is called With Just A Touch of Hesitation, Repetition
And Deviation.
The interesting thing is that Nicholas says the reason
Wendy Richard was dumped from JAM was because she didn't get on with Paul
Merton, who eventually refused to go on with her.
He's quite critical of Wendy...
I'll quote the bit about JAM but recommend you read both
the extracts above...
WHEN I look at all the talented people I have worked
with on Just A Minute, the Radio 4 comedy panel game I have chaired for more
than 40 years, I realise how lucky I have been. Many have had a significant
impact but none more so than Kenneth Williams.
One of the most gifted
men I have known, he combined strange characters, wonderful voices and
outrageous stories. Kenneth was very funny but he did not admire that aspect of
his talent. He denigrated it because he wanted to be accepted as an intelligent,
erudite character actor.
Kenneth enjoyed the Carry On films because he was
with his chums and he liked others getting a laugh on screen. But he never
respected their success. If anything he was embarrassed, regarding his roles as
merely requiring funny noises and shapes. It was not what an actor did, which
was how he saw himself.
The question of Kenneths sexuality is often
discussed. I maintain he was an aesthete to some extent and did not have a
private sex life.
He did once propose to Joan Sims. He was very fond of her
and the feeling was mutual. He said if they were married they would have
separate bedrooms and bathrooms and there would be none of that embarrassing
sex stuff.
She told him that was fine for him: he was getting what he
wanted but what about her?
I believe physical intimacy repulsed Kenneth. He
was very nervous about close contact with people. He did not like people going
to use the lavatory in his flat. When he met the Round the Horne team in his
flat he used to make them go to the public toilet at nearby Great Portland
Street station.
In public he liked to show off. When I introduced him
on Just a Minute he would come on the stage, stick his little bum out, do a
humorous walk and smile that Kenneth Williams smile. The audience loved it.
His contribution was utterly individual. When he first came on, he was
awfully nervous but towards the end of his life it was his favourite job. He
always sat in the same chair, stage right, and heaven help anyone who asked him
to move.
Kenneth came from a humble background and was self-educated, so
Just A Minute gave him an opportunity to show off his intellectual ability. That
was one of the reasons he loved it so much.
Ian Messiter, Minutes creator,
realised this and used to introduce topics in which he knew Kenneth was well
versed. When I announced one of these for instance, Aphrodite Kenneth
would preen himself in the knowledge that it had been planted just for him. Off
he would go and if somebody challenged him before he had the opportunity to show
off he would go into a sulk. Oh, youve missed a very good story there, he
would say. You are being fools to yourselves. Fools to yourselves.
The
audience would laugh, not realising this was real frustration. He would then
just sit there and it was my job to try to find a way to draw him back into the
game.
After a performance he would go back to his sparse little flat and
start writing his diaries and the depressed side of his character would emerge.
He would say the most awful things about people he knew and liked.
Someone
who came into Just A Minute much later was Paul Merton. Everyone respects Paul
for the flair and skill he shows but Wendy Richard did not like him and this
caused problems. When Wendy first started, she was always great value. I met her
in the early Sixties when she appeared in sketches in The Arthur Haynes Show.
She had a real sense of fun.
I could tell she was going to achieve great
things and I was delighted by her success in Are You Being Served? which ran for
13 years.
Sadly, I think Wendy changed when she joined EastEnders as Pauline
Fowler, a fairly aggressive character. I felt she in some way morphed into
Pauline. She always seemed to get narky with people.
In one show her
feelings towards Paul Merton boiled over. He challenged her and Wendy snapped:
Youre having a go at me again! Youre always like that. What have I done to
you?
Wendy was not joking. This was said in deadly earnest. I did my best
to cover but I felt embarrassed. Paul, who is very tolerant, could not
understand her behaviour.
It reached the point that if Wendy was booked for
the show Paul did not want to be cast. In the end, the producer decided to
stop casting her.
I have no idea why she disliked Paul. He often makes
jokes at my expense but I enjoy the banter as much as he
does.