Alan Bennett was born in 1934 in Leeds. He studied at Exeter College, Oxford, then after a period of National Service, became a lecturer for a short time at Oxford University. 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. 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.
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Beyond the Fringe French, 1963
Forty Years On Faber and Faber, 1969
Getting On Faber and Faber, 1972
Habeas Corpus Faber and Faber, 1973
The Old Country Faber and Faber, 1978
Enjoy Faber and Faber, 1980
Office Suite: two one-act plays (Contents: 'Green Forms'; 'Visit From Miss Prothero') Faber and Faber, 1981
A Woman Of No Importance: a monologue from Talking Heads French, 1982
Objects Of Affection and other plays for television (Contents: 'Our Winnie'; 'A Woman Of No Importance'; 'Rolling Home'; 'Marks'; 'Say Something Happened'; 'A Day Out'; 'Intensive Care'; 'An Englishman Abroad') BBC, 1982
Say Something Happened French, 1982
A Private Function (screenplay from the story by Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray) Faber and Faber, 1984
Forty Years On: Getting On: Habeas Corpus (re-issued as Plays 1 with 'Enjoy'; 1996) Faber and Faber, 1985
The Writer In Disguise (contents: 'Me, I'm Afraid Of Virginia Woolf'; 'All Day On The Sands'; 'One Fine Day'; 'The Old Crowd'; 'Afternoon Off'; 'The Writer In Disguise') Faber and Faber, 1985
Kafka's Dick Faber and Faber, 1987
Prick Up Your Ears (screenplay by Alan Bennett adapted from John Lahr's biography of Joe Orton) Faber and Faber, 1987
Two Kafka Plays (Contents: 'Kafka's Dick'; 'The Insurance Man') Faber and Faber, 1987
A Chip In The Sugar: a monologue from Talking Heads French, 1988
A Cream Cracker Under The Settee: a monologue from Talking Heads French, 1988
A Lady of Letters: a monologue from Talking Heads French, 1988
Bed Among The Lentils: a monologue from Talking Heads French, 1988
Green Forms (from Office Suite) French, 1988
Her Big Chance: a monologue from Talking Heads French, 1988
Soldiering On: a monologue from Talking Heads French, 1988
Talking Heads (Contents: 'A Chip In The Sugar'; 'Bed Among The Lentils'; 'A Lady Of Letters'; 'Her Big Chance'; 'Soldiering On'; 'A Cream Cracker Under The Settee') BBC Books, 1988
Visit From Miss Prothero (from 'Office Suite') French, 1988
Intensive Care and other plays (edited by Michael Church; includes 'Intensive Care' by Alan Bennett) Longman, 1989
Single Spies (Contents: 'An Englishman Abroad'; 'A Question Of Attribution') Faber and Faber, 1989
Poetry In Motion Channel 4 TV, 1990
The Lady In The Van London Review of Books, 1990
The Wind In The Willows (adaptation for stage) Faber and Faber, 1991
Poetry In Motion 2 Channel 4 TV, 1992
The Madness Of George III Faber and Faber, 1992
The Madness Of King George (screenplay based on stage play) Faber and Faber, 1994
Writing Home (Contents: 'Past And Present'; 'The Lady In The Van'; Diaries 1980-1990'; 'Prefaces To Plays'; 'Filming And Rehearsing'; 'Books And Writers'; 'Stocking Fillers') Faber and Faber, 1994
Plays 2 (Contents: 'Kafka's Dick'; 'The Insurance Man'; 'The Old Country'; 'An Englishman Abroad'; 'A Question Of Attribution') Faber and Faber, 1998
Talking Heads 2 (Contents: 'Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet'; 'The Hand Of God'; 'Playing Sandwiches'; 'The Outside Dog'; 'Nights In The Gardens Of Spain'; 'Waiting For The Telegram') BBC Books, 1998
The Clothes They Stood Up In Profile, 1998
The Complete Talking Heads (12 monologues and A Woman of No Importance) BBC, 1998
Father! Father! Burning Bright Profile, 2000
Telling Tales BBC, 2000
An Englishman Abroad , 2001
