I am greatly enjoying Alan Bennett reading his own diaries on the radio right now. He really is a national treasure, and I bet he secretly - or not so secretly - enjoys being seen as one.
I find myself agreeing with everything he says and loving the way he says it, and I also find that I am not bothered about feeling this way, which is unusual. I suppose it is the humour which permeates everything that makes it so attractive. Loads of people express the same views but lack the humour, and they bore, if not repulse me.
I can identify with him for another good reason too. Do you ever find yourself fed up with your own personality? I do on a daily basis, but - like everyone else - there is nothing I can do to change it. We are stuck with it. Sometimes I like myself and sometimes I see myself as others see me.
He read a quote from a critic which said something like, 'I can only take so much of Alan Bennett', and he responded with, "How does he think I feel?"
What better person to narrate Winnie the Pooh?
Love Alan Bennet and all that he does .
ReplyDeleteI wrote a few lines about each of our mutual blog mates on Rachel's a few posts back. I said that I love your sense of humour, your honesty and the fact that we never know what we are going to get from you. I said that I thought you were kind & caring. A sense of humour is a must . I think that you come across as a really lovely guy .... I'm not sure if I'd like to say the wrong thing when you've had a few !!!!!! XXXX
That could be one side of my personality... the one I try to project until I get so sick of myself that get horribly drunk and start swearing at people.
DeleteSometimes I take stock of my actions and attempt to make changes and sometimes they stick but not always.
ReplyDeleteMy answer to critics is that "I'm only human", forgetting that they are too - ah "Fec it"
Yes, it is very important to remember that every petty official is also a human being. The police are always saying, "We are only human," as if we needed reminding!
DeleteI think Bennet is TRULY British
ReplyDeleteThe self effacing probably can be a bit waring at times
But his gentle wry look at life wins over most I suspect .
Yes a national treasure like Thora hird, Mary Berry and Victoria wood
I am still not going to put a repeating clip of him being rythmically intimate with Rupert, even if one does exist. Like I say, it's not the subject matter, it is the cheap-trickery to catch-eyes which is disgraceful. You wouldn't put up with a repeating music clip, so why create fucking irritating eye-worms????
DeleteMary Berry is ok but not a fucking nagtional treasure and cannot be spoken of in the same breath as Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood.
DeleteNagtional? Sounds like a Trumpism.
DeleteNagtional Velvet.
DeleteHis book " The Uncommon Reader" is excellent. I saw him once in the Ashmolean in Oxford. He is surprisingly tall!
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought he was tall, but self-effacing - in one way.
DeleteI LOVE his writings! And as Frances especially The Uncommon Reader.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE his writings! And as Frances especially The Uncommon Reader.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read that.
DeleteDear Alan; he's my favourite Aunty.
ReplyDeleteA good reason/excuse to move back?
DeleteI read a volume of Alan Bennett's diaries a few years ago. It was like reading everything I would have said if I had thought of it first and with the perfect delivery. I get fed up with my personality every day and hate myself but nothing ever changes about me except for maybe one second.
ReplyDeleteSo long as that second doesn't repeat itself ad ininfinitum like one of John Gray's clips, you will be ok - or as ok as the rest of us.
DeleteListening to those too and was a bit sad when he mentioned the first blue moon he had seen and acknowledged that it would also be his last..his writings and his voice are just marvelous.
ReplyDeleteIt will be my last blue moon too - feel sad about me?
DeleteThank you, Tom, for letting us know it's possible to hear Alan Bennett reading from his diaries. Google tells me it's on Radio 4...so I'll be able to listen to this treat as well.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for iPlayer.
DeleteI shamefully admit that I do not know who Alan Bennett is, but I would like to know how you think others see you (if it's not too personal, ya know!)
ReplyDeleteHow long have you got?
DeleteI love his writing and I love his way of managing to say such pithy things is so few words.
ReplyDeleteYes, but the things he said are worth hearing as well.
DeleteI liked his book "The Uncommon Reader", i shall try to find Radio 4 here, i did it once.
ReplyDeleteYou can get the BBC's World Service, but that is - in the main - deeply depressing.
Delete