Here's "Just Williams" A Celebration of the talents the great Kenneth Williams broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1988 shortly after his death its introduced by Barry Took. Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February 1926 in Bingfield Street, King's Cross, London,[3] the son of Louisa ("Lou" or "Louie") Morgan and Charles Williams, a barber and strict Methodist. Williams had a half-sister, Alice Patricia "Pat", born illegitimately before Louie had met Charlie Williams. He was educated at Lyulph Stanley School, later becoming apprenticed as a draughtsman to a mapmaker. He joined the Army in 1944 at 18. As part of the Royal Engineers survey section in Bombay, he first performed on stage in the Combined Services Entertainment alongside Stanley Baxter and Peter Nichols.[4] He was a voracious reader able to quote poems or literary extracts from memory. Excerpts from the diaries he kept as an adult show that he adored his supportive and theatrical mother but despised his homophobic, morose and selfish father. Williams's professional career began in 1948 in repertory theatre. Failure to become a serious dramatic actor disappointed him, but his potential as a comic performer gave him his break when he was spotted playing the Dauphin in Bernard Shaw's St Joan in the West End, in 1954 [5] by radio producer Dennis Main Wilson. Main Wilson was casting Hancock's Half Hour, a radio series starring Tony Hancock. Playing mostly funny voice roles, Williams stayed in the series almost to the end, five years later.[4] His nasal, whiny, camp-cockney inflections (epitomised in his "Stop messing about ... !" catchphrase) became popular with listeners.[6] Despite the success and recognition the show brought him, Williams considered theatre, film and television to be superior forms of entertainment. When Hancock steered the show away from what he considered gimmicks and silly voices, Williams found he had less to do. Tiring of this reduced status, he joined Kenneth Horne in Beyond Our Ken (1958–1964), and its sequel, Round the Horne (1965–1968). His roles in Round the Horne included Rambling Syd Rumpo, the eccentric folk singer; Dr Chou En Ginsberg, MA (failed), Oriental criminal mastermind; J. Peasemold Gruntfuttock, telephone heavy breather and dirty old man; and Sandy of the camp couple Julian and Sandy (Julian was played by Hugh Paddick). Their double act contained double entendres and Polari, the homosexual argot. Williams also appeared in West End revues including Share My Lettuce with Maggie Smith, written by Bamber Gascoigne, and Pieces of Eight with Fenella Fielding. The latter included material specially written for him by Peter Cook, then a student at Pembroke College, Cambridge.[7] Cook's "One Leg Too Few" and "Interesting Facts" were part of the show and became routines in his own performances. Williams's last revue was One Over The Eight at the Duke of York's Theatre, with Sheila Hancock.[8][9] In 1972, Williams starred opposite Jennie Linden in My Fat Friend at the West End's Globe Theatre.[10] He also appeared with Ingrid Bergman in a production of Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion at the Cambridge Theatre, in 1971. Williams rarely revealed details of his private life, though he spoke openly to Owen Spencer-Thomas about his loneliness, despondency, and sense of underachievement in two half-hour documentary programmes entitled Carry On Kenneth on BBC Radio London.[20] In later years his health declined, along with that of his elderly mother, and his depression deepened. He died on 15 April 1988 in his flat; his last words (recorded in his diary) were "Oh, what's the bloody point?"[21] - the cause of death was an overdose of barbiturates.[4] An inquest recorded an open verdict, as it was not possible to establish whether his death was a suicide or an accident.[22] His diaries reveal he had often had suicidal thoughts and as far back as his earliest diaries he noted there were times when he could see no point in existence. His authorised biography argues that Williams did not take his own life but died of an accidental overdose. The actor had doubled his dosage of antacid without discussing this with his doctor; this, combined with the aforementioned mixture of medication, is the widely accepted cause of death. He had a stock of painkilling tablets and it is argued that he would have taken more of them if he had been intending suicide.[23] He was cremated at East Finchley Cemetery and his ashes were scattered in the memorial gardens

• published: 17 Dec 2014
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