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Nicholas Parsons with plaque designer Ned Heywood (left) and Ricci de Freitas |
We’ll carry on remembering our Kenneth
Stop messing about, locals told bureaucrats in campaign for plaque to honour comic star
WHEN the former home of Kenneth Williams was demolished two years ago, so too was the blue plaque that marked the site in Euston where the comedy actor died.
But following a campaign by councillors and residents, the Carry On star has been honoured with a new plaque at the site of his childhood home – a flat above his father’s barber shop in King’s Cross where he lived between 1935 and 1956.
On Sunday, fans flocked to No 57 Marchmont Street to watch the plaque being unveiled by actor Bill Pertwee and radio presenter Nicholas Parsons.
Ward councillor Jonathan Simpson, who campaigned for the plaque, said: “People of all ages turned out to celebrate the life of Kenneth. He was a great comic hero and I’m delighted the plaque has gone up.”
Mr Parsons recalled his “professional friendship” with Williams.
“I used to live in Clare Court in Judd Street and every so often I would bump into Kenneth on the way to the shops,” he said. “We used to sit on the corner of Marchmont Street and Tavistock Place and talk about what we were working on or what jobs were about – when you’re a struggling actor, every little helps. I worked with Kenneth on Just A Minute – he was tremendously funny and a real character.”
Mr Parsons, who lives in Hampstead, added: “I think that it’s marvellous that they are keeping alive the memory of someone who brought such joy and pleasure to so many people.”
Williams died in 1988, aged 62, in his mansion flat in Osnaburgh Street. The Dead Comics Society later honoured him with a plaque at the home in which he died. But after the block was bulldozed to make way for a skyscraper in 2007, fans campaigned for a new plaque at one of his other former Camden homes.
Two possible locations were suggested: his former flat in Queen Alexandra Mansions in Judd Street, and, the clear favourite, his childhood home in Marchmont Street.
English Heritage approved the plaque but campaigners said they were told that because of limited funding their approval came with the warning that it could take up to six years to appear.
The Heritage Foundation – formerly The Dead Comics Society – agreed to fund the project.
Russell T Davies, who edited Kenneth Williams Unseen, published last October, said: “Kenneth Williams lived in a variety of locations but he spent his childhood in Marchmont Street and it’s the address I think people most associate with him.
“It wasn’t always a happy place for him, mainly because of conflict with his very old-fashioned father. But he loved the area and rarely left King’s Cross – I think the Edgware Road was the furthest he ever went.”
Ricci de Freitas, chairman of the Marchmont Street Association, said the plaque was a great chance to put the Bloomsbury street “on the map”.
Ian Broderick, who runs CV Hair & Beauty in the former barber shop, said: “Kenneth Williams is Marchmont Street’s most famous resident, and our biggest claim to fame.
“People are always asking about him and we even have a couple of customers who remember him.
“By all accounts he was a real character and obviously a very talented man so I’m happy he is being remembered.” |
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