The Laying On Of Hands London Review of Books, 2001
Me, I'm Afraid Of Virginia Woolf (contents: 'A Day Out'; 'Sunset Across The Bay'; 'Visit From Miss Prothero'; 'Me, I'm Afraid Of Virginia Woolf'; 'Green Forms'; 'The Old Crowd'; 'Afternoon Off') Faber and Faber, 2003
Rolling Home (Contents: 'Our Winnie'; 'All Day On The Sands'; 'One Fine Day'; 'Marks'; 'Say Something Happened'; 'Rolling Home'; 'Intensive Care) Faber and Faber, 2003
Three Stories (Contents: 'Father! Father! Burning Bright', originally published as 'The Clothes They Stood Up In', 200; 'The Laying On Of Hands' (originally published 2001)) Profile, 2003
Loose Cannon: A Portrait of Brian Brindley (with Ned Sherring and Damian Thompson) Continuum International, 2004
The History Boys Faber and Faber, 2004
Untold Stories Faber and Faber, 2005
Four Stories (content: 'Father! Father! Burning Bright'; 'The Clothes They Stood Up In'; 'The Lady in the Van'; 'The Laying on of Hands') Profile, 2006
The History Boys (screenplay) Faber and Faber, 2006
The Uncommon Reader (novella) Profile, 2007
back to top1961 Evening Standard Award for Best Play Beyond The Fringe
1962 New York Drama Critics Award (Special Citation) Beyond The Fringe
1963 Tony Special Award Beyond The Fringe
1967 BAFTA Comdey Award On The Margin TV series
1968 Evening Standard Award Forty Years On
1971 Evening Standard Award Getting On
1977 Critics' Circle Award The Old Country
1984 Broadcasting Press Guild Award An Englishman Abroad
1984 Royal Television Society Award An Englishman Abroad
1985 BAFTA (Best Film Award) A Private Function
1985 BAFTA (Best Original Screenplay) (nomination) A Private Function
1986 LCCFA Best Screenwriter of the Year Award A Private Function
1986 Royal Television Society Award The Insurance Man
1988 BAFTA (Best Adapted Screenplay) (nomination) Prick Up Your Ears
1988 LCCCFA Best Screenwriter of the Year Award Prick Up Your Ears
1989 Hawthornden Prize Talking Heads
1990 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Single Spies
1991 BAFTA (Best Single Drama) A Question of Attribution
1995 Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Adapted Screenplay (nomination) The Madness of King George
1995 Writers' Guild Award (Best Adapted Screenplay) The Madness of King George
1996 BAFTA (Best Adapted Screenplay) (nomination) The Maness of King George
1996 LCCFA Best Screenwriter of the Year The Madness of King George
1999 BAFTA (Best Single Drama) (nomination) Talking Heads 2
2000 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play (shortlist) The Lady In The Van
2003 British Book Awards Lifetime Achievement Award
2004 Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play The History Boys
2004 Evening Standard Award for Best Play of the Year The History Boys
2004 Whatsonstage.com Award for Best New Comedy The History Boys
2005 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Play The History Boys
2005 Society of London Theatres Special Award for Contribution to Theatre The History Boys
2005 South Bank Show Award for Theatre The History Boys
2006 British Book Awards Author of the Year Untold Stories
2006 J. R. Ackerley Prize Untold Stories
2006 New York Drama Critics' Award for Best Play The History Boys
2006 New York Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play The History Boys
2006 Samuel Johnson Prize (shortlist) Untold Stories
2006 Tony Award for Best Play (US) The History Boys
2008 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize (shortlist) The Uncommon Reader
2008 Booksellers Association Independent Booksellers' Book Prize (shortlist)
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