RESULTS

The four stories contained in this book talk about ordinary people's foibles: 'Father! Father! Burning Bright' is a satire on a dying man's family reaction; 'The Clothes They Stood Up In' is a painful story of an elderly couple; 'The Laying on of Hands' is a memorial service for a masseur; and 'The Lady in the Van' is the true story of an old lady.

Clive had died young and in Peru and the circumstances make some of his friends uneasy. The congregation that gathers for his memorial service is unexpectedly distinguished and includes many well-known faces and household names. How come they knew Clive? Why did his death make so many of them anxious? It's only when friends in the congregation begin to stand up and share their memories of the dead man that these questions are answered. This is Alan Bennett at his inimitable best with a story that is funny, perceptive and deliciously cheeky.

The play and film tell the story of King George III's slide into insanity, and the political back-stabbing which results during his incapacitation. Despite Bennett's trademark bittersweet humour, this is a sad tale of medical practices in the late 1700s, as well as an insight into life inside and around the royalty of the time.

This is a companion volume to Alan Bennett's two collections of television plays published as Me, I'm afraid of VirginiaWoolf and Rolling Home.

Here are Alan Bennett's hugely admired, triumphantly reviewed and bestselling novellas, brought together in one book for the first time: 'Father! Father! Burning Bright', the savage satire on a dying man's family reaction as he still asserts control over them from the hospital bed. Over 60,000 sold in small format. 'The Clothes They Stood Up In' has sold over 200,000 copies as a small novella and was fourteen weeks in the Bestseller lists. It is the painful story of what happens to an elderly couple when their flat is stripped completely bare. 'The Laying on of Hands', a memorial service for a masseur to the famous that goes horribly wrong. Over 100,000 copies sold as a novella. Like everything Alan Bennett does, these stories are playful, witty and painfully observant of ordinary people's foibles. And they all have a brilliant and surprising twist; are immensely funny and profoundly moral.

Untold Stories is Alan Bennett's first collection of prose since Writing Home and takes in all his major writings over the last ten years. The title piece is a poignant family memoir with an account of the marriage of his parents, the lives and deaths of his aunts and the uncovering of a long-held family secret. Also included are his much celebrated diaries for the years 1996 to 2004, as well as essays, reviews, lectures and reminiscences ranging from childhood trips to the local cinema and a tour around Leeds Art Gallery to reflections on writing, honours and his Westminster Abbey eulogy for Thora Hird. At times heartrending and at others extremely funny, Untold Stories is a matchless and unforgettable anthology.

It could not have been better stage-managed. Brian Brindley died over dinner at The Atheneum Club in London having consumed stuffed crab, and as boeuf en croute was being prepared in the kitchen. Surrounded by his acolytes, he would certainly agree with Sydney Smith that heaven was foie gras and trumpets but his heaven started on earth. There was much sadness in Brian Brindley's life. Emerging from Oxford (Pi in the High) he eventually took up an appointment as a Vicar in Reading having fought vigorously against the ordination of women and other manifestations of modernity. But one fine day a journalist from a nasty tabloid tricked him into talking about his sexual life and fantasies, recorded the interview and printed extracts in his newspaper. The result was devastating and Brindley resigned. He retired to Brighton and was received into the Roman Catholic Church. But in the process he became a hero to countless thousands of people who love the Old Order. High Tories for whom ritual remains of the utmost importance.