Bennett is an amazingly engaging writer.
Am reading a selection of Bennett's diaries and other writings and it's astonishing how similar he and Morrissey are in subject and style.

ps.
I looked Morrissey up in the index and there's no mention of him.

Morrissey might not be such a fan any more.

I was sat very close to Morrissey at the Alan Bennett talk at Meltdown last year.

When Bennett started berating certain 1950s & 60s English comedians who were simply famous for being cheeky chaps, but not in his opinion, Morrissey gave a couple of shakes of his head in disagreement. I suppose some of the names he reeled off may have been heroes of Morrisseys'. Can't remember any names though.

Then when asked about Morrissey's lyrics Bennett went on to say that he knew how good there were because he had read them all in an attempt to include them in his play “The History Boys”, in a scene where the pupils tried to catch out their know all teacher with a reference from popular culture. However he couldn’t find one that worked and settled for a Pet Shop Boys (I think from “it’s a sin”).

At this point Morrissey looked especially non plussed at this and shook his head vigorously in disagreement.

Then on the last Meltdown show (I think) he asked the audience who they thought he’d enjoyed the most, and said something like and after praising the NYDs he added; “Note I didn’t say Alan Bennett.”

Shame really as I don’t think Bennett meant offence.

If you've never read Alan Bennett you should no matter if he is in or out of favour with the great Moz!

Marvelous Article. It reminds me, somehow, of "A Man of No Importance", based on a movie character - incredibly believable - who went through some similar personal experiences. I don't remember if the names of some of his works were cited in the article, but I will google, and begin reading him.