Charles Hawtrey (actor, born 1914) asking were children, which angered their parents. Kenneth Williams recorded a visit to Deal in Kent where Hawtrey owned a house full of old brass bedsteads that the eccentric actor had hoarded, believing that "one day he would make a great deal of money from them". Hawtrey spent most of his life living with his mother, who suffered senile dementia in later years. Another anecdote recounted by Williams describes how during the filming of "Carry On Teacher" Joan Sims cried out to Hawtrey that his mother's handbag had caught fire after her cigarette ash fell into it. Without batting an
Kenneth Williams for 1966 to 1971 and, finally, A4-sized executive desk diaries for 1972 to 1988. He claimed that writing in his diaries eased the loneliness he often felt. In April 2008 Radio 4 broadcast the two-part "The Pain of Laughter: The Last Days of Kenneth Williams". The programmes were researched and written by Wes Butters and narrated by Rob Brydon. Butters purchased a collection of Williams's personal belongings from the actor's godson, Robert Chidell, to whom they had been bequeathed. The first of the programmes said that, towards the end of his life and struggling with depression and ill health, Williams