Nobel prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter in London
hospital
AFP Monday December 5, 03:51 PM
LONDON (AFP) - Prominent British playwright Harold Pinter, winner
of this year's Nobel prize for literature, has been taken to a
London hospital.
"He hasn't been very well for a while. He is back in hospital," his
agent, Judy Daish, told AFP on Monday.
Pinter's doctors had already forbidden the 75-year-old from
travelling to Stockholm this week to attend a Nobel prize ceremony
and banquet because of ill health.
But Daish said her client had been strong enough on Sunday to
record the traditional laureate's lecture, which is due to be
screened at the Swedish Academy on December 7.
"He has recorded his Nobel lecture yesterday in a studio, so in
order for him to have done that presumably he must be stronger than
he has been," she said.
The agent was unable to say when Pinter -- considered Britain's
greatest living playwright -- was taken to hospital or what was
wrong with him.
She also declined to give the name of the hospital, simply
confirming that it was in London.
Pinter, who was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in December 2002,
was born in Hackney, east London, the son of a Jewish
dressmaker.
He made his playwriting debut in 1957, with "The Room", which was
followed by one of his masterpieces "The Birthday Party". His
conclusive breakthrough came with "The Caretaker" in 1959, followed
by "The Homecoming" in 1964.
Just last month the Nobel foundation said the playwright was too
ill to attend the prize ceremony and gala banquet in Stockholm on
December 10.
The playwright's publisher, Stephen Page, is to accept the 10
million kronor (1.1 million euros, 1.3 million dollars) prize
money, a diploma and a medal on Pinter's behalf at the
ceremony.