Read about the Faber story, find out about our unique partnerships, and learn more about our publishing heritage, awards and present-day activity. Bennett is also known for a wide variety of audio books, including his readings of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh. Recalling tales of his Yorkshire family, the writer reflects on the brisk marriage of his Mam's sister.

Alan Bennett | Biography, Books, Videos, Podcasts, Quotes | Faber Alan Bennett | Biography, Books, Videos, Podcasts, Quotes | Faber

Alan Bennett: timeline of the writer's life". The Daily Telegraph. 3 November 2015. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. And of course it was only that, by one of the casual cruelties routine inflicts, she had on admission been bathed, her hair washed then left uncombed and uncurled so that it now stood out round her head in a mad halo, this straightaway drafting her into the ranks of the demented. Yet the change was so dramatic, the obliteration of her usual self so complete, that to restore her even to an appearance of normality now seemed a hopeless task. She was mad because she looked mad. A play could begin like this, I used to think – with a man on-stage, sporadically angry with a woman off-stage, his bursts of baffled invective gradually subsiding into an obstinate silence. Resistant to the offstage entreaties, he continues to ignore her until his persistent refusal to respond gradually tempts the woman into view. The suicide, though, he cannot be persuaded to discuss. Having let on to the fact, he still seems to want to keep it hidden and will not be questioned about it, sensing perhaps that my interest in it is as drama and only one stage up from gossip. As a child I was clever and knew it and when I showed off, as I often did, Dad would not trouble to hide his distaste. I detect a whiff of that still; he is probably wishing he’d kept his mouth shut and never mentioned the tragedy at all.Bennett, Alan (11 December 2018). "Nicholas Delbancio in The New York Journal of Books". New York Journal of Books . Retrieved 11 December 2012.

Untold stories : Bennett, Alan, 1934- : Free Download, Borrow Untold stories : Bennett, Alan, 1934- : Free Download, Borrow

Bennett 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 and later a Special Tony Award. He gave up academia, and turned to writing full time, his first stage play, Forty Years On, being produced in 1968. He also became known for writing dramatic monologues Talking Heads which ran in 1988, and 1999 on BBC1 earning a British Academy Television Award.Thus it was that after six weeks of what Dad called ‘this flaming carry-on’ it was as much for his sake as for hers that the doctor arranged that she should be voluntarily admitted to the mental hospital in Lancaster. What was agitating her, and maybe it agitated my father too, as he was in many ways more shy even than her, was the ceremony itself and the churchful of people it must inevitably involve. Marriage is a kind of going public and I can see, as Dad can’t or won’t, that coming to live in the village, which has maybe brought on this second bout forty years later, is a kind of going public too. Alan Bennett contemporary Hamlet 'Denmark Hill' heading for Radio 4". Radio Times . Retrieved 21 October 2013.

Alan Bennett · Untold Stories · LRB 30 September 1999 Alan Bennett · Untold Stories · LRB 30 September 1999

Ferguson, Euan (31 May 2014). "The Complainers; The Story of Women and Art; Harry and Paul's Story of the Twos – review". The Guardian.I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I didn't know much about Alan Bennet before but found his story very interesting and beautifully written. Some of the detail on art was a bit dry but I skipped those bits.