Alan Bennett on libraries, Primrose Hill Lecture 2011

In a 2011 Primrose Hill Lecture, Alan Bennett talks about what public libraries, now under threat, have meant to him. Read the published article here: www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n15/alan-ben...
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Пікірлер: 35

  • @geraldhannibal7654
    @geraldhannibal76545 жыл бұрын

    Important words from a wise man. Bless you and yours,

  • @johnfernleigh1352
    @johnfernleigh135211 ай бұрын

    An important aspect of libraries pre-1990s, say, was the use of library tickets. I remember as a child being proud to have them and regarding them as important because they were the means of obtaining the books. I enjoyed the simple act of handing over and later being given back the small cardboard envelopes into which the ticket from the book would be placed to indicate me as the borrower.

  • @podfixx
    @podfixx2 жыл бұрын

    The library on North Lane in Headingley was my local library and as a child, I would go every Saturday and withdraw 4 books (the maximum) and have them all finished by the following Saturday. Happy days, indeed.

  • @patriciamackinlay6495
    @patriciamackinlay64954 жыл бұрын

    One of the things I have missed the most since living in S Italy have been The English public libraries .Such an important part of my childhood.Thanks Alan for reminding meof happy days xx

  • @anitastone168

    @anitastone168

    3 жыл бұрын

    I moved to Norway 13 years ago and, when asked of what I missed most, it was my Library. We have a Library here ( Bibliotek) and I am a member. But, English books are few and although I can read Norwegian, I can just relax with a book in English. Libraries are so precious .

  • @gordeaux2006
    @gordeaux20062 жыл бұрын

    The local library is a treasure.

  • @wendychandler8304
    @wendychandler83042 ай бұрын

    I was born in 1939, and my first book was made of cloth pages, the alphabet indelibly printed in bright colours: A was red and other capitals still paint my memory. Libraries have been a life saver. Our Swinton and Salford libraries were staffed by people who loved their work, adult cards given to intelligent young readers, which is how my 11 year old son found the Penguin Book of Limericks and Rugby songs. My librarian saved new editions for me from 'Swallows and Amazons' to Jean Plaidy. Did you visit John Ryland's in Manchester?

  • @gordonshuffle9827
    @gordonshuffle98275 жыл бұрын

    One of the good guy's

  • @AminTheMystic

    @AminTheMystic

    2 жыл бұрын

    Your sentence is unfinished.

  • @leedsxbaillie

    @leedsxbaillie

    Жыл бұрын

    @@AminTheMystic *one of the good guy's guys?

  • @martm216
    @martm2164 жыл бұрын

    Lovely - but wish that could have illuminated the gentleman a little for us. Very restful and pleasant to listen to.

  • @RapunzelinOttawa
    @RapunzelinOttawa4 жыл бұрын

    Suede shoes at 00:39. God bless him. :)

  • @ianmedium

    @ianmedium

    Жыл бұрын

    A traditional pair of “Bucks” a suede deer skin, they look better the shabbier they look. Worn whilst sipping a Pimms Cup on a lazy sunny Sunday afternoon with the air still fragrant from a passing summers thunderstorm.

  • @brianrodney5202
    @brianrodney52027 жыл бұрын

    I suspect that telling the audience, mostly from Primrose Hill presumably, about life in Leeds in the 1950s, he might as well have been talking about life on the other side of the Moon.

  • @kelman727

    @kelman727

    6 жыл бұрын

    brian rodney Hence the pressing need to tell them.

  • @tinabaker4662

    @tinabaker4662

    4 жыл бұрын

    Why?

  • @Omnicient.

    @Omnicient.

    4 жыл бұрын

    What Alan says about Leeds can apply anywhere. I was born and raised the other side of the country so to speak! and can see and understand completely. Just depends if you are wired to 'see and really be watching and concentrating'.

  • @kelman727

    @kelman727

    4 жыл бұрын

    Tina Baker Reminding people of what life is like for people outside the London bubble. Which is sadly as necessary now as it’s always been.

  • @martm216

    @martm216

    4 жыл бұрын

    Lol !

  • @georgeroberts7889
    @georgeroberts78894 ай бұрын

    Always interesting and fresh ideas…the microphone is rubbish

  • @BoadiceanTruth
    @BoadiceanTruth6 ай бұрын

    I move about a lot and one of the first things I do is find out where the Library is. Then the local swimming baths/leisure centers. And any local lavatories! I love libraries but many of them are becoming targets for anti social behaviour and it's very difficult to ignore sadly. But that doesn't stop me! X🙋🙏

  • @beritbranch2436
    @beritbranch24366 ай бұрын

    We are the rememberers💋

  • @ghughesarch
    @ghughesarch7 жыл бұрын

    Hmmm. At about 19 minutes, Alan mentions his cousin (a police photographer) being involved in the aftermath of the stripper Mary Millington's suicide. Related as though it had happened in Leeds in the 1950s. But she killed herself in 1979 in Surrey, when AB was well into his forties and presumably less easily impressed by relatives - and not taking the lift down at Leeds Central Library. Or was there an earlier Mary Millington?

  • @janwest9751
    @janwest97514 жыл бұрын

    Can any one please tell me can I still get the play he wrote of blue berry hill remember s I watched it about. 30 years ago and never forgot it but I carnt find it any we’re hope some one can help xxjan 💕💕

  • @peterwimsey1

    @peterwimsey1

    3 жыл бұрын

    are you thinking of "Blue Remembered Hills" by Dennis Potter ?

  • @user-bl2lu2nx2u
    @user-bl2lu2nx2u8 ай бұрын

    I. Wonder. When. This. Was. Filmed?..

  • @davidbanks4168
    @davidbanks41687 жыл бұрын

    Alan Yentob there in the crowd.

  • @user-bl2lu2nx2u
    @user-bl2lu2nx2u8 ай бұрын

    Returning. To. Manchester. Not. Too.far. from. Leeds. I. Went. To. My. Usual. Favourite. Place. The. Local. Library. To. Find. It. Had. Been. Turned. Into. A. Mosque ‏!

  • @johnsharples143
    @johnsharples143 Жыл бұрын

    I love the works of this man and have great admiration for his readings however, his lack of ability to speak naturally whilst answering questions with out repeatedly saying err and um drove me to switching off. I was very disappointed.

  • @stevechristie2569

    @stevechristie2569

    Жыл бұрын

    Writers write better than they talk

  • @splinterbyrd
    @splinterbyrd2 жыл бұрын

    Bennett seems to think of himself as the principal scriptoral exponent of the portrayal of the elderly. But all he wants to do is make old people look silly, and is uninterested in their strengths and the stoicism with which they can frequently bear life's tribulations rather better than the young. His faux naïf persona looks unceasingly implausible after over sixty years of it, and one wonders whether underneath he's quite the nice man he pretends to be.

  • @stevechristie2569

    @stevechristie2569

    Жыл бұрын

    How much are readers interested in stoic/brave characters? They want funny/memorable

  • @splinterbyrd

    @splinterbyrd

    Жыл бұрын

    @@stevechristie2569 Good characters are both

  • @robertbeveridge1691

    @robertbeveridge1691

    6 ай бұрын

    wrong just wrong