The Kenneth Williams Archive
After what seemed like weeks in the making I finally arrived at The British Library on the morning of the 16th February 2018. The first challenge had been trying to find a way in. Having never been to The British Library I had not quite expected such a vast fortress or such a mammoth building.

Having passed through security I tried to locate the place I had been asked to report to. No easy task. Despite having pre-registered many weeks before I needed to have my ID checked & was questioned about my intentions & reasons for the visit. After leaving all restricted items in the locker room I proceeded to the special 'Reading Room' complete with transparent plastic bag holding only my guide to the library & a notebook. I had even had to leave my pen behind due to the rules in place when handling such delicate & rare collections.  After a mini diversion via the wrong 'Reading Room' (there is more than one which I didn't realise) I was eventually directed to the correct place.
Upon arriving at the correct 'Reading Room' I passed through more security & then was directed to the reception area. There I was asked for various details & what items it was I wished to view first. The member of staff who had helped me organise the visit was not working that day and it seemed at one stage that there was some ambiguity around what items had been made available for me. I had been told ahead of my visit that some diaries were still being 'processed' & therefore would not be available until a later date. That was fine as my interest wasn’t just the infamous diaries but also the personal correspondence that was part of the archive. My interest was mainly the years 1985 to 1988. To me that period was important as it chronicled Kenneth's later life right up until his death in April of 1988. So much has been written about his life & career that had to decide on my 'angle' & purpose for the visit many weeks before. I had decided that although the diaries were of course the 'Holy Grail' to many fans & academics that the personal correspondence was equally as important.
Finally, I was handed the first 'wooden draw' holding a sealed cardboard file adorned with various official looking cards stating things such as the type of file 'unbound/bound', 'No Photography Permitted' & various other filing information. Of course, I had never intended, or expected, to actually be able to photograph the archive for obvious reasons.  After all these were original documents & files with great historical interest on many levels to many different people. Being conscious of time & having other commitments in London I enquired as to how much material there was & the receptionist stepped back to bench and said 'well, there are these.', pointing to around four large draws stacked on each other, 'then there are about five more in addition to this'.  I had initially anticipated maybe being there a couple of hours, this wasn't going to be the case. The full gravity of what I was about to handle & study had now started to set in & for the first time during the trip I felt a wave of excitement & anxiety sweep over me. Taking the first drawer I was directed to the appropriate reading area in the vast yet exquisite room (it is split into various sections depending on what you are viewing).  I was in the 'No Photography, No Food & Drink, No Breathing' section. No pressure.  My parting whispered words to the receptionist...'Excuse me, can I borrow a pencil?'...
Sitting down at the long desk I took a deep breath & opened the first file. Inside was a tiny diary with a black leather cover & metal front, about 5 inches by 3 inches in size, marked '1951'. Having seen pictures of the diaries I had not expected them to be so small. I soon realised that this was in fact a one off in size & the rest were a just a little smaller than A5 in size, some maybe a little larger. The selection of diaries I had were from 1951 to 1954. They were the early years when Kenneth would have been in his mid to late twenties. I had to decide how I was going to approach this as I simply couldn't copy 'verbatim' each and every entry - I would have been there weeks, plus some entries were of no real interest. I realised at that stage the amount of work that must have gone into producing the 'edited version' of the book covering the full diaries released in 1994 & edited by Russell Davies. I therefore decided to extract any key or notable entries of interest that would give more of an insight into Kenneth's world, state of mind & personality. I also decided to include all his entries from my birthday (17th May) for a 'personal touch'. I have detailed the contents of the diaries as well as providing as much of a comprehensive overview of his personal correspondence in the sections detailed below. The diaries mark his early years & the correspondence details his final years in contrast. I hope that you enjoy browsing through this section as much as I did being part of this privileged & fantastic opportunity.

*Note: I have partly 'anonymised' some of the names relating to the correspondence, unless notable personalities, to protect the identity of those individuals out of courtesy.

Above Right: The entrance to the manuscripts 'Reading Room' at The British Library.
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