Untold Stories (84 page)

My thanks are due to Mary-Kay Wilmers and her band of youthful and pitiless scrutineers who edit the
London Review of Books
, where many of these pieces first appeared. Also to Kathy Burke, Sue Powell and Janet Macklam who have deciphered and transcribed my hand-written diaries.

I am also grateful to the staff of Lancaster Public Library and Leeds Reference Library, an institution which nurtured me as a boy and happily remains largely unchanged. Rupert Thomas at
The World of Interiors
, Mary Kalemkerian of BBC7, Lyn Haill of the Royal National Theatre, Ruth Rosenthal and Colin Smith of the BBC have all at various times nudged me into writing some of the pieces included here, several of which, particularly those to do with Oxford and National Service, are illustrated with photographs by Adrian Bedson, who almost alone of my friends at that time bothered to record the passing scene.

I am glad Faber and Profile Books have been able to collaborate over the publication of the book as during the last fifteen years I have worked happily with both. Dinah Wood and Charles Boyle have taken the text on the first stage of its journey and seen it through the press and Kate Griffin will manage it thereafter. I am indebted to them all for their tact, energy and understanding.

I have also had expert help much nearer home as my partner, Rupert Thomas, is an editor himself. He has shared many of the not always pleasant experiences the book recounts and sometimes they were not much fun; but without him nothing would have been any fun at all.

TEXT
: ‘Untold Stories' was first published, in part, in the
London Review of
Books
. ‘Seeing Stars', ‘Spoiled for Choice', ‘Lindsay Anderson', ‘A Common Assault' and extracts from the Diaries were also first published in the
London
Review of Books
. Other articles first appeared in
The World of Interiors
(‘A Room of My Own', published in the supplement,
Interior Worlds
, December 1999; and ‘Making York Minster', September 2001); and the
Independent
(‘Going to the Pictures', 1993). ‘The National Theatre' was written for the National Theatre programme in 2001. The prefaces to
The History Boys
and
The Lady in the Van
were written for the Faber editions. ‘Denton Welch' appeared as the Introduction to
Denton Welch: Writer and Artist
by James Methuen-Campbell (Tartarus Press, 2002). ‘The Last of the Sun' was first recorded in 2002 and together with this introduction was first broadcast on BBC7 in 2004. ‘Hymn' was written for the Medici String Quartet's 30th anniversary and was recorded for the BBC Radio Collection. ‘Portrait or Bust' was first transmitted on BBC2 in 1994, and was published in booklet form for the Leeds City Art Gallery. ‘County Arcade' was written for the BBC2 series,
Building Sights
, in 1991.

Extract from Sonnet XXVI, ‘The World's a Stage',
Sonnets and Verse
by Hilaire Belloc (copyright © The Estate of Hilaire Belloc 1923, 1938) is reproduced by permission of PFD (www.pfd.co. uk) on behalf of the Estate of Hilaire Belloc. ‘The Odd Couple' by F. Pratt Green from
New Poems
1965 (Hutchinson), originally published in
The Listener
, 27 April, 1964. ‘The Things that Matter' by E. Nesbit from
The Rainbow and the Rose
(Longman). ‘Aubade' and ‘The Trees' from
Collected Poems
by Philip Larkin (Faber and Faber Ltd); ‘Church Going' from
The Less Deceived
(Marvell Press) and also in
Collected
Poems
. ‘The Send-Off ' by Wilfred Owen from
Collected Poems
(Chatto and Windus Ltd) by kind permission from the Owen Literary Estate. ‘We are on a kind of stair' by Ian Hamilton, first published in the
London Review of Books
, reprinted by kind permission of the Estate of Ian Hamilton.

PLATE SECTION
: all photographs are from Alan Bennett's private collection, except: 19, © BBC Photo Library; 21, © Cecil Beaton, by courtesy of Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby's; 32, © Donald Cooper; 34, 37, 38, © Adrian Bedson; 35, © Derry Moore; 36, © Ivan Kyncl; 43, 44, © Bill Batten.

PICTURES IN TEXT
: p. 453,
The Wilton Diptych
, late 14th century (egg tempera on oak), by unknown artist © The National Gallery, London; p. 459,
Adriana van
Heusden and Her Daughter at the New Fishmarket in Amsterdam
, c.1662 (oil on canvas), by Emmanuel de Witte © The National Gallery, London; p. 460,
The
Family of Darius before Alexander
, 1565–70 (oil on canvas), by Paolo Veronese ©
The National Gallery, London; p. 463,
Mr and Mrs Andrews
, c.1750 (oil on canvas), by Thomas Gainsborough © The National Gallery, London; p. 470,
The
Taking of Christ
, c.1598 (oil on canvas), by Caravaggio, courtesy of the National Gallery of Ireland and the Jesuit Community who acknowledge the generosity of the late Dr Marie-Lea Wilson; pp. 472–3,
The Baptism of Christ
, 1450s (egg tempera on poplar), and
The Nativity
, 1470–75 (oil on wood), by Piero della Francesca © The National Gallery, London; p. 474,
The Vendramin Family
, mid1450s (oil on canvas), by Titian © The National Gallery, London; p. 479, The
Adoration of the Kings
, 1510–15 (oil on wood), by Jan Gossaert, also called Mabuse © The National Gallery, London; p. 484,
Hambletonian, Rubbing Down
by George Stubbs, c.1800, Mount Stewart House (The National Trust) © NTPL; p. 487,
Lorenzo and Isabella
by John Everett Millais, 1849, National Museums Liverpool (Walker Art Gallery); p. 489,
Southwold
, 1937 © Estate of Stanley Spencer 2005, All Rights Reserved, DACS; p. 499,
The Shadow of
Death
, 1870–73 (oil on canvas), by William Holman Hunt © Leeds Museum and Art Galleries (City Art Gallery) UK, www.bridgeman.co. uk; p. 500,
Christ
Returning from the Temple with His Parents
by Rembrandt van Rijn, Rosenwald Collection, Image © 2005 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1654, etching and drypoint (White/Boon 60. only); p. 501,
Park Row,
Leeds, by Moonlight
, 1882 (oil on canvas), by Atkinson Grimshaw © Leeds Museum and Art Galleries (City Art Gallery) UK, www.bridgeman.co.uk; p. 502,
The Hope of Venus
, c.1818–20 (marble), by Antonio Canova © Leeds Museum and Art Galleries (City Art Gallery) UK, www.bridgeman.co. uk; p. 504, A
Ploughed Field
, c.1807 (pencil and w/c on paper), by John Sell Cotman © Leeds Museum and Art Galleries (City Art Gallery) UK, www.bridgeman.co.uk; p. 505,
Barges on the Thames
, 1906 (oil on canvas), by André Derain (1880–1954) © Leeds Museums and Galleries (City Art Gallery) UK/Bridgeman Art Library/© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2006; p. 506,
Interior with Nude
, c.1907 (oil on canvas), by Spencer Frederick Gore © Leeds Museum and Art Galleries (City Art Gallery) UK, www.bridgeman.co.uk; p. 509,
Bust of Jacob
Kramer
, 1921 (bronze), by Jacob Epstein © The Estate of Jacob Epstein/Tate, London 2005.