It’s the second time I have had the pleasure of working with the great Alan Bennett. The quietly spoken, intellectual and sharp witted playwright, screenwriter, actor and author is a British institution and proud Northerner. It was mid December and he was to make it on the Observer New Review cover. However, it was slightly worrying thinking that the Christmas cover for the New Review would be a cover with no hint to Christmas, no festive spirit or mince pies, so a halo was made and hung up at a suitable height, slightly behind where Alan Bennett would be standing so we got the indication without making him look like the angel on top of the Christmas tree. Admittedly, I thought he’d turn around and walk out the door when I presented him with the idea, but Alan was not fazed and happy to play along. So now, Alan Bennett is not only an Anglophile of sorts, (in the best possible meaning of the word,) dictating what is British as well as embracing a lot of what is British, but he is also an “Anglophile”. (Angelphile - noun: someone who has been made into an angel during a photo shoot by Pål Hansen).
