tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post4302004268328864936..comments2009-03-10T19:48:59.282ZAndrew Rilstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-3481517533105486382009-03-10T19:48:00.000Z2009-03-10T19:48:00.000ZMy bad.<BR/><BR/>By "just william" I did of course mean "john lennon during his 'just william' phase, i.e when he was a clever but naughty schoolboy." I didn't, of course, mean to imply that Richmal Crompton wrote about circle jerks; or that the fictitious William Brown contributed material to Kenneth Tynan's risque revue. <BR/><BR/>John Lennon was at school from around 1945 to around 1955. William Brown, like orphan Annie and the Fantastic Four lived in a continous present that was alway contemperaneous with the present day. His "eternal now" last from, I think, the 20s to the 60s. I have not read many of the stories, but I understood that there was a reasonably common trope of some dignified adult being drawn into one of William's schemes? I understood, at any rate, what Norman was getting at: the posh guy becoming responsible for a gang of ragamuffins he didn't quite understand.Andrew Rilstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16934052271846235431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-40339397055515935942009-03-10T17:31:00.000Z2009-03-10T17:31:00.000ZNot only is there no group masterbation in the Just William books even metaphorically, but Vicars do not (as far as I can recall) ever en up inadvertantly sponsoring William&#39;s schemes, and William wasn&#39;t per se a 1950s school boy as the books were written across and set him (always at 11 yrs of age) from the 1930s to the 1970s. Interestingly in William &amp; The Pop Singers, he inspires a John Lennonalikes, John Lennonalike song. I&#39;d have more confidence in this account of JL, if it were right about William Brown, whose life after all is by definition completely documented.<BR/><BR/>Simon Bucher-JonesSite Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13985957945444668564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-33541889092171994922009-03-06T00:53:00.000Z2009-03-06T00:53:00.000Z"[Lennon] seems almost to disappear during the Beatlemania period. By the time we get to the post-Beatles section, the book almost seems to have a blank space at the centre."<BR/><BR/>That makes sense to me. When I read Hunter Davies' book, the part that stayed with me -- and still haunts me, really -- is the crushing mediocrity and tedium of John's life during the most fantastically creative period of his songwriting. The image of him sitting in one small room of his mansion with the TV constantly on and never actually watched is pretty frightening. It leaves me wondering what he might have produced under other circumstances.Mike Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06039663158335543317noreply@blogger.com