mistaken, the wrong knockers admiringly fondled, and libidos burst out of enforced hibernation. The Bench Production This play was staged at Havant Arts Centre, East Street Havant - Bench Theatre's home since 1977. It was staged as part of the Bench Theatre's 25th Anniversary celebrations held that year. The company had staged this play for the first time in 1977 at Havant Arts Centre , the first of the Bench Theatre plays to be staged at their new home. Notable Abodes - Alan Bennett (Satirist) Alan Bennett (Satirist) Summary: Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. He was born in Leeds and attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with the Oxford Revue.

He stayed to teach and research medieval history at the university for several years. His collaboration as writer and performer with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival brought him instant fame. He gave up academia, William Bertrand Formation Langues | ALAN BENNETT Accueil ALAN BENNETT (1934 - ) Alan Bennett was born on May 9th 1934 in Leeds. The son of a co-op butcher, Walter, and his wife Lilian Mary (née Peel), Bennett attended Christ Church, Upper Armley, Church of England School. He learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists during his national service before applying for a scholarship at Oxford University. He was accepted by Exeter College, Oxford, from which he graduated with a first-class degree in history. While at Oxford he performed comedy with a number of eventually successful actors in the Oxford Revue. He was to remain at the university for several years, where he researched and taught Medieval History, before deciding he was not cut out to be an academic.

He co-wrote and starred in Beyond the Fringe (1963), a satirical review, along with Dudley Moore, Peter Cook and Jonathan Miller, at the Edinburgh Festival in 1960. Around this time Bennett often found himself playing vicars and claims that as an adolescent he assumed he would grow up to be a Church of England clergyman, for no better reason than that he looked like one.Later the show travelled to the West End and to New York. After this, he started writing for the stage, and later, plays for television. To date he has been actor, director, broadcaster, and written for stage, television, radio and film. His work focuses on the everyday and the mundane; on people with typically British characteristics and obsessions.His first stage play was Forty Years On (1969). Other well-known stage plays include Kafka's Dick (1987), The Wind In The Willows (1991), and The Madness of George III (1992). His first work for television was a sketch show, On the Margin, and he also wrote the television series Fortunes of War.

His first television play was A Day Out, followed by several more television plays, five for the BBC, published as Objects of Affection and Other Plays for TV (1982), and five for London Weekend Television, published as The Writer in Disguise (1985). His two series of monologues for television, Talking Heads I (1988) and Talking Heads 2 (1998), proved Bennett to be the master of television monologue, a genre he had first anticipated in A Woman Of No Importance (1982) - his first play starring a single actress. Alan Bennett has also written for radio, including The Lady In The Van (1990), an autobiographical memoir of a deranged woman who parked her car in his garden and stayed for 15 years; and films, including A Private Function (1984), Parson's Pleasure, Prick Up Your Ears (1987), and The Madness of King George (1994), for which he was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay adaptation. Alan Bennett has won many prestigious awards for his writing.

His prose collection Writing Home (1994), was followed by a sequel, Untold Stories, in 2005. His latest play, which won the 2004 Evening Standard Award for Best Play of the Year is The History Boys (2004). The Uncommon Reader (2007), is a novella in which the Queen develops a taste for reading. Bennett lives in Camden Town in London, and shares his home with Rupert Thomas, the editor of World of Interiors magazine. My selection: The Uncommon Reader : (La Reine des Lectrices) 2007 It is a novella which appeared first in the London Review of Books in March 2007. It was published later the same year in book form by Faber & Faber and Profile Books.The title's "uncommon reader" (Queen Elizabeth II) becomes obsessed with books after a chance encounter with a mobile library. The story follows the consequences of this obsession for the Queen, her household and advisers, and her constitutional position. The title is a play on the phrase "common reader". This can mean a person who reads for pleasure, as opposed to a critic or scholar.

