20 March 1983. There are sheep in the field. ´I know what they are,´ she says, ´but I don´t know what they are called. Thus Wittgenstein is routed by my mother. Alan Bennett´s diary for 1983 was the first to be published in the London Review of Books. ´Besides the occasional incident that seems worth recording,´ he wrote then, ´I put down gossip and notes on work and reading.´ Forty years on, his approach remains the same, and his diary has become a cornerstone of the first LRB of the year. This new ѕelection accompanies the LRB´s diary for 2023: a classic entry for each week of the year, with illustrations by Jon McNaught - ´of things from my desk, shelves and so on´ - and the usual useful features.