The Kenneth Williams Diaries: A Review

What a carry on

 

I read the Kenneth Williams Diaries many years ago, and this review is from memory, and how I felt about them at the time. As time goes by, memory can often be unreliable. Inevitably, I am finding that it is the books that I really enjoyed which are the ones that I have better memories of. 

The bad ones have long since been forgotten. 

But here is the reason I read Williams Diaries. I wanted to find out more about what life was like on the set of the Carry On films — the films for which he became famous. Truth is, at times, he is somewhat dismissive of them. He doesn't hold back.

But, the Kenneth Williams Diaries is a book that I am happy to give five stars. 

For a start it is a book that despite its 850 plus pages is just a snapshot of Williams life. He kept a diary for more or less every day of his adult life. The volumes sat there in his home, and after he died it was Russell Davies that took on the job to condense it down to the book that we get to read.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to read all of them. Davies probably had to read through a lot of mundane, everyday life entries to get to the good bits. Even then, much was probably left out. Williams diaries and letters collection were eventually bought by the British Library and as far as I know that is where they still are. 

Williams was prolific when it came to writing about his own life. He was a complex character. Like many in the UK at the time, I got to see him because of those Carry On films. Williams own view of those films were that they were probably below him. I don't think he liked them very much. They were a job of work, and they didn't always pay that well. 

He wanted more out of his acting, and he was a classically trained actor. 

He could be kind, intelligent, caring and very funny, but also nasty, short-tempered, and horrible to anyone he took a dislike to. A listen to the Just A Minute radio broadcasts he made for the BBC, you can hear how he loses it from time to time. 

The diaries record his opinions about others. They are, a sort of, confession. Many wondered what he had written about them in his “infamous” diaries. More so after he died.

As he got older, his insecurities about his life are on full show in the diaries, especially around his health. His sad end, and the mystery around how his life ended (certainly at the time), is there for all to see. He does say occasionally, “what's the point?” The impression is that he felt that he never quite achieved what he wanted to get out of life.

The ending of the diary is somewhat sad — unlike a Carry On film.

It's a fantastic read — even the mundane bits, but I do think it helps to have seen the “public” face of Williams to really appreciate the other side of his character that comes out in his diaries. If you read it expecting jolly japes, and all fun and games, you will be disappointed. The dairies are of the "warts and all." variety.

Edited and updated, 23 November 2025.

Son of My Father Kindle Countdown Deal. (Now expired).

For the next seven days. Son of My Father is available on Amazon for £0.99. (Now expired).

It can be found here.  Son of My Father

“They Think It's All Over, It Is Now...”

From Son of My Father, a further extract.

I played for the school football team, but it almost didn't happen. We played on a Council run park that was on the outskirts of the city. The facilities were basic at best, and there were three football pitches.

Boys in the school team or close to selection played on the main pitch. The game was usually between two sides picked by the school football captain and the football coach. I was never picked, probably because I wasn't a mate of the captain, and the coach hadn't seen me play. I went and played on one of the other pitches. Pitch number three it was called. I played against boys who were not very good. At that level I was pretty good. I seemed to have a knack for scoring and most weeks, against inferior opposition, I would score several goals.

Son of My Father: "Fancy Man" - An Extract

I’m in the back seat of a car parked down the road from a pub. This pub was in the city, but some way from home. It was the pub where, according to dad, “this is where your mother meets her fancy man”. It was a cold, dark night and the streets were empty, other than the occasional drunk singing the night away.

In the car, my dad was in the front passenger seat. In the driver’s seat was a man who I didn't know. He must have been one of dad's mates. He was tall and broad. He looked like a man that you would want by your side in the event of trouble. It's possible that he was there for a more sinister reason. Given that dad’s plan was confrontation, this man may well have been there to back him up if things turned nasty with “fancy man.”

I was about nine years old at the time.

Traditional Publishing or Self Publishing?

When I had the idea to write a book, one big question had to be addressed. Would I approach a publisher or an agent to do all the leg work involved in getting a manuscript accepted? Both of these options seemed like a lot of hard work and time-consuming.  You also have to prepare yourself for rejection.  It is great to think that your book will be the next bestseller or can't miss read, but a publisher or agent may have other ideas.  They are also very busy.

I chose to self-publish.

Spared - A Royal Life Story v A Real Life Story

2023 has started with a bang in the world of books.  Spare is a memoir written by the British Royal who chose to step back from his role, Prince Harry (ghost-written by novelist J. R. Moehringer.) Released on the 10th January 2023, it has caused a stir, and not just in Royal circles.  

This is my first blog post, and it is not my intention to review or write about Harry's book, as I have not read it.  Instead, I write about it in the context of my own memoir writing experience, which coincidentally meant that my first book, Son of My Father, was more or less published at the same time.  

Actually, my book was published as an e-book on Amazon the week before Christmas, 2022.

Now, the first big difference between my book and Spare is that mine was self-published with no fanfare. Self-publishing used to be called vanity publishing and not encouraged.  The traditional route, if the book is any good, is to go through a publisher.  That can be a lot of hard work.  Many a good author has had their work rejected only to eventually find success. Self-publishing was the easy option for me, and Amazon (and others) do make it reasonably easy to do that.

There is one big drawback to self-publishing.  Your new book is one of thousands. How do you get it noticed?  I did not publicize it at all.  It sat there in the Amazon store waiting for someone to take notice and buy it.  Compare that with the 400,000 copies Spare sold on the first day.  No surprise in that given all the publicity it received and the fact that this was a book spilling the beans on Royal life. 

The BBC report that it has become the UK's fastest selling nonfiction book since records began.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64226729

I would have been happy with forty copies sold on the first day.  Over the moon.

Any book about royalty, written by a royal, is bound to be popular. They do live a somewhat fantasy life. I suppose, it is a sort of real life, with different pressure. But they are not worrying about paying the rent, or gas and lecky bill. Or whether they can afford a holiday. I was writing about a different kind of life, one where every penny counted. There again, that's what an ordinary life is often about, and it's a more difficult sell.

I will have more to write about Son of My Father in due course, but for now here is the Amazon link.

Son of My Father