It can also mean a set text, a book that everyone in a group (for example, all students entering a university) are expected to read, so that they can have something in common. A Common Reader is used by Virginia Woolf as the title work of her 1925 essay collection. Plus a triple play – Virginia Woolf's title came from Dr. Johnson: "I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers, uncorrupted by literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be generally decided all claims to poetical honours." In British English, "common" holds levels of connotation. A commoner is anyone other than royalty or nobility. Common can also mean vulgar, as common taste; mean, as common thief; or ordinary, as common folk. The Lady In The Van : (La Dame à la Camionnette) 1989 The Lady in the Van tells the true story of Alan Bennett's strained friendship with Miss Mary Shepherd, an eccentric homeless woman whom Bennett befriended in the 1970s before allowing her temporarily to park her Bedford van in the driveway of his Camden home.

She stayed there for 15 years. As the story develops Bennett learns that Miss Shepherd is really Margaret Fairchild (died 1989), a former gifted pupil of the pianist Alfred Cortot. She had played Chopin in a promenade concert, tried to become a nun, was committed to an institution by her brother, escaped, had an accident when her van was hit by a motorcyclist for which she believed herself to blame, and thereafter lived in fear of arrest. Smut : two unseemly stories : (So Shocking!) 2011 The central characters in these comedies of ill manners are two of Bennett's stock-in-trade older ladies: they take tea and attempt to keep up appearances in the emotional wastes of a suburbia where curtains twitch and desires go, for the most part, unfulfilled. In the first story, "The Greening of Mrs Donaldson", the eponymous heroine gains a new lease of life on the death of her very average husband. Defying her "joyless" daughter Gwen, Mrs Donaldson starts mounting minor insurrections against respectability – the first of which is participating in medical training scenarios at her local hospital.

She is glad of the extra money and the chance not to be herself, and discovers an aptitude for feigning duodenal ulcers. But her new routine is upset when she takes in a couple of student lodgers who have some creative ideas about ways to pay the rent: Mrs Donaldson finds she can engage in role-playing without leaving the house, and likes it. "The Shielding of Mrs Forbes", the second story, plays out like some kind of bleak Carry On Little England. Prim Forbes is displeased that her banker son Graham marries beneath him; he is shallow and vain and, although gay, finds sex with his new wife surprisingly liberating. When a blackmailing rent boy threatens to expose his double life, Graham turns to the police, only to discover his blackmailer is in fact the gay liaison officer. Everyone hops in and out of everyone else's bed, and secrets turn out not to be. As in the previous story, there is a lack of real communication between characters, and sex is only ever a tool to be used in the most perfunctory way. Alan Bennett - iSnare Free Encyclopedia Alan Bennett For other people named Alan Bennett, see Alan Bennett (disambiguation) .

Alan Bennett Partner(s) Rupert Thomas Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. He was born in Leeds and attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with the Oxford Revue . He stayed to teach and research medieval history at the university for several years. His collaboration as writer and performer with Dudley Moore , Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival brought him instant fame. He gave up academia, and turned to writing full-time, his first stage play Forty Years On being produced in 1968. His work includes The Madness of George III and its film adaptation , the series of monologues Talking Heads , the play and subsequent film The History Boys, and popular audio books, including his readings of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh . Contents 9 External links Early life Bennett was born in Armley in Leeds .

[1] The youngest son of a co-op butcher, Walter, and his wife Lilian Mary (née Peel), Bennett attended Christ Church, Upper Armley, Church of England School (in the same class as Barbara Taylor Bradford ), and then Leeds Modern School (now Lawnswood School ). He learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists during his national service before applying for a scholarship at Oxford University . He was accepted by Exeter College, Oxford , from which he graduated with a first-class degree in history. While at Oxford he performed comedy with a number of eventually successful actors in the Oxford Revue . He was to remain at the university for several years, where he researched and taught Medieval History , before deciding he was not suited to be an academic. Career Bennett (second left) in Beyond the Fringe on Broadway c. 1962 In August 1960 Bennett, along with Dudley Moore , Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook , achieved instant fame by appearing at the Edinburgh Festival in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe . After the festival, the show continued in London and New York . He also appeared in My Father Knew Lloyd George .

