I am just re-reading the Kenneth Williams Diaries. A real master of character acting and a huge variety of comic voices at his disposal, his career spanned several generations. He acted with some of the best including Richard Burton and Orson Welles, and struck up several friendships with the likes of Joe Orton and Tony Hancock (although the latter relationship subsequently turned sour).
Williams´diaries (a compilation of 41 volumes found on his shelves at the time of his death) are an incredible insight into some of his inner-most thoughts and can often be too personal for anyone´s liking – he regularly notes his self-masturbatory experiences (referred to in rhyming Cockney slang as “The Barclays”) and other bodily functions. His own self-hypocrisy, troubled mind and faltering relationships with others spans more than three decades and is an excellent read. His suicide over 20 years ago has done nothing to diminish his cult status. A very strange and dislocated person.
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