Just William (book series)


The Just William series is a sequence of thirty-nine books written by English author Richmal Crompton. The books chronicle the adventures of the unruly schoolboy William Brown.
Published over a period of almost fifty years, between 1922 and 1970, the series is notable for the fact that the protagonist remains at the same eleven years of age, despite each book being set in the era in which it was written. The first book was Just William, and often the entire series is named after this book. Each book, with the exception of the novel Just William's Luck, is a collection of short stories.
The series has spawned various television, film, theatre and radio adaptations. It also has a large fan following, with such groups as the Just William Society.

Synopsis of the series

Setting

William Brown is a middle-class schoolboy of 11, who lives in a country village in Southern England. A number of guesses have been made about where the stories are set. In Pensions for Boys in Sweet William, it is suggested that the village is about 50 miles from London. It has also been suggested that it is situated somewhere around Bromley, Kent. A road sign shown in a Thomas Henry illustration from "William Gets A Move On" in "William Does His Bit" reads "London A1", which would place the village north of London.
William is the leader of his band of friends, who call themselves the Outlaws, with his best friend Ginger and his other friends Henry and Douglas. His scruffy mongrel is called Jumble.
A William story often starts when William or the Outlaws set out to do something, such as putting on a play, collecting scrap metal for the war effort or looking after Violet Elizabeth Bott. William always manages to get into trouble with his parents, although he can never see why. His well-meaning efforts often result in unfortunate outcomes.
Sometimes William can be very moral – he is inspired to tell the truth for the duration of Christmas Day in William's Truthful Christmas with unhappy results:

"Did you like the book and instruments that Uncle and I gave you?" said Aunt Emma brightly.

"No," said William gloomily and truthfully. "I'm not int'rested in Church History an' I've got something like those at school. Not that I'd want 'em," he added hastily, "if I hadn't em."

"William!" screamed Mrs. Brown in horror. "How can you be so ungrateful!"

"I'm not ungrateful," explained William wearily. "I'm only being truthful..."

Current events

The books within this series often reflected current events within the 20th century. William the Conqueror for example reflects pre-World War I imperialism, while 1930s books like William The Dictator dealt with Fascism and 1940s books like William and the Evacuees were set against the backdrop of World War II. Later on, William and the Moon Rocket and William and the Space Animal were written during the space race. Despite the changing events, William and other characters do not age.

Characters

'The most persistent' being Jimmy Moore. Ethel is variously aged in the stories between 17 and 21. William himself can never understand why people are attracted to her because she is usually quite mean to him. Ethel does, however, have quite a soft spot for William; she is genuinely distressed when she believes him to be sick, though William is often faking it.
The series was first serialised in Home magazine and then Happy Mag but after being serialised were printed as books of short stories.
All 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 continued in his style.

List of books

Books in the series

Crompton continued to write William books right up until her death in 1969 with the last, William the Lawless, being published posthumously in 1970.
The publication dates are for the UK.
Note that although George Newnes continued to issue reprints of the series until the late 1960s, from 1963 Newnes began to abridge their editions, typically omitting between two and four stories. Abridged editions became the standard versions of the books through the reprints by other publishers in the 1960s and 1970s, until the Macmillan reprints of the 1980s and 1990s restored the full texts, with the exception of William the Detective. Editions highlighted in are complete, while editions highlighted in are abridged.
NumberTitleGeorge Newnes William Collins Armada Merlin Macmillan
01Just William19221972197419681983
02More William192219711983
03William Again192319771984
04William The Fourth192419731984
05Still William192519751985
06William the Conqueror1926197519681985
07William the Outlaw192719731986
08William In Trouble192719711986
09William the Good19281986
10William192919671986
11William the Bad193019711986
12William's Happy Days193019771986
13William's Crowded Hours193119731986
14William the Pirate193219751986
15William the Rebel1933197719671986
16William the Gangster1934197519671986
17William the Detective193519711986
18Sweet William193619731986
19William the Showman19371986
20William the Dictator19381986
21William and Air Raid Precautions
also published as William's Bad Resolution		1939197219741986
22William and the Evacuees
also published as William and the Film Star		19401986
23William Does His Bit194119711986
24William Carries On194219731986
25William and the Brains Trust19451986
26Just William's Luck
the only novel in the series		1948197219731986
27William – the Bold195019771986
28William and the Tramp19521986
29William and the Moon Rocket19501972197419681986
30William and the Space Animal1956197119671986
31William's Television Show1958197519681986
32William the Explorer196019721986
33William's Treasure Trove19621986
34William and the Witch19641986
35William and the Pop Singers196519751986
36William and the Masked Ranger196619731986
37William the Superman19681986
38William the Lawless19701994
39What's Wrong with Civilizashun and Other Important Ritings
published in paperback as School is a Waste of Time! And Other Ritings by Just-William - compilation of magazine articles 'written' by William		1990

