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The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan
A brilliant and feared critic, Kenneth Tynan was a nabob of the National Theatre alongside Laurence Olivier, and he was also the daring impresario who created "Oh Calcutta". He was a notorious eccentric, a louche connoisseur of cuisine, wine, literature and women. Where else could you find such a judicious blend of aesthetics, theatre lore, love, marriage, sex and politics These sizzling diaries will remind older readers of a man whose reputation as the greatest critic of the twentieth century is still unchallenged and introduce younger readers to an electrifying writer who simply could not be boring.
Paperback
First published October 22, 2001
About the author
John Lahr
64 books37 followersJohn Lahr is the senior drama critic of The New Yorker, where he has written about theatre and popular culture since 1992. Among his eighteen books are Notes on a Cowardly Lion: The Biography of Bert Lahr and Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography of Joe Orton, which was made into a film.
He has twice won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. Lahr, whose stage adaptations have been performed around the world, received a Tony Award for co-writing Elaine Stritch at Liberty.
He divides his time between London and New York.
He has twice won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. Lahr, whose stage adaptations have been performed around the world, received a Tony Award for co-writing Elaine Stritch at Liberty.
He divides his time between London and New York.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 22, 2012
Inside Hollywood: Kenneth Tynan subs for Nathanael West.
Before his death, age 53, Tynan found himself in California
where, he groans, 1-out-of-3 is involved in the military-
defense complex. And then there's Hollywood ! Trying to
finance a pic, finish a profile; trying to stay alive, he--.
Dinner w vulgarian agent Sue Mengers: "Sliding my hand to
reach her enormous bum," he reflects, "there would be a lot
of sheer buttock to whip." A biopic on her could be titled,
he says, "Pigs Can Fly."
Snurfs Sue, "I'm so clean that every time I pass the toilet
I flush it."
The bulk of his diaries (d. 1980) focus on UK theaatuhh
names like Olivier, Osborne, Peter Hall, and his sport of
making whoopee x whacking bare-bottomed wenches. Tynan's
open-heart candor is mesmerizing as far as it goes. Which
is far enough.
Before his death, age 53, Tynan found himself in California
where, he groans, 1-out-of-3 is involved in the military-
defense complex. And then there's Hollywood ! Trying to
finance a pic, finish a profile; trying to stay alive, he--.
Dinner w vulgarian agent Sue Mengers: "Sliding my hand to
reach her enormous bum," he reflects, "there would be a lot
of sheer buttock to whip." A biopic on her could be titled,
he says, "Pigs Can Fly."
Snurfs Sue, "I'm so clean that every time I pass the toilet
I flush it."
The bulk of his diaries (d. 1980) focus on UK theaatuhh
names like Olivier, Osborne, Peter Hall, and his sport of
making whoopee x whacking bare-bottomed wenches. Tynan's
open-heart candor is mesmerizing as far as it goes. Which
is far enough.
March 14, 2012
"Dinner at Ava Gardner's," begins one typical entry in The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan.
Regarded by many as the greatest theater critic since Shaw, Tynan's extraordinary diaries are witty, brilliant, provocative and sad. Sad because Tynan died in 1980 at the age of 53 from pulmonery emphysema, probably abetted by the two-packs-of cigarettes a day habit that he couln't break because he needed to smoke to write. Sad,too, because he spent the last few years of his life in decline: beset by financial debt, a crumbling marriage, the inability to beome a a stage and film director, writer's block and failing health.
What makes the diaries fascinating is his realization that his life was going to be short and to live it to the hilt. And he did. His credo, as a writer, was "be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy."
As a critic and observer of the London and New York theater in the 1970s, Tynan adored socialing with an astonishing cast of characters. At the 21st birthday of his daughter Tracy, at the Young Vic, the guests included Peter Sellers, Stephen Sondheim, Lauren Bacall, Liza Minnelli, Jule Styne and Peter Cook.
Tynan reached the top of his profession at the age of 27 when he became The Observer's drama critic. About four years later he came to The New Yorker. After two seasons, he returned to London to serve as literary manager of the Natiional Theater, under Laurence Olivier. In the diaries he's ambivalent about Olivier. "He has hired us, stolen our kudos and shows no compunction about discarding us," wrote Tynan, after Olivier said his successor would be Peter Hall, whom Tynan loathed.
