(1867-1931) English novelist. His major books are set in the industrial Five Towns of the Midlands and are concerned with the manner in which the environment dictates the pattern of his characters’ lives. His many novels include Anna of the Five Towns 1904, The Old Wives’ Tale 1908, and the trilogy Clayhanger, Hilda Lessways, and These Twain 1910–16.

(1934-) English dramatist, screenwriter, and actor. His works (often set in his native north of England) treat subjects such as class, senility, illness, and death with macabre comedy. They include Talking Heads 1988, a series of monologues for television, and the play The Madness of George III 1991, made into the film The Madness of King George 1995.
Bennett began his career writing and acting in Beyond the Fringe, a satirical revue in the 1960s. Other works include the TV film An Englishman Abroad 1982, the cinema film A Private Function 1984, and plays such as Forty Years On 1968, Getting On 1971, and Kafka’s Dick 1986. He also wrote the screenplay for Prick Up Your Ears 1987, based on the relationship between the dramatist Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. A selection of prose writings was published as Writing Home 1994.