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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Book of the Week

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Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

Book of the Week: Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams

Book of the Week: Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams: Episode 5

Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams

Episode 5

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams, Episode 5

Now a regular on television chat shows Kenneth is invited to direct Joe Orton's play Loot.

Nicholas Boulton reads Christopher Stevens' biography of Kenneth Williams. Now a regular on television chat shows, Kenneth is invited to direct Joe Orton's play Loot.

Now a regular on television chat shows and Radio 4's Just a Minute, Kenneth is invited to direct Joe Orton's play, Loot.

Kenneth Williams was the stand-out comic actor of his generation. Beloved as the manic star of Carry On films and as a peerless raconteur on TV chat shows and radio comedies, he was also acclaimed for serious stage roles. 

Since the publication of edited extracts from his diaries, much controversy has surrounded Williams's personal and professional lives. But journalist and author Christopher Stevens has been granted access by the estate to Williams's complete archive - the forty-three volumes of diaries and hundreds of unseen letters to and from the star. 

Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams (the first full-length authorised biography) traces the complex contradictions that characterised an extraordinary life.

Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Nicholas Boulton


Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Nicholas Boulton reads Christopher Stevens' biography of Kenneth Williams

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