WHO’S WHO IN THE CAPITAL’S MOST HIGH-BROW STREET
PLAYWRIGHT and author Alan Bennett, who started off living in the Millers’ basement, bought a house across the road. A homeless woman lived in a van in the front garden for 20 years — hence the play, The Lady In The Van.
JAZZ singer George Melly and his wife, Diana. LABOUR MP Giles Radice. WRITER Claire Tomalin and her journalist husband, Nick — who was killed by a Syrian missile in 1973. Claire later married the playwright Michael Frayn, who also moved into the Crescent.
NOVELIST Alice Thomas Ellis and her publisher husband Colin Haycraft.
URSULA, widow of composer Sir Ralph Vaughan Williams.
MAX STAFFORD-CLARK, artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre.
FRIENDS in nearby streets: novelists Beryl Bainbridge, plus Kingsley Amis and his son Martin; television presenter Joan Bakewell; philosopher Sir A. J. Ayer; author Shirley Conran and her sons Jasper and Sebastian; writers Angus Wilson, V. S. Pritchett and A. N. Wilson.