Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, 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.
Read more about Alan Bennett: Early Life, Career, Personal Life, Depictions
Famous quotes containing the words alan bennett, alan and/or bennett:
“Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.”
—Alan Bennett (b. 1934)
“Power lasts ten years; influence not more than a hundred.”
—Korean proverb, quoted in Alan L. Mackay, The Harvest of a Quiet Eye (1977)
“I want to feel the surging
Of my sad people’s soul
Hidden by a minstrel-smile.”
—Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902–1981)