The book is his personal diary of his time during the lockdown, and he seems to have survived it splendidly. The film of The Lady in the Van starring Maggie Smith was released in 2015, sending Bennett's memoir of the same name to the top of the bestseller list for nine weeks. Where this tortured restraint does not reach, though, is into Bennett’s ethical worldview which remain as richly communitarian as ever. Across the world, and throughout time, there have been people who have risen to the challenge of leading others.

Sadly, not much insight from these entries into how the pandemic affected him or much on his views of the effects of the various measures on friends, neighbours and the general population - which I expected when originally obtaining this book. and talking completely gibberish on the telephone havingly seemingly lost my ability to construct a sentence. The fact that Bennett’s new normal now involves being met by helpful staff with a wheelchair whenever he travels between Leeds and King’s Cross tells us just how frail he has become in the intervening 18 months. The Queen watches the Remembrance Day ceremony at The Cenotaph with “ a beady eye on the revamped choreography. He may clearly be increasingly frail but, even in lockdown, Alan Bennett retains his customary waspish wit in the latest tranche of his diaries ― Choice --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

The director pops round later that day to discuss details, which he is obliged to semaphore from the other side of the street. Alan Bennett's collection of prose, Untold Stories , won the PEN/Ackerley Prize for Autobiography, 2006.

In November 2020 he notices that the Queen, nearly 10 years his senior, is able to walk backwards when laying a wreath at the Cenotaph. I very much identified with his recollection of the loss of his conversational powers whilst trying to book a routine appointment after lockdown and having to hand the phone over to his partner, Rupert, who that bit younger and having kept up his conversational skills working from home on zoom, completed the task. HMQ pictured in the paper at an investiture wearing gloves, presumably as a precaution against Coronavirus.An abiding memory for me is his engaging encounter with a leaf sweeper which puts a smile on AB’s face for the rest of the day. Bennett and his brother wore their school caps, his mother her swagger coat, and his father the suit with the good trousers.

He presents a powerful new perspective on the deep psychological mechanisms behind birthday parties, royal coronations, fire-walking and terrifying rites of passage. However, the book really was too short to obtain a good idea of the author's thoughts during the lockdown periods. It's a very short selection, so easily readable in one sitting but none the less entertaining for that.Bennett’s diaries, which he has been publishing since the early 1980s, are full of these “absurd and inexplicable” moments. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

Alan Bennett is a renowned playwright and essayist, a succession of whose plays have been staged at the Royal National Theatre and whose screenplay for The Madness of King George was nominated for an Academy Award. Felt like a contractual obligation was being fulfilled with this very slight and disjointed melange. Generally, I worship at the altar of Alan Bennett but this very slight volume was a big disappointment. The news that the cast and crew of the new Talking Heads series have agreed to take only a nominal fee and donate the profits to the NHS gives him a rare rush of pleasure in a world dominated by the bleak economics of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump. I expected insights into the pandemic, the impact on his life, the community, nothing but cups of tea, a few chats with friends over the fence and being driven around.

Using words such as 'lovely' and 'charming' here to describe'House Arrest', could make Bennett's book sound trite or suggest that it somehow lacks depth, but it is neither of the things and as with everything from Alan Bennett - well worth your time.