Writing Home

Bringing together the hilarious, revealing, and lucidly intelligent writing of one of England's best known literary figures, Writing Home includes the journalism, book and theater reviews, and diaries of Alan Bennett, as well as "The Lady in the Van," his unforgettable account of Miss Shepherd, a London eccentric who lived in a van in Bennett's garden for more than twenty years. This revised and updated edition includes new material from the author, including more recent diaries and his introduction to his Oscar-nominated screenplay for The Madness of King George. A chronicle of one of the most important literary careers of the twentieth century, Writing Home is a classic history of a life in letters.

Alan Bennett is a renowned playwright and essayist, whose screenplay for The Madness of King George was nominated for an Academy Award. He is also the author of The Clothes They Stood Up In and Writing Home. He lives in London, England

List of Illustrations
Introduction: In a Manner of Speaking

Past and Present
The Treachery of Books
Leeds Trams
Not History at All . . .
Uncle Clarence
Dinner at Noon
Russell Harty, 1934-1988
Innes Lloyd, 1925-1991
Peter Cook, 1937-1995

The Lady in the Van
Postscript

Diaries 1980-1995

Prefaces to Plays
Forty Years On and Other Plays
An Englishman Abroad
The Wind in the Willows
The King and I
The Madness of King George

Filming and Rehearsing
Forty Years On
A Day Out
The Writer in Disguise
The Insurance Man

Books and Writers
Gielgud's Achievements
Cold Sweat
Bad John
Instead of a Present
The Wrong Blond
Kafka at Las Vegas
Comfortable Words
Alas! Deceived
A. E. Housman, 1859-1936

Stocking Fillers
Tit for Tatti
The Pith and its Pitfalls
Say Cheese, Virginia!
Christmas in NW1
Going Around

Acknowledgements
Index