Kenneth Williams

The Kenneth Williams Diaries

Ed. Russell Davies. HarperCollins, 1994.

Friday, 14 May [1965].
Met Andrew R [Ray] about 12 o'c. And we had a boat out in Regent's Park & then sat in a deckchair. Then we met Joe O [Orton] and Kenneth H [Halliwell]. That rather spoiled the afternoon. They kept on and on about their playwriting etc. We went to that café in the park for tea and intruded on a woman who sat alone. We kept on and on shouting and bawling at each other till eventually she left...

The author had previously appeared in Orton's play Loot. A fortnight earlier Orton had noted in his diary that he and Halliwell had suggested meeting him for a walk in the park, but were told he preferred to sit in a deckchair and 'watch all the queens passing.' He was a frequent visitor, having lived in the neighbourhood for many years. In another entry he recalled an occasion 'as a child, in '32 when I borrowed 6d. from a parkkeeper for food and my father accompanied me there, the following week, to find & repay him'.

Sunday, 1 June [1975].
Lunch with Louie [his mother] and at 1 o'c. we went to the park. We saw two v. beautiful youths who sat near, and smiled charmingly. One held a rose. They ate some food & placed the litter carefully in the bin and waved a farewell to both Louie and me before departing as gracefully as they'd arrived. It was one of those rare moments of polite unspoken reciprocity that stays in the mind forever

Saturday 24 June [1978].
Lunch with Louie and then we went to the Rose Garden. I remonstrated with the ticket collectors "Why are you allowing these children to wreck the deckchairs? They're standing on them" and one said "They're rather sweet...they told us they were bored." "They should return to the Caribbean & ruin their own furniture." "Don't you like black kids?" "No. If you cleared all the Negroes out of London we'd have an hour's more daylight." They moved away disgusted. I went over to the little hooligans and said "Clear off! Or I'll get the Park Police!" & they grudgingly departed, leaving one ruined chair lying on the grass

Thursday, 16 May [1985].
You can hear the rooks cawing in Regent's Park
The tits warbling by the zoo
Ducklings quacking round the lake
Where greylags swim two by two
Bird cries have echoed since time began
They'll sing on no matter what
Ptarmigan, ousel and ortolan
I'd happily shoot the lot.

Other references occur elsewhere in the diaries, including meetings with John Stonehouse and Lionel Bart.

The Kenneth Williams Letters

Ed. Russell Davies. HarperCollins, 1994.

26 February 1976...I've pulled a muscle in the calf whilst running in the Inner Circle. No, it was nothing to do with any training programme. It was to get away from a great hulking brute of a man; he'd been stalking me all the way from Baker Street, after the sewing class. It attracted considerable attention because he kept brandishing this huge cucumber and making lewd noises. I won't go into any details. I just thought "it's coats girls" and flew. It wasn't till I got home that I realized what a strain I'd given myself

Other references occur elsewhere in the letters.