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The Uncommon Reader

Waking up late at the Palace

Alan Bennett
Profile, pp. 128pp, ££10.99,

Sam Leith

Wednesday, 29th August 2007

The Uncommon Reader
by Alan Bennett

Since The History Boys transferred first to Broadway and then to the cinema, Alan Bennett has made the journey from national treasure to international superstar. The dustwrapper of this droll novella spends two lines on the London gongs that play picked up, and more than five lines on the American awards (‘five New York Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Critics’ Circle Awards . . . six Tonys including Best Play’), festooned with which he returned to his native Yorkshire. The catalogue of glory reaches a final climax: ‘He was named Reader’s Digest Author of the Year 2005.’ I imagine that would have made Bennett smile when the proofs came through. It’s the award that would make the most sense to one of Bennett’s characters, the one that most fits into his distinctive world.

The Queen also, definitely, fits in. We should not forget that it was Bennett’s A Question of Attribution that first and so brilliantly made Prunella Scales the Queen. For most of us, she remained Queen (just as Morgan Freeman is God) right up until Helen Mirren, at very long last, dethroned her this year.

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