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CharactersImage:Just William.jpg William Brown in William below stairs William Brown is an eleven year old boy, eternally scruffy and frowning. William and his friends, Douglas, Henry and Ginger, call themselves the Outlaws, and meet at the old barn in Farmer Jenks' field. The Outlaws are sworn enemies of the Hubert Laneites with whom they frequently clash.
Other recurring characters include Violet Elizabeth Bott, lisping spoilt daughter of the local nouveau riche millionaire ("I'll thcream and thcream 'till I'm thick — I can, you know") and Joan, the dark haired girl for whom William has a soft spot (sometimes she is described as a member of the Outlaws — the only girl entitled to this high privilege). William is adventurous, imaginative and a romantic. He writes stories (The Tale of The Bloody Hand), although most of these are written in terrible grammar, much to comic effect. He likes to perform drama, and is fond of white rats, Bull's Eyes, football and cricket. PlotsA William story often starts when William or the Outlaws set out to do something — put on a play, collect scrap metal for the war effort, look after Violet for example. William always manages to get into trouble with his parents, although he can never see why. Often his well meaning efforts result in broken windows and hysterics among Mrs. Brown's friends.
"Did you like the book and instruments that Uncle and I gave you?" said Aunt Emma brightly. IllustrationsAll the William books until William and the Witch published in 1964 were illustrated by Thomas Henry in ink, with water colour illustrations for the front covers. After Henry's death in 1962, Henry Ford and Lunt Roberts (who had previously illustrated her Jimmy books) continued in his style. Other William BooksCrompton continued to write William books right up until her death with the last, William the Lawless, being published posthumously in 1970. The publication dates are for the UK.
FilmsSeveral films were made based on the books. The first of these is Just William (1940). Directed by Graham Cutts, and written by Doreen Montgomery and Ireland Wood, it starred Richard Lupino as William Brown and featured Fred Emney as Mr. Brown, Basil Radford as Mr. Sidway, Amy Veness as Mrs. Bott, Iris Hoey as Mrs. Brown, Roddy McDowall as Ginger, Norman Robinson as Douglas, Peter Miles as Henry, David Tree as Marmaduke Bott, Jenny Laird as Ethel Brown, Simon Lack as Robert Brown, and Aubrey Mather as Fletcher. Just William's Luck and William at the Circus were both released in 1948 and were written and directed by Val Guest. They starred William Graham as William Brown and featured Garry Marsh as Mr. Brown, Jane Welsh as Mrs. Brown, Hugh Cross as Robert Brown, Kathleen Stuart as Ethel Brown, A.E. Matthews as The Tramp in Just William's Luck and as Minister in William at the Circus, Muriel Aked as Emily, Maid, Brian Roper as Ginger, Brian Weske as Henry, James Crabbe as Douglas, Michael Balfour as Jenks in JWL, uncredied in WatC, John Powe as Policeman in JWL, uncredited in WatC. Just William's Luck also featured Audrey Manning as Violet Elizabeth, Leslie Bradley as The Boss, Hy Hazell as Gloria Gail, Patricia Cutts as Gloria's Secretary, Ivan Hyde as Glazier, Joan Hickson as Hubert's Mother, Anne Marie as Masseur, Leslie Hazell as Hubert's Gang, Peter Davis as Hubert's Gang, John O'Hara as Hubert's Gang, Michael Medwin as The Boss's Gang, John Martel as Johnnie, Ivan Craig as The Boss's Gang. William at the Circus also featured Michael Medwin as Reporter, Jon Pertwee as Superintendent, Peter Butterworth as ???, and John Martel as Johnnie. RadioAlick Hayes, the BBC radio producer of The Will Hay Programme, decided to put together a cast for the first Just William radio series, which ran for 2 years on the BBC Light Programme (as a sitcom), beginning in 1946. He found his William in John Clark, the young actor who had played D'arcy Minor, and Charles Hawtrey, also from the Will Hay Programme, became Hubert Lane. Gordon McLeod was Mr. Brown, Betty Bowden Mrs. Brown, Harry Locke (later, Michael Allinson) played Robert and Ethel was Rosamund Barnes. Violet Elizabeth was played by Jacqueline Boyer, who replaced the original, and Ginger by Tony Stockman. The BBC may have owed something to the American radio series Henry Aldrich which began on NBC in 1939. Their signature opening was "Henreeee?" followed by the answering "Coming mother..." The BBC's was "Williammmm?" followed by "All right, mother, I'm coming...". It is perhaps worth mentioning here that