Richard Nelson's play, adapted in collaboration with Colin Chambers from Tynan's own diaries, has anecdotes to spare, as one might expect, and a degree of pathos which one might not anticipate.

ECONOMIST: Broadway shows

The diaries give no indication of Tynan's spirited counter-offensive which led to the Times printing a correction and paying his legal costs.

ECONOMIST: Kenneth Tynan

As a record of his bravura style, the diaries are a poor account compared with the collected letters and with Kathleen Tynan's biography.

ECONOMIST: Kenneth Tynan