Alan Bennett: Bicycle Repairman!

She makes another faux pas with Alan Bennett, being under the impression that he’s a regular in Coronation Street. But they soon put this little awkwardness behind them and move on to a happier footing.
In many ways Bennett is the hero of Nina’s letters, mainly because he turns out to have an unexpectedly practical side.
Unimpressed: Alan Bates as Guy Burgess in Alan Bennett's An Englishman Abroad
Far from being the bumbling, unworldly figure that you might imagine, Bennett is quite undaunted by any piece of malfunctioning machinery. At one point Wilmers is bothered by a humming fridge. Bennett instantly repairs it. Then the washing machine goes on the blink. Bennett repairs that too.
‘AB suggested it was something to do with the water not heating up to the target temperature and therefore not moving on to the next part of the cycle.’
This, though, is nothing compared to Alan Bennett, bicycle-repairman. ‘AB is brilliant and just as long as you give him prior warning, he’ll get the bike upside down in the hall before supper. He seems to like it.’
One of the things that gives these letters such charm is that Stibbe is utterly unimpressed by anyone’s reputation. She’s not even a fan of Bennett’s work.
‘Everyone’s raving about An Englishman Abroad,’ she writes - Bennett’s television play about the spy, Guy Burgess. ‘To be honest, I didn’t think much to it.’
She’s much more in awe of his way with a washing machine. ‘It’s amazing how much AB knows about appliances (when you consider that he’s a writer and probably just writes all day).’

From a Daily Mail review of Love Nina: A Nanny Writes Home, by Nina Stibbe, former au pair to Mary-Kay Wilmers, editor of the London Review of Books.

A fascinating insight into the great man, which sheds new light on his work, I'm sure you'll agree.

Fagburn notes that Mr Bennett has not written a diary or anything for the LRB for almost exactly ten months.
What gives, Dame Alana B?

PS Oops! Missed this one; Alan Bennett writes for The Observer, What The National Theatre Means To Me.