Henry Aldrich and other oldtime U.S. radio may be heard to this day, by purchase, and sometimes by rebroadcast, for American commercial radio preserved just about everything they made for the intellectual value of their content. It is to the BBC's everlasting shame that they thought nothing of destroying many of their old radio shows, either for the scrap value of the wax or aluminium media, or, later, the recycleable value of audiotape. Some radio series from the 40's and 50's however were put in their vault, and can be bought today at the BBC shop. Not so for 1947's Just William, nor for the Will Hay Programme. Just one single episode can be found rescued by Australian radio. Later, for radio, there was a play, William and the Artist's Model, written in 1956. The BBC has produced many recordings of William stories read by Martin Jarvis, originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4. For many people, Jarvis is the definitive voice of William. His performances of William and Violet Elizabeth Bott are instantly recognisable. TheatreAs was often the case with popular radio shows, there was a big push to put it on the stage, where audiences could get to actually put a face to the famous voices, and the actors could get to earn decent money after the frugal pay checks offered by the BBC - William was paid 4 guineas a show, standard pay for juveniles back then, one line or star, didn't matter. And so it was that the 1947 radio series of Just William found a new life in a stage production, written by Alick Hayes and Richmal Crompton, produced by Violet Elizabeth's father Jack Boyer, opening in Birmingham, and for the next 2 years toured the British Isles on the Moss Empire music hall circuit, busting house records at most theatres it played due to the thousands of children who got their first taste of theatre from the gallery. The closest it got to the West End was the Granville, Walham Green, owned by Jack Boyer, where it became one of the first plays to be televised by the BBC. John Clark, under contract, had to stick it out to the end, even though his voice had begun to break. Television1960s seriesIn 1962 and 1963 a BBC tv series called William was broadcast. The 1962 series starred Dennis Waterman as William. In 1963 he was replaced by Denis Gilmore. It featured Carlo Cura as Douglas. 1970s seriesIn 1976, an ITV series called Just William was made starring Adrian Dannatt as William, and featuring Stephen Wilmot as Henry, Diana Fairfax as Mrs. Brown,Hugh Cross as Mr. Brown, Stacy Dorning as Ethel Brown, Bonnie Langford as Violet Elizabeth Bott and Diana Dors as Mrs. Bott. EpisodesInformation from here
"William and the Begging Letter" Episode: #1.1 - 6 February 1977 1990s seriesIn 1994, the BBC broadcast another series also called Just William. Written by Allan Baker and directed by David Giles, it starred Oliver Rokison as William, and featured Jonathan Hirst as Ginger, Polly Adams as Mrs. Brown, David Horovitch as Mr. Brown, Ben Pullen as Robert Brown, Naomi Allisstone as Ellen the maid, and Olivia Hallinan as Susie Chambers. ControversyWilliam has been criticised by the RSPCA for stories where he is cruel to animals. For example, in one story he paints his dog blue as a circus exhibit. In another he has a competition to see how many rats his dog can kill in a certain time. Some stories have been removed from modern publication, such as William and the Nasties from William The Detective where William suspects a Jewish shop owner of dishonesty and forms a mob to evict him. ("Nasty" was William's mispronunciation of Nazi.) This story was written in 1935 before the Second World War, and was probably meant as parody or was simply naïve. Anti-semitism was not frowned upon much back then. Indeed many other childrens stories and magazines, like Herges' Tintin, contained mildly racist or other material contraversal to today's world. This story appeared in all the 20 impressions of "William the Detective" published by George Newnes (1935 - 1967), and in all the editions brought out by Armada in the 1970s. It was in 1986, in the edition brought out by Macmillan Children's Books, that this story was first omitted. Richmal Crompton's biographer, Mary Cadogan, wrote that both Richmal Crompton's literary executor — her niece Richmal Ashbee — and her publisher Macmillan "unhesitatingly decided to drop this episode [William and the Nasties] completely from new editions of the book." [Mary Cadogan, Richmal Crompton — The Woman behind "Just William" pp. 117-18]
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