As a friend of mine puts it, the freedoms enjoyed by William in a safe and bucolic universe contrasted starkly with the realities of her own childhood: “You could go to the fields or the fair by yourself. The reality, of course, is that few readers will have experienced such quaint youths: the carefree, sugarcoated gleam of a vanished Britain. There’s always the sneaking suspicion he’s up to no good.Īs a British child growing up in France, I’d say it was these stories, along with a heavy dose of Enid Blyton, that were to blame for my skewed idea of “Englishness.” When we moved home, my 12-year-old self was greatly confused: Where were the shillings, and why weren’t people saying “Bob’s your uncle” anymore? To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.įor many, mention of “Just William” summons a nostalgic pastoral of interwar childhood: one of twirling maypoles on somnolent village greens, vicarages frequented by well-meaning, nosy parishioners, games of conkers and knock-down ginger played till dusk.

No family function is safe when William is present - but his absence is also cause for concern. Brown, who wonder, out loud, how best to tame him. A self-styled scoundrel, William runs riot through the family home, antagonizing his older siblings, Robert and Ethel, and exasperating Mr. “Just William” soundtracked our every car journey, and I’d often fall asleep with it churning away on my Walkman, dreaming of joining William’s gang, the Outlaws.īut more than anything, I longed to be William. My family was immediately hooked by the gleefully eventful, frenetic stories, frequently convulsing with laughter. His antics - broken drawing-room windows, midnight feasts, theft - have captured the imagination of millions over the decades, the stories adapted for radio, stage and television.Īs with many British millennials, my introduction to William, at age 7, came via the “Just William” audiobook, which my mother had chanced upon at a secondhand sale. Where to begin with William Brown? The stubbornly disheveled, snub-nosed 11-year-old protagonist of the writer Richmal Crompton’s wildly popular “Just William” stories, 100 this year, is an astutely rendered portrait of a 1920s British schoolboy.

Richmal crompton author