Tynan's friends ranged from Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard to Roman Polanski, Mike Nichols and, improbably, Marlene Dietrich, who told him about a sexual episode she had with President Kennedy in the White House that sounds like a Marx Brothers caper. Sex, in fact, is everpresent in the diaries, which were edited by John Lahr and published in 2001. Tynan was married twice, slept with a lot of actresses, (he speaks about them warmly) and enjoyed spanking his partners (and being spanked).
Tynan is less candid about his early life. He was the illegitimate son of a self-made businessman and a former laundress whose life ended in a mental hospital. By the end of his own life, Tynan felt shame and self-loathing for ignoring his mother.
Anyone interested in the theater at that moment in time --the 1960 and 1970s --will find these diaries riveting.
Regarded by many as the greatest theater critic since Shaw, Tynan's extraordinary diaries are witty, brilliant, provocative and sad. Sad because Tynan died in 1980 at the age of 53 from pulmonery emphysema, probably abetted by the two-packs-of cigarettes a day habit that he couln't break because he needed to smoke to write. Sad,too, because he spent the last few years of his life in decline: beset by financial debt, a crumbling marriage, the inability to beome a a stage and film director, writer's block and failing health.
What makes the diaries fascinating is his realization that his life was going to be short and to live it to the hilt. And he did. His credo, as a writer, was "be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy."
As a critic and observer of the London and New York theater in the 1970s, Tynan adored socialing with an astonishing cast of characters. At the 21st birthday of his daughter Tracy, at the Young Vic, the guests included Peter Sellers, Stephen Sondheim, Lauren Bacall, Liza Minnelli, Jule Styne and Peter Cook.
Tynan reached the top of his profession at the age of 27 when he became The Observer's drama critic. About four years later he came to The New Yorker. After two seasons, he returned to London to serve as literary manager of the Natiional Theater, under Laurence Olivier. In the diaries he's ambivalent about Olivier. "He has hired us, stolen our kudos and shows no compunction about discarding us," wrote Tynan, after Olivier said his successor would be Peter Hall, whom Tynan loathed.
Tynan's friends ranged from Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard to Roman Polanski, Mike Nichols and, improbably, Marlene Dietrich, who told him about a sexual episode she had with President Kennedy in the White House that sounds like a Marx Brothers caper. Sex, in fact, is everpresent in the diaries, which were edited by John Lahr and published in 2001. Tynan was married twice, slept with a lot of actresses, (he speaks about them warmly) and enjoyed spanking his partners (and being spanked).
Tynan is less candid about his early life. He was the illegitimate son of a self-made businessman and a former laundress whose life ended in a mental hospital. By the end of his own life, Tynan felt shame and self-loathing for ignoring his mother.
Anyone interested in the theater at that moment in time --the 1960 and 1970s --will find these diaries riveting.
December 28, 2013
I got through this book in two lengthy sessions, finishing it this morning at 6. A fascinating figure, very witty and shrewd opinions about theatre. Amazing circle of friends - here and in New York and in Hollywood. Loved his (very beautiful) wife Kathleen Tynan and his two children but had many extra marital affairs, all of which included sessions of mutual spanking. A conflicted man, confident but insecure, who often felt that he wasn't creative. A hedonist who read his old Oxford tutor C. S. Lewis closely, and quotes him on Christianity. He lived the high life but was often in debt, and throughout his adult life was badly troubled by pulmonary emphysema, which eventually kills him.
June 24, 2026
Not sure what I made of this one. Sometimes witty, sometimes crass and often enlightening. Did find myself confused at several points as he has a habit of popping a footnote when someone is first referenced and then never referencing again which does make it a little confusing at points.
Good read.
Good read.
April 26, 2026
An intriguing look into the reality of Tynan's often contentious life.
June 16, 2013
This volume of the diaries of Kenneth Tynan is hugely entertaining. Tynan, the theater critic for the London paper, The Observer, and the dramaturg of the National Theater in its early days contains lines worth quoting on every page.
