William, the conqueror
Teacher Richmal Crompton was born 130 years ago and created Just William. MARION McMULLENlooks at how her unruly young scamp has been brought to life over the decades
‘WHY can’t ’ grown-ups just give me stuff, let me do what I like and then go away A LOT?” The cry from the Just William books has echoed down the generations and inspired TV, radio and audio book adaptations.
William Brown was the 11-year-old boy with a talent for getting into trouble even when he was trying his best to do the right thing. He was encouraged by the local vicar not to tell any lies in William’s Truthful Christmas only to cause even more uproar when asked by his aunt and uncle how he liked his present of a book of church history and geometry set. He truthfully replied: “I’m not int’rested in Church History, an I’ve got something like those at school. Not that I’d want ‘em if I hadn’t em.”
He then went on to truthfully tell another woman she was fatter than her photo and had more lines.
The fallout from the whole experience led to him finally declaring“I’ve done with it. I’m goin’ back to deceit”.
The naughty schoolboy was the creation of Richmal Crompton. The clergyman’s daughter from Bury was born 130 years ago on November 15, 1890. She never married or had children of her own but worked as a teacher at all-girls school Bromley High School before turning to writing full-time after polio left her lame in her right leg.
Her Just William stories were hugely popular and she brought out 39 books over the years. Her first short story, Rice Mould, was published in 1919 in Home Magazine and her last, William The Lawless, came out in 1970, a year after her death.
The enduring appeal of William and his friends Ginger, Douglas and Henry, aka The Outlaws, have seen the stories endlessly adapted for film, TV and radio.
A young Dennis Waterman got his first big TV break starring in the 1962 BBC series William when he was 14. Episodes featured titles like William and the Parrots and William the Counterspy. Dennis Gilmore took over the role for the second series of black-and-white half-hour episodes.
Even earlier Roddy McDowall was just 12 when he played William’s best friend Ginger in the 1940 movie Just William with Richard Lupino in the title role while John Clark was William in 1946 with Jacqueline Boyer as his nemesis Violet Elizabeth Bott and a cast that included Dad’s Army John Le Mesurier.
Miss Marple actress Joan Hickson appeared in the 1948 movie with William Graham as the naughty schoolboy and Opportunity
Knocks winner Bonnie Langford made a lasting impression as the spoilt Violet Elizabeth Bott in the 1970s series threatening with a lisp to “scweam and scweam until I am sick” if she did not get her way.
Adrian Dannat appeared alongside her as William and Bonnie said it took a long time to escape the image of screaming Violet. She was just 12 when she took on the role and was so convincing that viewers confused her with the spoilt brat.
She once said: “I don’t know why people are so obsessed with Violet Elizabeth. I was only in a few episodes.”
Oliver Rokison took on the role of William in the
1990s with a cast that included
Are You Being Served? comedy star Molly Sugden and Carry On favourite Joan Sims.
Martin Jarvis has been the voice behind many classic awardw winning Just William recordings and o on BBC Radio 4 and also narrated the B BBC’s 2010 adaptation. It saw Outnumbered child actor Daniel Roche cut off his curly locks to star in th the series written by Men Behaving B Badly writer Simon Nye. The cast also included n current Strictly Come D Dancing contestant Caroline Q Quentin and Warren Clark as William’s neighbours the Botts. “William is everything I’d really like to be myself,” said the then 10-year-old Daniel. “I’ve never wanted to play a part more than this one. He’s the leader, the others all look up to him. And he’s always active, which makes a great character.
“Obviously he’s mischievous, too, which is great, but I’m sure he doesn’t mean to be naughty. More often than not, I don’t think he realises that what he’s doing is really that bad. And I think it’s probably OK to be naughty sometimes, if you don’t mean to be.”
Creator Richmal herself once described William as her “Frankenstein monster” and admitted he was irrepressible.
She said: “He takes possession of every story I try to write, even though they are not about William.”
The popularity of her creation continues with fans around the world who consider William Brown the ultimate schoolboy scamp.