Richmal Crompton

First published in 1948, this is the story of two families during the inter-war years. We are shown the matriarchs around whom their families spin; but whether they direct their children gently or forcefully, in the end they have to accept them as they are. We see that families can both entrap and sustain; that parents and children must respect each other; and that happiness necessitates jumping or being pushed off the family roundabout.

Richmal Crompton's stories featuring irrepressible schoolboy William Brown have been firm favourites with both young and old for decades. Perpetually scruffy, mud-stained and mischievous, he is a lovable scamp whose pranks usually end in disaster - for his harassed elders at least. With friends Ginger, Douglas and Henry (the Outlaws) and the angelic thorn-in-his-side, the lisping Violet Elizabeth Bott, William has rightly joined the literary, and radio, immortals. Martin Jarvis, who has been hailed as 'the wizard of the talking book' (The Daily Telegraph), has made the voice of William his own, and this collection of 54 laugh-out-loud stories will delight long-standing fans and first-time listeners alike.

On Christmas Day a centipede appeared on Aunt Evangeline's plate, the library clock was dismantled and the conjuring trick with the egg went wrong! William is back leaving a trail of havoc behind him!

Eight adventures of William and the Outlaws, not always appreciated by family and neighbours.

William's great enemy is boredom and he will do anything to avoid it. He'll rescue babies from great danger or have swashbuckling piratical adventures. But he has always resisted gardening. Until now, that is. William is up to something and the flowerbeds will never be the same again.