Alan Bennett is a master at pulling apart the lives of the ordinary.

Stories of what could have been, with different more gregarious parents. A flashy home and money in my pocket. The acclaim I sought has evaporated into the weekly visits to the nursing home. A vacant chair waits for me, in a dusty day room. Filled with blank faces and old paperbacks on shelves. Alan Bennett is a master at pulling apart the lives of the ordinary. Happy 80th., alan.