Play

Crompton wrote a one-act play featuring the character:
Crompton wrote 55 play scripts for the BBC, broadcast from 1946. These were first collected for publication in 6 volumes from 2008-10, including several unbroadcast scripts. Nearly half of the plays were original stories, not derived from the books:
Though credited to Crompton, this was merely authorised by her, but not written by her. It presented the script of the first William film:
A further tie-in was published for the second film, without any involvement from Crompton:
These are out of the 'regular' series, and entirely feature stories already published across the main series of books.

Films

Several films were made based on the books. The first of these is Just William. 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, uncredited 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 Postman and John Martel as Johnnie.

Radio

Alick 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, 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 played Robert and Ethel was Rosamund Barnes. Violet Elizabeth was played by Jacqueline Boyer, who replaced the original, and Ginger by Tony Stockman.
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. See Just William.
Kenneth Williams read eight stories for Argo in the early 1980s.

Theatre

As 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 paychecks offered by the BBC – William was paid 4 guineas a show, which was standard pay for juveniles at the time. 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.
Shedload Theatre produced a stage adaptation of Just William's Luck that debuted in 2017 at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Underbelly, Cowgate. Written by Richmal Crompton's great-nephew, it saw William, The Outlaws and Violet Elizabeth enact the story themselves as a play within a play; using childlike takes on physical theatre, puppetry and music. The production was well received by critics and audiences alike who praised its imagination and energy; with many citing that it captured the enthusiastic essence of the source material. Just William's Luck subsequently toured theatres around Europe and Britain and returned again to Underbelly, Edinburgh in 2018.

Television

1950s series

In 1956 ITV aired a series based on the books called Over to William. The series ran for 13 episodes and starred Keith Crane as William.

1960s series

In 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 also featured Howard Lever as Robert, Christopher Witty as Ginger, Kaplan Kaye as Henry, Carlo Cura as Douglas and Gillian Gostling as Violet Elizabeth.
Episodes
Series one
Series two
Running for two series transmitted in 1976 and 1977, an ITV series called Just William was made by London Weekend Television. It features Adrian Dannatt as William, with 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, Simon Chandler as Robert Brown and Diana Dors as Mrs. Bott.
Episodes
Information from here
Series one
Series two
Christmas Special:
In 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, Tiffany Griffiths as Violet Elizabeth Bott and featured Jonathan Hirst as Ginger, Alastair Weller as Douglas, 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.
Episodes
Series one
Series two
In July, 2009, it was announced that the BBC were working on a new series of Just William. The episodes were written by Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye and broadcast in 2010 starring Daniel Roche who plays William and newcomer Robert A Foster who plays Henry. The series was narrated by Martin Jarvis.
Episodes
Series one
A Just William comic strip appeared in Look-in magazine from April to October 1977, adapted by Angus Allan and drawn by Arthur Ranson, to tie into the ITV series being broadcast at that time.

Controversy

William has been criticised by the RSPCA for stories where he is cruel to animals. For example, in one story, William's friend Henry paints his dog blue as a circus exhibit. In a different story, William and another dog owner have a competition to see which dog can kill the most rats in a certain time. Some stories have been removed from modern publication, such as "William and the Nasties" from William The Detective, in which William suspects a Jewish shop owner of dishonesty and forms a mob to evict him. This story was written in 1935, two years after Adolf Hitler seized power but four years before the start of the Second World War. The atrocities committed in The Holocaust were not as well known as they are in modern times, and the story was probably meant as parody. At the end of the story William and the Outlaws help capture a thief who had imprisoned the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper generously gives them sweets as a reward.
This story appeared in all the 20 impressions of William the Detective published by George Newnes, 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 completely from new editions of the book."

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