Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) in David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) in David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Alec Guinness letters and diaries sold to the British Library

Date posted Date posted Alec Guinness

Diaries and letters of the British theatre knight, Alec Guinness, have been acquired by the British Library

I really like Alec Guinness as an actor. His Ealing performances in particular really resonated with me growing up, leading to a life-long love of 1940s British cinema. What a shame, then, that from what I’ve read, Mr Guinness doesn’t seem to have been a terribly nice person.

Guinness’s 100 volumes of diaries, and almost 1,000 letters to family and friends, has been sold to the British Library for a reported £320,000. The Library hopes soon to put some of the new collection on display and to open up the archive to researchers.

British Library website: www.bl.uk.

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