Carry On Complaining

Kenneth Williams letters attack Arthur Scargill, Alan Ayckbourn.. and Christmas

CARRY On star Kenneth Williams calls Arthur Scargill an “idiot”, labels Alan Ayckbourn “rubbish” and reveals himself as a Christmas Grinch in newly published letters.

The 17 missives he wrote to a Swedish penpal in 1983 and 1984 have become public after being put up for auction.

In one dated December 11, 1984, the actor rails against miners’ strike leader Arthur Scargill. He writes: “Yes, the troubles continue with the MINERS STRIKE and they are being led by an idiot called Scargill.

“He has lost the men a lot of money and they will never get it back.”

On Ayckbourn, author of A Chorus of Disapproval, he writes: “I do not care for Ayckbourn at all.”

He didn’t think much of Harold Pinter either, writing: “He is famous for his pauses! – the long silences which are supposed to be full of significance.”

He also speaks of fleeing to Madeira with “my old mother” for Christmas. He writes: “This is a time of the year which is awful. Lots of people getting drunk and singing in the streets. Ridiculous.”

Williams shares an anecdote about being Richard Burton’s understudy in The Seagull in 1950 when the legendary actor fell ill. Williams writes: “I rushed to his room and begged him to go on. I

told him, ‘I have never learned the lines’, so he kindly helped me out, and I didn’t have to go on.”

Williams met his penpal in 1983 in London. The traveller had run out of money so Williams put him and his friend up in a hotel at his own expense. After the man wrote thanking Williams for his kindness, they became penpals.

Dr Timothy Bolton, at Bloomsbury Auctions, expects the letters to fetch around £800 at the sale on November 14. He said: “The letters contain both the acerbic wit that the public Kenneth Williams is so adored for, as well as the last echoes of a gentler more private man.”

Williams shows that gentler side talking of the 1980 suicide of Welsh actress Rachel Roberts.

He writes: “Oh it is such a sad story. When people we know take their own lives, we always feel, ‘If only I could have been there to talk them out of it’, but of course it can never be.

“It is to do with desperation and despair, and circumstances beyond the control of friends.”

Williams was found dead in his London flat in 1988, aged 62, following an overdose of barbiturates. An inquest recorded an open verdict, but many believe he took his own life after writing in a diary: “Oh, what’s the bloody point.”

He has lost the men a lot of money and they will never get it back

WILLIAMS WRITES ABOUT MINERS LEADER SCARGILL