His highly regarded television comedy sketch series On the Margin (1966) was unfortunately erased; the BBC re-used expensive videotape rather than keep it in the archives. However, in 2014 it was announced that copies of the entire series had been found. Around this time Bennett often found himself playing vicars and claims that as an adolescent he assumed he would grow up to be a Church of England clergyman, for no better reason than that he looked like one. Bennett's first stage play Forty Years On , directed by Patrick Garland , was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose, and broadcasting and many appearances as an actor. Bennett's distinctive, expressive voice (which bears a strong Leeds accent) and the sharp humour and evident humanity of his writing have made his readings of his work very popular, especially the autobiographical writings. Bennett's readings of the Winnie the Pooh stories are also widely enjoyed. Many of Bennett's characters are unfortunate and downtrodden. Life has brought them to an impasse or else passed them by.

In many cases they have met with disappointment in the realm of sex and intimate relationships, largely through tentativeness and a failure to connect with others. Despite a long history with both the National Theatre and the BBC - Bennett never writes on commission, declaring "I don't work on commission, I just do it on spec. If people don't want it then it's too bad." [2] Bennett is both unsparing and compassionate in laying bare his characters' frailties. This can be seen in his television plays for LWT from the early 1970s through to his work for the BBC in the early 1980s. His many works for television include his first play for the medium, A Day Out in 1972, A Little Outing in 1977, Intensive Care in 1982, An Englishman Abroad in 1983, and A Question of Attribution in 1991. [3] But his perhaps most famous screen work is the 1987 Talking Heads series of monologues for television which were later performed at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1992.

This was a sextet of poignantly comic pieces, each depicting several stages in the character's decline from an initial state of denial or ignorance of their predicament, through a slow realisation of the hopelessness of their situation, progressing to a bleak or ambiguous conclusion. A second set of six Talking Heads followed a decade later, which was darker and more disturbing. In his 2005 prose collection Untold Stories Bennett has written candidly and movingly of the mental illness that his mother and other family members suffered. Much of his work draws on his Leeds background and while he is celebrated for his acute observations of a particular type of northern speech ("It'll take more than Dairy Box to banish memories of Pearl Harbour"), the range and daring of his work is often undervalued. His television play The Old Crowd includes shots of the director and technical crew, while his stage play The Lady in the Van includes two characters named Alan Bennett. The Lady in the Van was based on his experiences with an eccentric called Miss Shepherd, who lived on Bennett's driveway in a series of dilapidated vans for more than fifteen years.

A radio play of the same title was broadcast on 21 February 2009 on BBC Radio 4, with actress Maggie Smith reprising her role of Miss Shepherd and Alan Bennett playing himself. The work has also been published in book form. Alan Bennett adapted The Lady in the Van for the stage. In 2015 a film version was released to critical acclaim. Once again Dame Maggie Smith played Miss Shepherd, with Alex Jennings appearing as two versions of Bennett. Alan Bennett himself appears in a cameo at the very end of the film. Bennett adapted his 1991 play The Madness of George III for the cinema. Entitled The Madness of King George (1994), the film received four Academy Award nominations: for Bennett's writing and the performances of Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren . It won the award for best art direction. Bennett's critically acclaimed The History Boys won three Laurence Olivier Awards in 2005, for Best New Play, Best Actor ( Richard Griffiths ), and Best Direction ( Nicholas Hytner ), having previously won Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actor and Best Play.

Bennett also received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre. [4] The History Boys won six Tony Awards on Broadway, including best play, best performance by a leading actor in a play (Richard Griffiths), best performance by a featured actress in a play ( Frances de la Tour ), and best direction of a play (Nicholas Hytner). A film version of The History Boys was released in the UK in October 2006. Bennett wrote the play Enjoy in 1980. It was one of the rare flops in his career and barely scraped a run of seven weeks at the Vaudeville Theatre , in spite of the stellar cast of Joan Plowright , Colin Blakely , Susan Littler , Philip Sayer, Liz Smith (who replaced Joan Hickson during rehearsals) and, in his first West End role, Marc Sinden . It was directed by Ronald Eyre . [5] A new production of Enjoy attracted very favourable notices during its 2008 UK tour [6] and moved to the West End of London in January 2009.

