Editing Alan Bennett (section)

==Early life==
Bennett was born on 9 May 1934 in [[Armley]], [[Leeds]], West Riding of Yorkshire.<ref name = "LRB article">{{Cite journal |last = Bennett |first = Alan |year = 2014 |title = Fair Play |url = http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n12/alan-bennett/fair-play |journal = [[London Review of Books]] |volume = 36 |issue = 12 |pages = 29–30 |access-date = 13 June 2014 }}</ref> The younger son of a [[The Co-operative Group|Co-op]] butcher, Walter, and his wife, Lilian Mary (née Peel), Bennett attended Christ Church, Upper Armley, Church of England School (in the same class as [[Barbara Taylor Bradford]]), and then [[Leeds Modern School]] (now [[Lawnswood School]]). He has an older brother.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Alan Bennett: 'I don't fret about posterity. But some things will last' {{!}} Alan Bennett  |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/dec/18/alan-bennett-i-dont-fret-about-posterity-interview|access-date=12 February 2022|website=The Guardian}}</ref>

Bennett learned Russian at the [[Joint Services School for Linguists]] during his [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|national service]] before applying for a [[Scholarship level|scholarship]] at Oxford University. He was accepted by [[Exeter College, Oxford]], and graduated with a [[British degree classification|first-class]] degree in history. While at Oxford he performed comedy with a number of eventually successful actors in the [[Oxford Revue]]. He remained at the university for several years, working as a junior lecturer of [[Medieval History]] at [[Magdalen College]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Alan Bennett: timeline of the writer's life |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-lady-in-the-van/alan-bennett-timeline/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-lady-in-the-van/alan-bennett-timeline/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |date=3 November 2015<!--from page source--> |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> before deciding, in 1960, that he was not suited to being an academic.