Saturday 20 October 2007

What a carry on



Everything is so shit, I really can't see the point in anything, it's all so fucking shit.
Kenneth williams last diary entry.

Kenneth Williams modest small and lonely flat came tumbling down a few weeks ago. Like him, there was two sides to it, slap bang in Central London,it shouted out 'here I am', but inside it was small and timed.Like the man him self it lacked confidence and questioned its own existence, and like Kenneth it is no more.

Comedian Kenneth Williams lived for almost 20 years in Marlborough House,he was found dead there in 1988 after an overdose of sleeping pills, possibly taken accidentally.An inquest recorded an open verdict as it was not possible to establish whether his death was the result of suicide or an accident. (Williams's mentally unstable father had committed suicide after drinking a bottle of disinfectant in 1962.)

The building was later fitted with an English Heritage blue plaque in his honour.
It is certainly a shame that his last home is to go under the bulldozer, but I wonder whether Kenneth would be as worried.
His diaries are riddled with entries about the various flats he occupied, and the problems that drove him mad with each – noise and neighbours.

But to be honest never has a home been such a metaphor for a mans life, and with him gone maybe there is no place for it in this new London.It will soon be replaced by a happy, expensive, load, brash high-rise residential block dubbed ‘Terry’s Tower’.

But lets hope the ghost of Kenneth Williams walks through the corridors of new glass and chrome structure,bugging the shit out of its rich owners shouting "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me"

I leave you with his last entry of his diary,angry,bitter and sad, its as if the flat itself was was penning its last words.

God Speed Kenneth!

Lord Monty.


Thursday, 14 April, 1988
Bloody hell! My back hurts so much & every thing's shit. I bet I'm going to die soon. Wouldn't that be the way? I'll bet I die on the toilet. The indignity of some doctor trying to pull my trousers up over my shitty arse is something I am glad that I shall not be there to witness. Everything is so shit, I really can't see the point in anything, it's all so fucking shit. I'm going to put loads of pills in my mouth, sit on the toilet, and see what happens.

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