A Little Strollette With Kenneth Williams

On a recent visit to London, between doing a bit of Christmas shopping and meeting my brother for a drinkette I decided to troll around the St Pancras area and retrace some Kenneth Williams haunts.

This isn’t the first time I’ve done this. In September 1993 I made a film with a group of friends called Extracts From The KW Diaries. It was shot on super 8 which gave the KW film a convincing retro feel, bringing life to the recreations of passages from Williams’ diary extracts from the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Scene from Extracts from the KW Diaries (1993)

For our film we visited a number of KW residences for establishing shots including Farley Court in Allsop Place and KW’s final apartment block, Marlborough House in Osnaburgh Street that is now demolished. (A photo of the latter flat, mid-demolition appears in Butters & Davies, 2008: 270). For my recent walk I didn’t have time to visit the site of every KW residence, but the following is a list of the places I did stop and photograph. I’m sharing them here in case anybody else wants to look them up whenever they’re in London. I’ve also included some screen shots of locations from my KW film from 1993 at the end of this blog post.

Starting at Judd Street off Euston Road I turned into Hastings Street. Williams lived in no. 80 Alexandra Mansions in the early 1970s where the woman in the flat below playing the piano drove him to distraction (Stevens, 2011: 253).

Queen Alexandra Mansions on Hastings Street

Argyle Primary School (formerly called Manchester Street School) on Tonbridge Street is literally a stones throw away from Alexandra Mansions. Williams stands on the roof of his old school in the Comic Roots programme and recounts his rehearsal for the school play The Rose and the Ring.

Argyle Primary School

I then walked further up Judd Street and turned into Cromer Street. Here I found Cromer House where Williams lived as a child and The Boot pub, which features heavily in Comic Roots as the location where KW recreates the communal sing-a-longs that his family took part in.

Cromer House

KW standing outside Cromer House on Comic Roots

The Boot on Cromer Street

Next I walked along Lisle Street, past the Norfolk Arms, another pub where Louie Williams used to drink with her friend Edie Smith (Stevens, 2011: 11).

Norfolk Arms on Lisle Street

On to 57 Marchmont Street where Charlie Williams had his hairdressing business and where Kenneth’s blue plaque can be seen. This blue plaque replaces the one that was unveiled on Marlborough House in 1994 by Barbara Windsor and Norman Wisdom.

Blue plaque at 57 Marchmont Street

KW's old plaque at Marlborough House (now demolished)
photo from the Guardian, 9/5/1994

I then made my way to Upper Woburn Place to see Endsleigh Court, where Williams lived in flat 817, before catching the Tube at Euston into the centre.

This was the end of my St Pancras area walkabout. However, whilst in Covent Garden I walked past Stanford’s in Long Acre – the map company where Williams had a job as a draughtsman before taking up a career in acting.

Stanford's map shop in Long Acre, Covent Garden

On Shaftsbury Avenue I also saw the Apollo Theatre. The site of Williams’ greatest stage hit Pieces of Eight. In my vivid imagination I saw that Kenneth and Fenella were once again on the bill!

The Apollo Theatre (December 2011?!)

Other places where KW Lived:

Farley Court at Allsop Place (screen shots from The Extracts From the KW Diaries, 1993)

Marlborough House in Osnaburgh Street (screen shots from
Extracts From the KW Diaries, 1993)

Marlborough House (screen shot from Extracts From the KW Diaries, 1993)

Marlborough House (screen shots from Extracts From the KW Diaries, 1993)

Bibliography/Further Reading:

• Butters, Wes and Davies, Russell, 2008, Kenneth Williams Unseen, London: Harper Collins
• Davies, Russell, 1993, The Kenneth Williams Diaries, London: Harper Collins
• Stevens, Christopher, 2011, Born Brilliant, The Life of Kenneth Williams, London: John Murray
• Williams, Kenneth, 1993, Just Williams: An Autobiography, London: Harper Collins