Product Details
The Private World of Kenneth Williams: BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation (BBC Radio Collection)

The Private World of Kenneth Williams: BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation (BBC Radio Collection)
From BBC Audiobooks Ltd

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Product Description

In this documentary portrait of Kenneth Williams, who died in 1988, the much-loved comedy actor's diaries are drawn upon to illustrate his life and career. David Benson, who won acclaim for his one-man show in which he portrayed Kenneth Williams, reads extracts from the diaries, whilst archive clips from such programmes as Round the Horne and Beyond Out Ken show the madcap versatility of Williams the performer. This Radio Collection version features material additional to the original Radio 4 broadcast.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #182532 in Books
  • Published on: 2004-04-05
  • Released on: 2004-04-05
  • Format: Audiobook
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 2
  • Binding: Audio CD

Editorial Reviews

Review
"'What makes this worth listening to...is David Benson's readings from Williams's diaries.' Radio Times"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful - especially David Benson's readings5
This CD is of Kenneth Williams' diary extracts, read by David Benson, interspersed with extracts of Kenneth Williams' recorded sketches and interviews.
The format works well. For example, in one diary extract Kenneth Williams writes about how he went to see a Frankie Howerd stand-up show, but the show was spoilt by a heckler who made comments which the heckler apparently thought were funny but were not. The CD then switches to a recording of the show itself and we discover that the voice of the heckler was Kenneth Williams himself! Williams had presumably come home and in one of his bouts of self-loathing had written about the terrible heckling, but his vanity did not allow him to write that he had been the one responsible.
What is best about this CD is the voice of David Benson who reads the diary extracts. It would be easy for an actor to simply do an impersonation of Williams' voice, but Benson reads in a way that you really feel captures the heart and personality of Williams - such that it is Williams himself speaking.

Kenneth Williams...tortured genius5
Excellent insight into the man and all his oddities. Not the light, amusing content you might have imagined but a good window on the inimitable comic genius whose life ended so early and so tragically with the last words written in his copious disry.
"Oh. what's the bloody point?"