IT'S OFFICIAL - I'M A MENACE AND AN OUTLAW...

Probably the funniest children's books ever written are the WILLIAM books by RICHMAL CROMPTON.  They're certainly amongst the funniest, in my humble opinion.  I started reading them when I was around 11 or 12 years old - and, in my youthful ignorance, I assumed that 'Richmal' was a man's name.  I've since found out over the years that I wasn't alone in that assumption and that many readers shared it.  It wasn't until I was an older teenager that I discovered - much to my surprise - that the adventures of the irrepressible William Brown and his Outlaws were penned by a WOMAN.  "A woman, by gad, sir!  How is such a thing possible?  Surely it defies the very laws of nature!"

I'm joking, but it was remarkable for a woman with no children to display such an astute understanding of the psychology of a male child's mind and to convey it with such accuracy or realism.  Although fictitious, William Brown was in every way a real boy.  (As were his three companions, DOUGLAS, HENRY and GINGER.)  Everything about him rang true, and I couldn't have been the only reader to finish a tale with the impression that I'd just been reading about myself.  No male writer better understood the inner workings of an 11 year old boy's brain or demonstrated a keener insight than Crompton.

If I remember correctly, without referring to my copy of MARY CADOGAN's biograpy on the author (The WOMAN BEHIND WILLIAM: A LIFE Of RICHMAL CROMPTON), William was based on Richmal's nephew Tommy, who by all accounts was William to a tee.  In common with other authors who are associated with one particular character, Richmal became frustrated that her other works did not enjoy the same level of success as her 39 William books.  Sir ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE and EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS are but two of the writers who knew only too well the situation that Richmal found herself in.

Interestingly, due to the 'common' way in which William spoke and dressed (as depicted in the illustrations of THOMAS HENRY FISHER and, later, HENRY FORD) - and despite being at odds with the text - I long-laboured under the delusion that William was a 'working-class' boy, unlike ANTHONY BUCKERIDGE's public schoolboy JENNINGS, who hailed from upper-class stock.  It wasn't until I later re-read the books, that I realized from mention of maids, cooks and gardeners (and father's job in 'the city') that William also hailed from privileged circumstances, though perhaps not quite in Jennings' 'class'.

Anyway, if you're looking for a good laugh and want to recapture some of the carefree innocence of your childhood, you could do far worse than pick up one of Richmal Crompton's William books.  The earliest ones were actually written more for adults than for children, so don't be embarrassed - just head straight into your nearest bookshop and ask for - JUST WILLIAM.

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(As for the title of this post - many years ago I became a member of the DENNIS The MENACE FAN CLUB and WILLIAM BROWN'S OUTLAW CLUB - so it's all true.  Incidentally, LEO BAXENDALE based DANNY from the BASH STREET KIDS on Thomas Henry's drawings of William.  See?  Tied that in nicely with comics, didn't I?)