Alan Bennett never expected to be writing in his 90s, with a novella published this month and a film in post-production. There was a time when he didn't expect to reach 70. In 1997, a cancerous growth was found in his colon that had already begun to spread. "The surgeon didn't think I'd got a chance, really," recalls Bennett, 27 years on. "So yes, it is a slight surprise that I'm 90."
He attributes these bonus decades to two younger men: his partner, the magazine journalist Rupert Thomas, 58, and the director Nicholas Hytner, 68, with whom he has worked on 11 theatre and screen projects. "It was luck that I met Rupert - over a shared taste in paintings, really - and also that I met Nick, more or less at the same time, around 30 years ago. It's been the best period of my life. Without Rupert and Nick, I'd be nothing, I think."
Although Bennett and Hytner had already collaborated on The Madness of George III, Bennett dates his creative renaissance to The History Boys (2004), his most commercially and critically successful work, about a group of Leeds sixth formers and their eccentric teacher, Hector. "I'd long given up hope of writing anything really fresh, but it was so enjoyable. The actors treated me as part of the cast. The first preview was my 70th birthday and I couldn't believe I was still going at that age."
Twenty birthdays later, he still is. The only concession to the decades is that he apologises for not getting up from the sofa to greet me at his north London home, where Kate, a friend of the couple, is on hand while Rupert is at work.
"This is a recent development," Bennett explains. "I've fallen once and that totally altered Rupert's approach. He doesn't like to leave me on my own for long, and so we have people who come in." Health-wise, he says, "the main problem is I can only walk a short distance. Since I had cancer, I've been regularly in hospital one way and another for other things."
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Friendship interrupted
They were best mates. Then one had a baby, while the other struggled to conceive. They share their brutally honest takes on what happens when motherhood affects friendship
KERNELS OF HOPE
During the siege of Leningrad, botanists in charge of an irreplaceable seed collection, the first of its kind, had to protect it from fire, rodents-and hunger
A new horizon' The inverse link between cancer and dementia
Scientists have long been aware of a curious connection between these common and feared diseases. At last, a clearer picture is emerging
Across the universe
Samantha Harvey won the Booker prize with a novel set in space. Yet, she says, Orbital is actually 'a celebration of Earth's beauty with a pang of loss'
Frank Auerbach 1931 -2024
Saved from the Holocaust, this artist captured the devastation of postwar Britain as ifits wounds were his own but he ultimately found salvation in painting
Seven lessons I've learned after 28 years as economics editor
Margaret Thatcher was Britain's prime minister and Neil Kinnock was leader of the Labour party.
Droughtstricken dam leaves economies powerless
A ll is not well with the waters of Lake Kariba, the world's human-made lake largest A punishing drought has drained the huge reservoir close to record lows, raising the prospect that the Kariba Dam, which powers the economies of Zambia and Zimbabwe, may have to shut down for the first time in its 65-year history.
Let this be the end of these excruciating celebrity endorsements
I wish celebrities would learn the art of the French exit. But they can't, which is why Eva Longoria has announced she no longer lives in America. \"I get to escape and go somewhere,\" she explained.
Alive, but unable to thrive under absolute patriarchy
Since the Taliban returned to power, women and girls have tried defiance, but despair at their harshly restricted lives
‘It's tragic’ Reflection in the wake of Amsterdam violence
Carrying signs scrawled with messages urging unity, they laid white roses at the statue of Anne Frank, steps away from the home where her family had hidden from Nazi persecution.