Carry On Pageant
After spending 10 days in January working at the National Library of Wales, which overlooks the picturesque coastal town of Aberystwyth, I’ve been spending most of my time on Welsh pageantry. One of my favourite finds of the trip, and probably of the project so far, came while researching the Land of My Fathers pageant in 1951. Staged as a Welsh contribution to the Festival of Britain, it took place in the Sophia Gardens Pavilion at Cardiff, and was directed by Clifford Evans – a Welsh theatrical actor and film star.
In a Cardiff Times article, written at the time of the pageant, the name of one performer singled out for praise caught my eye: Kenneth Williams – “an actor of quite exceptional versatility.”
Kenneth Williams by Anthony Buckley (1957), National Portrait Gallery. Licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
“Not an incredibly rare name in Wales”, I guessed, but an exceptional actor in 1951 called Kenneth Williams? It looked promising...
Fortunately, Williams was a prodigious diary-keeper, so when I got back to London I went to the British Library and took out the excellent Kenneth Williams Diaries, edited by Russell Davies. Sure enough, as an entry for Thursday, 24th Mary 1951 read:
“Clifford E. rang. Asks me to take part in pageant at Cardiff. DV and WP I will. Somehow it sounds a very pleasant idea.”
DV and WP was sometimes used as an acronym for Deo Volente (God Willing) and Weather Permitting – Williams clearly already knew something about the dangers of historical pageantry in Britain! Just over two months later, on Monday 30th July, a simple entry:
“Opening night. Chaos. Got through it somehow!”
According to Davies, Williams played several parts, including Edward the Black Prince and John Penry. Among his papers, says Davies, there is a torn-off scrap with a scribbled speech: “It hath been my purpose always to employ my small talent in my poor country of Wales, where I know that the people perish for want of knowledge. I trust that the time is come wherein He will show mercy by causing the true light of the gospel to shine among them.” Williams’s annotation: “Speech for John Penry scene handed to me by Clifford Evans on the opening night.” No wonder it was chaos!
Williams had already worked under Evans the previous year for the Swansea Company, in one of his first professional breaks. Characteristic of Williams often damagingly self-deprecating diaries, it was not a happy time. As he recorded Friday 1st September 1950, referring to Evans with his own nickname of ‘Church of England’:
“Feel myself becoming more and more imbued with morbidity. Hate the theatre. And the company. Loathe Church of England. Complete drip and a boor. Wish I could get another job quickly from here.”
In later years, Williams softened his opinion of Evans, and remembered in the 1980s how ‘Church of England’ “was responsible for so much that was made possible in my career.” Though John Penry and Edward the Black Prince are definitely not among the most cherished fan memories of Williams’s career, they were a part of Williams’s rise to fame.
Tom Hulme
Quotes taken from Russell Davies (ed), The Kenneth Williams Diaries (London, 1993).
In a Cardiff Times article, written at the time of the pageant, the name of one performer singled out for praise caught my eye: Kenneth Williams – “an actor of quite exceptional versatility.”
Kenneth Williams by Anthony Buckley (1957), National Portrait Gallery. Licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
“Not an incredibly rare name in Wales”, I guessed, but an exceptional actor in 1951 called Kenneth Williams? It looked promising...
Fortunately, Williams was a prodigious diary-keeper, so when I got back to London I went to the British Library and took out the excellent Kenneth Williams Diaries, edited by Russell Davies. Sure enough, as an entry for Thursday, 24th Mary 1951 read:
“Clifford E. rang. Asks me to take part in pageant at Cardiff. DV and WP I will. Somehow it sounds a very pleasant idea.”
DV and WP was sometimes used as an acronym for Deo Volente (God Willing) and Weather Permitting – Williams clearly already knew something about the dangers of historical pageantry in Britain! Just over two months later, on Monday 30th July, a simple entry:
“Opening night. Chaos. Got through it somehow!”
According to Davies, Williams played several parts, including Edward the Black Prince and John Penry. Among his papers, says Davies, there is a torn-off scrap with a scribbled speech: “It hath been my purpose always to employ my small talent in my poor country of Wales, where I know that the people perish for want of knowledge. I trust that the time is come wherein He will show mercy by causing the true light of the gospel to shine among them.” Williams’s annotation: “Speech for John Penry scene handed to me by Clifford Evans on the opening night.” No wonder it was chaos!
Williams had already worked under Evans the previous year for the Swansea Company, in one of his first professional breaks. Characteristic of Williams often damagingly self-deprecating diaries, it was not a happy time. As he recorded Friday 1st September 1950, referring to Evans with his own nickname of ‘Church of England’:
“Feel myself becoming more and more imbued with morbidity. Hate the theatre. And the company. Loathe Church of England. Complete drip and a boor. Wish I could get another job quickly from here.”
In later years, Williams softened his opinion of Evans, and remembered in the 1980s how ‘Church of England’ “was responsible for so much that was made possible in my career.” Though John Penry and Edward the Black Prince are definitely not among the most cherished fan memories of Williams’s career, they were a part of Williams’s rise to fame.
Tom Hulme
Quotes taken from Russell Davies (ed), The Kenneth Williams Diaries (London, 1993).