Just finished Alan Bennett's Untold Stories; finally turned up in our local branch library. Spoke to me in so many ways. First of all, Bennett is a Leeds native; his Dad's butcher shop on Otley Road, not far from our house. Lovely to read about all the local places he describes. Also I have seen him in person several times, the first time was some years ago getting off the London train at Leeds station.
He has a house in Camden Town and someone we knew had lived across the road from him. One night Bennett came knocking on their door, apologizing profusely for having just run over their cat. Our friend said "No, you didn't -- it's asleep on the bed upstairs".
More recently I kept running into him in Camden Town, the first time in the health food shop on Parkway. I stalked him around the aisles and then watched as he rode off on his bicycle. I wandered down to M&S and there he was again! Another time my daughter and I were in M&S -- very crowded and we encountered him in passing. He sort of smiled and I wondered if he'd sensed we were fellow Headingley-ites.
Tough reading about his experience with cancer. He is a survivor; my daughter was not.
