Kenneth Williams Private Correspondence - 1985 to 1988
The thick brown file sat in the wooden tray on the desk in front of me was clearly very full. Upon opening the file one of the first letters that I spotted was from (Dame) Maggie Smith, one of Kenneth's closest friends for many years.
The correspondence that I viewed was all from 1985 to 1988. In fact, it went right up to the stage that Kenneth passed away in April 1988. Kenneth clearly retained a lot, if not all, of his correspondence from colleagues, friends & fans. Amongst the vast archive were also letters from Gyles Brandreth, the BBC, the 'Wogan' show & a great deal of fan letters.
The fan letters were notable as they were all mostly from young men who were clearly besotted with Kenneth, his work & career. Had I been a little older then perhaps one of those letters would have been from me. It was also interesting how nearly all the letters from these fans also included small portrait pictures (or even passport pictures).
The correspondence that I viewed was all from 1985 to 1988. In fact, it went right up to the stage that Kenneth passed away in April 1988. Kenneth clearly retained a lot, if not all, of his correspondence from colleagues, friends & fans. Amongst the vast archive were also letters from Gyles Brandreth, the BBC, the 'Wogan' show & a great deal of fan letters.
The fan letters were notable as they were all mostly from young men who were clearly besotted with Kenneth, his work & career. Had I been a little older then perhaps one of those letters would have been from me. It was also interesting how nearly all the letters from these fans also included small portrait pictures (or even passport pictures).
This is something that in all my years of collecting & writing letters I have never come across before, unless of course you knew the person relatively well. I also found it both touching & interesting that Kenneth had also kept other documents, such as cheques that had been cashed & returned to him, leaflets & newspaper cuttings.
I therefore chose a selection to reproduce verbatim for this section of the website:
I therefore chose a selection to reproduce verbatim for this section of the website:
Letter from Dame Maggie Smith dated 21st February 1985 (the day before Kenneth's birthday).
Letter from Gyles Brandreth dated 22nd August 1985.
Letter from John Lahr (editor of the 'Orton Diaries') dated 2nd November 1985.
Letter from Gyles Brandreth dated 2nd June 1986
A letter from from Kenneth to someone called “Jack” (no surname noted) dated 21st March 1987. The letter appears to have unsent by KW but reads as follows:
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