Here’s part of an entry I sent to several of my friends, Tynan is describing a conference he’s attending: “ Many of the panelists cease, on achieving panel membership, to speak English. Instead they speak panelese. Otherwise intelligent men, with delicately nurtured minds and impeccable intellectual credentials, are transformed by the proximity of a microphone into pundits, saying things like:
‘Hopefully we shall be making some insightful and non-judgmental contributions in the area of relating to the paranoia of urban lifestyles and the banalisation of caringness.’”
I was hugely entertained and enlightened by reading this book. One caveat: Tynan enjoyed spanking women. He found it very sexually exciting and he loves describing various assignations. (Neither of his wives was a fan of this particular fetish). The accounts of his relationships with Nicole and other women he uses for his spanking pleasure isn’t shocking but it is boring.
If you sail over those passages, you’ll find Mr. Tynan a witty companion for many evenings.
Here’s part of an entry I sent to several of my friends, Tynan is describing a conference he’s attending: “ Many of the panelists cease, on achieving panel membership, to speak English. Instead they speak panelese. Otherwise intelligent men, with delicately nurtured minds and impeccable intellectual credentials, are transformed by the proximity of a microphone into pundits, saying things like:
‘Hopefully we shall be making some insightful and non-judgmental contributions in the area of relating to the paranoia of urban lifestyles and the banalisation of caringness.’”
I was hugely entertained and enlightened by reading this book. One caveat: Tynan enjoyed spanking women. He found it very sexually exciting and he loves describing various assignations. (Neither of his wives was a fan of this particular fetish). The accounts of his relationships with Nicole and other women he uses for his spanking pleasure isn’t shocking but it is boring.
If you sail over those passages, you’ll find Mr. Tynan a witty companion for many evenings.
June 25, 2013
K.T. was a man of deep-rooted contradictions if ever there was one.
In this book a heart-felt harangue on the ultimate merits of socialism, including some classical bewailing of one's own inability to give a helping hand to this brave new world due to old age and poor health is followed by the joyous description of the recently purchased Jaguar. He sincerely believes that the lifestyle of routs and conspicuously chic consumption doesn’t put his anti-bourgeois beliefs to shame for the simple reason that he doesn’t live on the labour of others. He holds a high regard of Brecht, not only as a playwright but as a moral paragon as well, blissfully unaware of certain rather repulsive traits of this giant figure and probably making a common mistake of projecting author's texts on their personality.
On the other hand one just couldn’t hope to read accounts more candid and less conceited, observations more astute and less biased. Tynan’s discriminative and caustic wit, varying from humorous ribald verses to pseudo-analytical self-mockery is a sheer joy for a forgiving reader.
In this book a heart-felt harangue on the ultimate merits of socialism, including some classical bewailing of one's own inability to give a helping hand to this brave new world due to old age and poor health is followed by the joyous description of the recently purchased Jaguar. He sincerely believes that the lifestyle of routs and conspicuously chic consumption doesn’t put his anti-bourgeois beliefs to shame for the simple reason that he doesn’t live on the labour of others. He holds a high regard of Brecht, not only as a playwright but as a moral paragon as well, blissfully unaware of certain rather repulsive traits of this giant figure and probably making a common mistake of projecting author's texts on their personality.
On the other hand one just couldn’t hope to read accounts more candid and less conceited, observations more astute and less biased. Tynan’s discriminative and caustic wit, varying from humorous ribald verses to pseudo-analytical self-mockery is a sheer joy for a forgiving reader.
November 1, 2016
Sex, sadism, and a who's who of entertainment personalities from both sides of the Atlantic, too many to count. Some witty one-liners, and some corny ones. A rougher, more personal version of Tynan than his famous essays and criticism reveal. Since most of these notebooks were written during his later years, ill health, financial and professional worries, paranoia and jealousy give it a bitter, almost too-personal feel. Yet its author's love of life and art shine fiercely through.
October 27, 2007
Kenneth Tynan was a leading theatre critic for various British newspapers in the 50's and 60's and somehow ended up in Los Angeles. A hardcore theater guy, as well as a dandy of sorts, this is a very interesting man, who loved a side of spanking here and there.
November 29, 2019
A masterpiece.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews