Has anybody thought if Alan Bennett had...

a son it would have to be...


Nigel Slater.

I love them both, as Kenny Everett would say...
'in the best possible taste!'


Alan Bennett's prose leaves me weak at the knees.  The effortless words on the page seem to flow oh so smoothly, hitting the spot with barely a ripple.
His Yorkshire humour has me in thrall.  That all pervading air of grumpiness makes me smile.  
Visiting WSD in Camden, I lurked about, waiting on street corners hoping to catch a glimpse of him on his bicycle; raincoat flapping, looking for all the world like an ageing undergrad.
Why hasn't he been knighted?  Perhaps he told them where to put it - I do hope so.  Although I want the wider public to know his work and to appreciate him before he kicks the bucket.


Nigel has lots of the same qualities with the added bonus of loving food, a quality that I don't think can be applied to Alan Bennett.  
His recipe books have been a constant companion in my working life.  The Observer Food Monthly I always look forward to.  On Sunday his reference to coriander reminded me of the funny story I touched on in an earlier blog.
Every magazine seems to feature his recipes.  His lovely lived-in face is comfortingly at odds with other arch, botoxed-enhanced tv presenters.  Hand on heart would you entrust your time and money on the recipes of anyone that has poison injected into their visage?


***


The 'boys' youthful good looks...
Anything to do with neither of them having the worry of a wife I wonder?