Just William - Richmal Crompton

I can’t help feeling that we are over-protective with our children these days. Growing up in the 50’s without the universal ‘benefits’ of television, computers and on-tap entertainment, most of my childhood was spent out of doors – playing football in the street, cricket on the green, fishing for sticklebacks in the brook at the back of our house, helping the local farmers with the harvest, damming the stream, bike rides to places we’d never been before, ghost hunting in the abandoned old hall on the edge of town, sledging down the mountain, climbing trees and building dens. The list seems endless and of course, the ...  Read the complete review

The adventures of William Brown, mischievous school-boy and timeless hero of every rebel with a cause, were chronicled by Richmal Crompton between 1922 and 1969. They make hilarious reading for children and adults. Martin Jarvis’ justly praised radio adaptations are constantly one of the BBC’s best-selling audio-books (£9 a throw, for 12 excellently characterised readings). I see Amazon are currently selling a boxed set of the first ten books for £20 (ISBN: 0330391445). Due to the longevity of the series, William’s adventures reflected the changing social fabric of middle-class English village life over the twentieth century, from the days ...  Read the complete review