‘He loved showing his bum’: the subversive genius of Kenneth Williams

When Tom Allen used his acceptance speech at Attitude magazine’s comedy awards to salute the subversive wits who opened up freedoms for queer people in Britain, he singled out Kenneth Williams as “a big hero of mine”. “I wanted to mention Kenneth Williams because he was so profound,” Allen said, adding that as a child he had “connected with his outsiderness” and admired that Williams “did not apologise for being different”.

Williams, born to working-class London parents on 22 February 1926, was a near-ubiquitous presence on stage, screen and radio in the second half of the last century. His adenoidal voice and elastic vowels slid from sandpapery cockney to Sandringham pomp, and his appearance was often likened to a living Gerald Scarfe caricature: flared nostrils, twitching eyebrows and pinprick eyes.

He described himself as a “dried-up prune-like poof” and once said, “Perhaps it’s my duty to be a sort of mosquito.

Britain, London

kenneth williams, tom allen, attitude magazine, comedy awards, queer britain, adenoidal voice, gerald scarfe, stage, radio, working-class london