Talk:Just William

Untitled
Mention may be made of William's atrocious spelling when framing letters, signboards etc. "Cokernut" for coconut is a typical example. Perhaps the only time William writes a letter more or less correctly is in the "Begging Letter" episode, that too because he copies out another letter verbatim. William's dog Jumble deserves special mention, especially with reference to his master's grand plans for him. Some other staple William characters are the retired Gen. Moult, Farmer Jenks, and Mr. French (Frenchie), his form master.

I'd just like to say that the full stop on the end of Home and Happy Mag. should be there and that in the quoted passage the second "em" does not have a leading apostrophe in the original text, although it perhaps should. - Cgs


 * While the point about William's distinctively awful spelling is perfectly valid, the "cokernut" example is inappropriate, as some dictionaries list this as a valid alternative spelling of "coconut".Jon Rob 11:08, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Just William (by Richmal Crompton)
This has been posted on Reference_desk/Humanities, can anyone help? adamsan 22:54, 26 December 2005 (UTC):

I would be grateful if you could please answer the following questions about the story “William and the Nasties” which appeared in the book “William the Detective.” Thank you. (Dr.) C. Simons
 * 1. You write that “Crompton herself [who died in 1969] decided that the story was inappropriate and had it removed.” From which impression of the edition published by George Newnes did it stop appearing?
 * 2. You also write that it appeared in the Armada Paperback edition published in the 1970s. Did it appear in all the editions brought out by Armada?
 * 3. Macmillan Publishers said in 1999 that they had withdrawn this story “several years ago.” In which year did they do this?

Play.com are listing Just William as a DVD release (series one) for August 2007. The timings (13 episodes at 25 minutes) seem to tally to the 70's series, but it's not officially announced as such. I guess we should wait until we see more details. Geffers 10:48, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

There is a dvd to be released but it's coming out in 2020! Carla 10.13, 14 July 2008

The Outlaws
The separate page linked in this article has shrunk so much that there is no point keeping it, and I've proposed that it be merged here. --Rodhullandemu (talk - contribs) 04:45, 12 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I've merged it. However, I'm in doubt as to whether it would make more sense to merge that section into the Just William series article - it seems like duplication of material to leave it here. --Alvestrand (talk) 03:25, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Contradiction needs sorting out
Text: The Fall of the Idol - William makes friends with his teacher's new girlfriend.

Caption of picture: William makes friends with his teacher's "new beau ", much to her annoyance (from the story The Fall of the Idol)

A "beau" is a boyfriend. Which is the teacher, and which is the love interest?. If "beau" is being used incorrectly for girlfriend, then you've got the oddity of her being annoyed at being made friends with. A female teacher annoyed at William making friends with her boyfriend is inevitable, but is this what's meant? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Koro Neil (talk • contribs) 14:36, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * The teacher is Miss Drew. The story actually calls the gentleman: "a male cousin - a very nice-looking male cousin, with whom she often went for walks in the evening." What is really going on, though, is that William has developed an adoration for his teacher and wants to spend time with her. The cousin seems to enjoy William's company. However Miss Drew wants to be alone with her cousin - she doubtless sees enough of William in class (by the way, romance between cousins is not traditionally disapproved of in England) There may be a mix-up here with the story "William the Intruder", in which William intrudes on another romance. Robina Fox (talk) 14:21, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Children's Books?
Though the William books were, and are, undoubtedly read with great pleasure by children the stories were originaly published with an adult readership in mind.

As a result one of the unusual aspects of these 'children's' books is their vocabulary, which is often beyond all but the most erudite child.

It is rare to find two consecutive pages which would not have even a very educationally-advanced child 'reaching for a dictionary' at least once - and probably many adults too.

Happily the stories are so fluidly written that an inabilty to understand many of the words doesn't detract from their sense for a child reading them. Perhaps that reflects real life experience - all children encounter words they don't understand every day.

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