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On what would have been his 88th birthday, comic actor and wit Kenneth Williams (1926-1988) has been commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque on the London apartment block where he lived during the heyday of the 'Carry On' series of films in the 1960s and during two of his greatest radio triumphs - 'Round the Horne' and 'Just a Minute'.

Barbara Windsor, MBE, Kenneth Williams' Carry On co-star, said: "Kenny was a one-off, a true original, and a great friend. I'm absolutely chuffed that English Heritage is celebrating him with a blue plaque."

English Heritage's blue plaque historian, Howard Spencer, said: "Kenneth Williams was a unique comic talent, who as both an actor and a story-teller won the nation's affections. His legacy endures in recordings of his radio work and chat show appearances, his notoriously frank diaries, and the Carry On films. That legacy is now recognised by one of our blue plaques in London, the city in which he lived all his life."

“Infamy! Infamy!”

Williams lived in Flat 62 on the ninth and top floor of Farley Court, a 1929 apartment block located between Madame Tussauds and Baker Street station, between 1963 and 1970. During this time, he starred in such Carry On films as 'Carry on Cleo', 'Carry on up the Khyber' and 'Carry on Camping'. Williams would have returned from the Pinewood studios to his flat having delivered such classic one-liners as "Ooh Matron!" and "Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!"

On moving into Farley Court, Williams was "elated", writing in his diary, "My bedroom looks out over Regent's Park. The trees are turning now and the sight is beautiful. I can see all the traffic twinkling down the Marylebone Rd…It's all so marvellous, I could cry." Later, in a more misanthropic mood, Williams wrote of looking down upon "the nits crowding round outside the waxworks. How I loathe them and Madame Tussaud".

While living at Farley Court, Williams was a major contributor to the BBC radio comedy programme 'Round the Horne', with Kenneth Horne, while in 1968 he first appeared as a panellist on the BBC radio panel game 'Just a Minute' - he would continue to be an irrepressible star of the programme until his death in 1988. His Farley Court years also saw him develop his television career as the host of 'International Cabaret' and appear in the first stage production of Joe Orton's 'Loot' in 1965.

King of the Carry On

Born on 22 February 1926 in Islington, Williams was the only son of a hairdresser, Charlie, and his wife, Louie. By the age of nine, he was already showing a theatrical flair and a comic talent for mimicry. His theatrical apprenticeship began during his national service and on demobilisation - after a brief period working at Stanford's, the map-makers - he decided to pursue life as an actor, entering repertory work with serious ambitions.

His first big break was in 1950 when he was invited to join the highly talented Welsh Company at Swansea's Grand Theatre. There he was understudy to Richard Burton - who considered him an outstanding and versatile talent - and gave a notable performance as the Dauphin in George Bernard Shaw's 'Saint Joan', a role he would reprise to great acclaim at the Arts Theatre, London. This part opened the way to joining the cast of the BBC radio series 'Hancock's Half Hour', through which Williams gained national fame as an animated and hilarious comic character with huge vocal range, known especially for the catch phrase "Stop messin' about!".  

The 50s also saw him first appear in the Carry On series. Starting with 'Carry On Sergeant', he was to become indelibly identified with these immensely popular farces, appearing in 24 in total. In his diaries, Williams would almost invariably dismiss the scripts as rubbish but they provided the roles and one-liners for which he is most widely remembered. On stage, in the early 1960s he appeared with Sheila Hancock in 'One Over the Eight' by Peter Cook, and with Maggie Smith in the Peter Schaffer double-bill, 'The Public Ear' and 'The Public Eye'.

By the mid-1970s, Williams had developed a reputation as one of the ablest chat-show raconteurs and his repertoire also included after dinner speaking, lucrative voiceovers for advertisements, television quizzes, and children's shows, all of which he regarded as lightweight fodder. Far more gratifying to him was his work directing 'Loot' at the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith and 'Entertaining Mr Sloane'. He focussed, too, on writing - producing works including 'Acid Drops', 'Back Drops' and 'Just Williams: an autobiography'.

From early 1986 he suffered severe health problems as a result of an ulcer and back pain; money too was a perennial concern. All this, and the decline of his aged mother, sent him into a depression. While awaiting surgery, Williams took an overdose of barbiturates and died in the early hours of 15 April 1988.

Kenneth Williams was an actor whose gregarious, quick-witted and hilarious persona made his career and fame while simultaneously curtailing his real ambitions for serious recognition. Despite a reputation as a difficult colleague, he won the respect and admiration of many of his peers for his talents and the nation's affection for his ability to create laughter. His gift for comedy lives on in film, in recordings and in print.  

The English Heritage London blue plaques scheme is generously supported by David Pearl.