English playwright and actor Alan Bennett was BOTD in 1934. Born in Yorkshire, he studied at Oxford University and found fame in comedy troupe The Comic Strip, co-starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Their satirical sketch show Beyond the Fringe was a hit in 1960s London and New York, causing controversy with its unapologetic mocking of authority figures. Discreetly gay in real life, Bennett’s work repeatedly explores gay men as outsiders, misfits and criminals. His screenplay for Prick Up Your Ears (filmed by Stephen Frears) was a grimly comic portrait of playwright Joe Orton and his lover-killer Kenneth Halliwell, while his long obsession with gay spies Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess resulted in the plays An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution (both filmed for television by John Schlesinger). He is best known for Talking Heads, a series of monologues by anguished loners, exploring repression, loneliness and thwarted love. Filmed successfully for television in 1988 and again in 2020, they are recognised as classics of 20th century English playwriting. His 1991 play The Madness of King George was another theatrical hit, which he adapted into a successful 1994 film, earning Oscar nominations for his screenplay and for lead actor Nigel Hawthorne. In 2004, Bennett had stratospheric success with his play The History Boys, in which teenagers at a prestigious prep school play games with their closeted gay teachers. A critical and commercial hit in the West End and Broadway, it was filmed in 2006. His 2009 play The Habit of Art explored the friendship between closeted gay composer Benjamin Britten and the cheerfully promiscuous poet W. H. Auden. In his 2005 memoir Untold Stories, Bennett finally acknowledged his bisexuality and long-term relationship with partner Rupert Thomas. He turned down a knighthood in 2006, despite being obsessed with the Royal family, portraying Queen Elizabeth II in A Question of Attribution and his novella The Uncommon Reader.