Alan Bennett
"I've always cycled; I don't think of it so much as a hobby, more as a way of getting around. But it puts me in a good mood, particularly if you're cycling past lines of cars waiting in a jam.
'When I was in Beyond the Fringe, I used to cycle from Camden to Drury Lane every day. I'm slightly past the whizzing stage now - I cycle quite sedately - but you do feel emancipated on a bike.
'I was given my first bike, which I wrote about in Untold Stories, when I was 11. It was very heavy, with quite sharp-edged pedals, and it had a nasty habit of the pedals going round and catching you in the shins.
'More recently, I had a fairly nippy bike, but my publisher, who's a keen cyclist, had a go on it and said it wasn't safe. I suppose they were nervous about their investment, because they bought me another bike, which is much heavier. They are now talking about getting me an aluminium bike and I'd welcome that.'
Favourite place to ride: 'Regent's Park in London. There's no traffic and you still feel quite cheeky doing it because the place used to be crawling with park attendants who'd stop you."
