Alan Bennett

The son of a Leeds butcher, Alan Bennett won a scholarship to attend Oxford University, where he studied medieval history and, after graduating in 1957, briefly worked as a lecturer while acting in an Oxford comedy troupe. Following the success onstage of the satirical show Beyond the Fringe, he left academia in 1962 to become a playwright. His play The History Boys won three Laurence Olivier awards and six Tony awards, and was later adapted for film. His other works include plays about the Cambridge Five, a meeting between W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten that never happened, and King George III’s mental health.