[7] The West End show took over £1m in advance ticket sales [8] and even extended the run to cope with demand. [9] The production starred Alison Steadman , David Troughton , Richard Glaves, Carol Macready and Josie Walker. At the National Theatre in late 2009 Nicholas Hytner directed Bennett's play The Habit of Art , about the relationship between the poet W.H. Auden and the composer Benjamin Britten . [10] Bennett's play People opened at the National Theatre in October 2012. [11] Personal life In September 2005, Bennett revealed that, in 1997, he had undergone treatment for colorectal cancer , and described the illness as a "bore". His chances of survival were given as being "much less" than 50% and surgeons had told him they removed a "rock-bun" sized tumour. [12] He began Untold Stories (published 2005) thinking it would be published posthumously, but his cancer went into remission. In the autobiographical sketches which form a large part of the book Bennett writes openly for the first time about his homosexuality.

Previously Bennett had referred to questions about his sexuality as like asking a man who has just crawled across the Sahara desert to choose between Perrier or Malvern mineral water. [13] Bennett lives in Camden Town in London, with his partner Rupert Thomas, the editor of World of Interiors magazine. [14] Bennett also had a long-term relationship with his former housekeeper, Anne Davies, until her death in 2009. [15] Bennett is a lapsed Anglican ; brought up in the church, he became very religious as a teenager, but has "slowly left it [The Church] over the years," though he still holds a faith, and is often supportive of the restoration of churches throughout Britain.

[16] Bennett declined a knighthood from the British government in 1996.[ citation needed ] In 1988 he declined the award of Commander of the Order of the British Empire .[ citation needed ] Archive In October 2008 Bennett announced that he was donating his entire archive of working papers, unpublished manuscripts, diaries and books to the Bodleian Library , stating that it was a gesture of thanks repaying a debt he felt he owed to the British welfare state that had given him educational opportunities which his humble family background would otherwise never have afforded. [17] Depictions 2008 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize : The Uncommon Reader Bennett was made an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford , in 1987. He was also awarded a D.Litt by the University of Leeds in 1990 [21] and an honorary doctorate from Kingston University in 1996. In 1998 he refused an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, in protest at its acceptance of funding for a chair from press baron Rupert Murdoch .

[22] He also declined a CBE in 1988 and a knighthood in 1996. [23] He has stated that, although he is not a republican, he would never wish to be knighted, saying it would be a bit like having to wear a suit for the rest of his life. [24] Bennett earned Honorary Membership of The Coterie in the 2007 membership list. In December 2011 Bennett returned to Lawnswood School , nearly 60 years after he left, to unveil the renamed Alan Bennett Library. [25] He said he "loosely" based The History Boys on his experiences at the school and his admission to Oxford. Lawnswood School dedicated its library to the writer after he emerged as a vocal campaigner against public library cuts.

[26] Plans to shut local libraries were "wrong and very short-sighted", Bennett said, adding: "We're impoverishing young people." References ^ The Wind in the Willows Written by Kenneth Grahame (adapted by Alan Bennett) Author Kenneth Grahame (adapted by Alan Bennett) Kenneth Grahame (1859 - 1932) Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh to an affluent family. After his father was appointed Sheriff-Substitute of Argyllshire in 1860, the family moved to Inverary, however, when his mother died he was sent at the age of five, with his siblings to Cookham Dene in Berkshire to be raised by his grandmother. He was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford and joined the Bank of England as a clerk in 1879, working his way up to become Secretary to the Bank in 1898. Grahame contributed essays and stories to 'The Yellow Book' and the "National Observer", and his collections 'Pagan Papers', 'The Golden Age' and 'Dream Days' were well received by critics.

