The Kenneth Williams Letters - Tapa blanda

Acerca del autor

Born in Barmouth, Russell has a first-class degree in Modern Languages from St John's College Cambridge. He was Caricaturist of the Times Literary Supplement and Film Critic of the Observer, later TV critic of the Observer and Sunday Times. He first chaired Brain of Britain in 2004. His books include biographies of the cartoonist Vicky and the graphic artist Ronald Searle, and he edited the Kenneth Williams Diaries. He is married with 3 sons, and has played jazz trombone and tuba since 1964.

De la contraportada

Following the bestselling publication of 'The Kenneth Williams Diaries', the devastating self – portrait of one of our most loved and complex performers is completed with this marvellous selection of his letters.

This is a wonderful treasure trove of correspondence with all manner of people, including Alec Guiness, Maggie Smith, Joe Orton, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and the Stoker’s Mess of HMS Leverton. Letters called forth the performer in Kenneth Williams in a way that his diaries never did: many of those collected here are virtual comic monologues, and in general they suggest much more strongly than the diaries the likeable and constructive side of a man who remains, nevertheless, as outrageous and ‘difficult’ as ever. Above all the letters round out, in varied voices and many moods, the picture of Kenneth William’s unique and troubled personality which emerges from the diaries.

“Endlessly absorbing…all the letters can be read and reread with such pleasure…scintillating”
A.N. WILSON, 'Times Literary Supplement'

“His superb instinct for comedy is revealed time and again.”
JONATHAN COE, 'Spectator'

“Fascinating…the camp fire crackles merrily”
GEORGE MELLY, 'Sunday Times'

“A big dipper, full of acid drops and high rises, and it doesn’t matter where you start of finish – that’s the joy of it…rarely have I read a collection of letters of such broad scope in terms of their content and the diversity of their recipients.”
BARRY CRYER, 'Mail on Sunday'