Alan Bennett Reads Childhood Classics The Wind in the Willows; Alice in Wonderland; Through the Looking Glass; Winnie-the-Pooh; The House at Pooh Corner

Alan Bennett reads five much-loved stories by Kenneth Grahame, Lewis Carroll, and A.A. Milne. The Wind in the Willows is the classic story featuring Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad (of Toad Hall). In Alice in Wonderland, when Alice follows a white rabbit down a hole she embarks on a series of adventures with some of the most weird and wonderful characters ever encountered. In Through the Looking Glass, Alice sees another world in the looking glass and wishes she could go there. In stories from Winnie-the-Pooh, Pooh goes visiting and gets into a tight place, Eeyore loses a tail, Piglet meets a Heffalump, Eeyore has a birthday, and an "expotition" to the North Pole is mounted. The House at Pooh Corner finds Pooh and Piglet building a house for Eeyore, while Tigger comes to the forest and has breakfast. Piglet nearly meets the Heffalump again, Pooh invents a new game, and Owl moves house. Portraying each character in his own inimitable fashion, Alan Bennett's distinctive readings of these much-loved stories have become classics in their own right.

Lewis Carroll's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He was born on 27th January 1832 at Daresbury in Cheshire. He studied at Christ Church, Oxford University and later became a mathematics lecturer there. He wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1872) for the daughters of the Dean of Christ Church. He was very fond of puzzles and some readers have found mathematical jokes and codes hidden in his Alice books. His other works include Phantasmagoria and Other Poems (1869), The Hunting of the Snark (1876), Rhyme? And Reason? (1882), The Game of Logic (1887) and Sylvie and Bruno (1889, 1893). Dodgson was also an influential photographer. He died on 14th January 1898.

Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various poems. [Wikipedia]

Alan Bennett is one of Britain's best-loved and most highly acclaimed writers. He has written widely for radio, television and theatre. His latest play, The History Boys, won several awards, including Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Best Play and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. It also won six Tony Awards, including Best Play, following an extremely successful transfer to Broadway. In 2006 Bennett was named Author of the Year at the British Book Awards for Untold Stories, his collection of memoirs and diaries.