His stories centred on a fictional family of five children which he had created during his own childhood. After his marriage to Elspeth Thomson, Grahame created the character and story of Toad to amuse his son, but it was not until 1908 that he published 'The Wind In The Willows', which had its origins in letters he had written to the boy. The book was not an immediate success, but would achieve wider popularity thanks to the stage version, 'Toad of Toad Hall' by A. A. Milne. Whilst he would go on to edit the 'The Cambridge Book of Poetry for Children', he would publish no more work of his own. Alan Bennett (b 1934) Bennett was born in Armley in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire. He graduated with a first-class degree in history at Oxford where he performed comedy with a number of eventually successful actors in the Oxford Revue. He remained at the university for several years, where he researched and taught Medieval History. In 1960, Bennett appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe.

Bennett's first stage play, Forty Years On directed by Patrick Garland was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, along with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose and broadcasting, and many appearances as an actor. Many of Bennett's characters are unfortunate and downtrodden, or meek and overlooked. Life has brought them to an impasse, or else passed them by altogether. In many cases they have met with disappointment in the realm of sex and intimate relationships, largely through tentativeness and a failure to connect with others. Bennett is both unsparing and compassionate in laying bare his characters' frailties. This can be seen in his television plays for LWT in the late 1970s and the BBC in the early 1980s, and in the 1987 Talking Heads series of monologues for television which were later performed at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1992.

This was a sextet of poignantly comic pieces, each of which depicted several stages in the character's decline from an initial state of denial or ignorance of their predicament, through a slow realisation of the hopelessness of their situation, and progressing to a bleak or ambiguous conclusion. A second set of six Talking Heads pieces followed a decade later. In his 2005 prose collection 'Untold Stories' Bennett wrote candidly and movingly of the mental illness that afflicted his mother and other family members. Much of his work draws on his Leeds background, and his stage play 'The Lady in the Van' was based on his experiences with a tramp called Miss Shepherd who lived on his driveway in several dilapidated vans for over fifteen years. In 1994 Bennett adapted his popular and much-praised 1991 play The Madness of George III for the cinema which received four Academy Award nominations. His critically-acclaimed The History Boys won three Laurence Olivier Awards in February 2005. Bennett himself received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre. Bennett was made an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford in 1987.

He was also awarded a D.Litt by the University of Leeds in 1990 and a hon PhD from Kingston in 1996. However in 1998 he refused an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, in protest at its accepting funding for a named chair in honour of press baron Rupert Murdoch. He also declined a CBE in 1988 and a knighthood in 1996. He earned Honorary Membership of The Coterie in the 2007 membership list. In 2008 Bennett donated his entire archive of working papers, unpublished manuscripts, diaries and books to the Bodleian Library. It was a gesture of thanks repaying a debt he felt he owed to the UK's social welfare system that had given him educational opportunities which his humble family background would otherwise never have afforded. PlayThe Wind in the Willows 'The Wind in the Willows' is a classic of children's literature originally written by Kenneth Grahame and first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it is the story of the adventures of a group of animals who include the well-known Mr Toad along with Mole, Rat and Badger.

'The Wind in the Willows' was in its thirty-first printing when then-famous playwright, A. A. Milne, who loved it, adapted a part of it for stage as 'Toad of Toad Hall' in 1929. This version used by Bench Theatre was adapted by Alan Bennett in 1991. The story begins with Mole doing his spring cleaning. Fed-up with the task he emerges on to the riverbank and meets Ratty (a water vole). The two encounter various other creatures during their adventures, such as an otter and his son called Portly, squirrels, rabbits and a kindly old Badger who invites them to say at his house. They also meet the irrepressible Toad who owns Toad Hall, a very impressive property. When Toad Hall is taken over by the wicked creatures from the Wild Wood (weasels, stoats and ferrets) the new band of friends help Toad recover his home which culminates in the 'Battle of Toad Hall' where they are victorious.

Question: Playwright Alan Bennett taught medieval history at which university?
Answer: Oxford University