‘The Bishop’s Handkerchief’ by Richmal Crompton

One of the reasons I loved the William stories was that my parents would read an entire chapter to me at bedtime rather than a bit at a time of a longer story such as The Hobbit – I much preferred the closure of a short tale. This will make me sound like an insufferable infant but I remember thinking at the age of about five that this one – in which William goes to some extreme lengths to get hold of a silk handkerchief – was the epitome of adult sophistication.

First published in Still William, Newnes, 1925

‘William Turns Over a New Leaf’ by Richmal Crompton

Richmal Crompton was, and remains, rightly famous for her “Just William” stories about an eleven-year-old boy navigating with some perplexity the challenges of life. He remained eleven for nearly fifty years. I chose this story almost at random – I would be happy with almost any of the hundreds of William stories Crompton wrote. They are mostly still in print.

William – a goodhearted boy – muddles his way through each story, causing increasing chaos as he goes. There is not a hint of condescension in her portrayal of William, or of any of the characters. They are drawn with sympathy in their foibles and misunderstandings. Each story gives us insights into the world of the time, from the early 1920s right up to the late 1960s. In the 1920s William comes from a well-off middle-class family (with a maid, cook, and gardener), somewhere in the Home Counties. Children had lots of freedom, and could be out all day without any adult supervision, just coming home for meals.

In this story, published 100 years ago, William attempts to become the good boy that his family longs for, with comic results.

Crompton wrote about 40 William books, and described them as potboilers, writing an additional forty or so adult novels which she took more seriously. One day I shall read some of them.

There have been TV and film adaptations of some of the William stories, but I don’t think any of them really capture the humour and energy of the originals, although the BBC radio adaptation with Martin Jarvis narrating was brilliant. I have often laughed out loud when reading them, and my delight was unbounded some years ago when I spotted about 10 volumes in a charity shop and bought them all – bedtime reading with my children for the next few months (and they carried on reading them themselves well into their teens). One of the great things about these stories is that they can be appreciated by readers of any age. Sheer genius.

First published in Still – William!, MacMillan, 1925

‘A Birthday Treat’ by Richmal Crompton

I’m ending with this one in order to break my own rules: because in this story, as in every Just William story, all of our questions are answered, all lines of enquiry resolved, every end tucked in neat and tight as the sheets on an apple-pie bed. They’re like early 20^th century versions of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes, in other words. Note to Larry David: Richmal Crompton got there first.

They’re also by far – I mean, by miles – the funniest stories I have ever read. With the possible exception of the cheese-on-the-train scene in Three Men in a Boat, I suspect that their humour is unsurpassed in literature. Crompton’s brilliance, I think, rests on four pillars: a recognition of and a commitment to the mock-epic; an understanding of the insularity and misapprehensions of children, and an ability to render that in dialogue; a glorious feel for adverbs; and a judicious deployment of repetition that borders on genius. If ever I’m feeling in the need of cheering up I pick up a Just William collection – and, today being Friday 13th 2019, I’d humbly suggest that you could do worse than doing the same.

This story begins with 11-year-old William and his gang of boon companions, the self-styled Outlaws, being dazzled by the pretty young aunt of one of their members, and determining to give her a birthday treat. The most appropriate tribute, they agree, would be the staging of a “waxwork” show, in which the Outlaws will conspire to portray such diverse subjects as Charles I, Dick Turpin holding up a coach, Columbus discovering America (“William was Columbus, and Henry, Douglas and Ginger, lying on the ground side by side, were America”) and General Moult, an elderly and irascible inhabitant of the village, walking (“As a matter of fact, William could do the half strut, half run that was General Moult’s normal mode of procedure to the life.”). They arrange to present this fiesta in a barn at the edge of the village but, thanks to a fatally crossed wire, find themselves stepping out on to the stage of the Parish Room, before a horrified crowd who were expecting to attend the New Era Society’s lecture on Egyptology. William, unperturbed, “looked around his paralysed audience. ‘Ladies and gen’l’men,’ he began, ‘this is a waxwork show, ‘cause of her birthday, an’ I’m doin’ the talkin’. The first waxwork is me. I’m not dressed for it, but you can imagine me in a long coat an’ I’ve got these things on for Columbus an’ I’ve not got time to go changin’ every time. Ladies an’ gen’l’men, this is the only waxwork show of its kind in the world. We’re just goin’ to begin an’ if you’ll kin’ly watch careful this is General Moult walkin’ along the road – lifelike an’ nat’ral. This is waxwork number one, ladies an’ gen’l’men. This is General Moult walkin’. Kin’ly all watch General Moult walkin’.’”

I’m not going to tell you what happens at the end (which I’ve chosen because it exemplifies all the elements mentioned above – though others will have their own favourites, and on a different day I can be talked around) – you’ll have to read it for yourself. But do, do read it. I reread it twice yesterday, once to myself and once aloud to my husband. On both occasions I was laughing so hard I had to stop – and I want that for all of you. Joy is a wonderful thing – and it’s joyful to understand that as well as everything else, short stories can be the perfect vehicles for delivering that, too.

Originally published in William the Conqueror, George Newnes, 1926

‘William Holds the Stage’ by Richmal Crompton

Taking a quick detour into classic children’s comedy, in which no-one is stalked by a grisly double but a schoolboy does nearly drive his teacher insane. I think including this story might be cheating, since I listened to the audiotapes – read by Martin Jarvis – so much as a child that I’m not entirely convinced I’ve ever actually read it. A story in which William Brown gets involved in a production of Hamlet, ‘William Holds The Stage’ contains probably the finest takedown in English Literature of Shakespeare-truthers, and it’s my favourite for this reason:

“How could that other man Ham…”
“I said Bacon.”
“Well, it’s nearly the same,” said William. “Well, how could this man Bacon write them if Shakespeare wrote them?”
“Ah, but you see I don’t believe that Shakespeare did write them,” said Mr Welbecker mysteriously.
“Well, why’s he got his name printed on all the books then?” said William. “An’ if this other man Eggs…”
“I said Bacon,” snapped Mr Welbecker again. “I want first to tell you the story of the play of which you are all going to act a scene,” he said. “There was a man called Hamlet…”
“You just said he was called Bacon,” said William.
“I did not say he was called Bacon,” snapped Mr Welbecker.
“Yes, ‘scuse me, you did,” said William politely.
“Listen!This man was called Hamlet and his uncle had killed his father because he wanted to marry his mother.”
“What did he want to marry his mother for?” said William. “I’ve never heard of anyone wanting to marry their mother.”
“It was Hamlet’s mother he wanted to marry.”
“Oh, that man that you think wrote the plays.”

Collected in William The Pirate, George Newnes, 1932