At 86, the playwright says arthritis is increasingly restrictive, but also finds room for satirical jabs at Boris Johnson’s government and everyday comedy
Alan Bennett’s annual chronicling of his life for the London Review of Books this year reveals the beloved author in worsening health as he confronts isolation in the pandemic.
Bennett admits in the diary, published on Wednesday in the LRB, that he has found himself dwelling on his “physical incapacity” over the last 12 months. The 86-year-old suffers from arthritis, and the fact he can no longer ride his bike “has to some extent meant farewell to the health that went with it, and my life is increasingly medicated”, he writes, revealing a longing for a stairlift that will never be realised “for aesthetic reasons”.
