Robertson later said he and Hurd had been taking photos with each other when Williams showed up and offered to take a photo of them together. I don't own a copy of the diaries so I couldn't check, but the sense of missing detail was constant. I loved his sharp wit, and felt pain for his constant depression, his hatred of himself and of his sexuality, his love for his mother, his pain over her death, his constant wish for death himself.

The volumes sat there in his home and after Williams died it was Russell Davies that took on the job to condense it down to the book that we get to read. So it was quite challenging to read accounts of his behaviour in this book that really justified everything I'd ever read till now about him being "difficult". Williams went on to appear in three films with Norman Wisdom including: The Square Peg (1958), The Bulldog Breed (1960) and A Stitch In Time (1963). From a health perspective, it’s a sobering look at ageing and a gradual slip into ill health and the attendant reflections on morbidity that brings with it.Keep in mind that anyone can view public collections - they may also appear in recommendations and other places. As such, it is probably the fullest and frankest record we have of British theatre and show business during that period. A very complex character comes through, with a personality that really I would not wish upon anyone. hosted the weekly entertainment show International Cabaret and was a reader for the children's story-reading series Jackanory on BBC1. Kenneth Williams' last meal consisted of two pieces of fried chicken with a side of sweet rice, BBQ pinto beans, a slice of bread, a peanut butter cookie, and a cinnamon roll.

Quite literally excerpts from Kenneth William’s diaries, which he kept from the age of 16 right up to the night before his death. Malicious, hilarious and harrowing, 'The Kenneth Williams Diaries' are a unique portrait of one of Britain's most popular - and most misunderstood - performers. He's also contradictory - rude about a whole race of people in one entry, whilst 3 pages later bemoaning how badly they're treated and isn't it awful. His victims were lured to his house through deception and killed by strangulation, sometimes accompanied by drowning. Such was its success that Decca Records rush released a cast recording of the production in early 1960.

Christopher Stevens's diligent biography offers illuminating insights into Kenneth Williams's work and inner life. A private view into the head and mind of Kenneth Williams, a private snapshot of the emotions that racked his psyche for years. The book looked too imposing and the general feeling I got was that he hated quite a lot of his work, especially the Carry Ons.

I’m so glad that I finally took the time to read the diaries that British comedian Kenneth Williams kept throughout his life. He had worked with producers David Croft before on Hugh and I, and Jimmy Perry at the Watford Palace Theatre. I'd like to be able to give this biography more than 3 stars, because it is well-intentioned and (as far as it goes) thorough. I found I could no longer sweep under the carpet incidents that showed not just insecurity, aloofness or all the other things we already knew but real spite and selfishness.He later escaped Broadmoor in July 1947 with a Bible by disguising himself in clerical garb, earning his nickname the Mad Parson. Paul Connelley helpfully points out in his comment on this post that Stevens does mention in a note at the back of the book, which I missed, that Howerd is in the film. Inevitably, I am finding that it is the books that I really enjoyed which are the ones that I have better memories of. I didn’t know many of the people he talked about which made a lot of the entries personally meaningless. I'm still puzzling over the meaning on page 302 of "exercise his despite" (rereading the diaries I see that despite, in the somewhat archaic sense of malice or hatred, was one of Williams’s favourite words.