A long-running series of comic/adventure stories by Richmal Crompton about an 11-year-old English boy named William Brown.
William is a mischievous and adventurous, if mostly well-intentioned, boy, cheerfully indifferent to school and the baffling (to him) rules of adult life. With his best pal Ginger and other friends Douglas and Henry, he forms the Outlaws, whom he leads into all manner of escapades, scrapes and misadventures — sometimes due to his natural rebelliousness, though as often as not while trying to do something actually quite useful. Each volume contains up to a dozen or more short, largely stand-alone stories (bar one full-length novel), rather than being a single narrative.
The series is a strong user of Comic-Book Time; each book is set in the era in which it was written and yet William is 11 throughout — for nearly half the 20th century. The first collection was published in 1921 and the 39th in 1970.
William is unique in schoolboy literature: confident, strong-willed, independent-minded with original world-views, a born leader who is keen to be chief in any undertaking of the Outlaws. He does not care about his clothes or appearance, wears a scowl as his best "company manners" and hates small talk. He loves to play Red Indians and pirates, and readily embarks on any project from catching wartime spies to making a "moon rocket", to editing a "newspaper" or organising a "circus" or "show", often featuring his pet mongrel dog Jumble as reluctant star. He usually has a withering contempt for girls and women (except his mother) but can occasionally be chivalrous and quietly has a soft spot for a young neighbour, Joan, who admires him enormously.
A rebel and die-hard optimist, William often shows a strong sense of responsibility when the situation demands, an unwillingness to back out of challenges and a bulldog-like determination to overcome hurdles. His imagination and love of adventure constantly get him into strange and difficult situations. Peculiar complications often arise when he tries to "help" others, but as fortune favours the brave, William usually wins. His 'motto' is: "Doin' good, rightin' wrongs, spreadin' happiness and walking down the narrow path of virtue."
- Just William (1921)
- More William (1922)
- William Again (1923)
- William the Fourth (1924)
- Still William (1925)
- William the Conqueror (1926)
- William the Outlaw (1927)
- William in Trouble (1927)
- William the Good (1928)
- William (1929)
- William the Bad (1930)
- William's Happy Days (1930)
- William's Crowded Hours (1931)
- William the Pirate (1932)
- William the Rebel (1933)
- William the Gangster (1934)
- William the Detective (1935)
- Sweet William (1936)
- William the Showman (1937)
- William the Dictator (1938)
- William and Air Raid Precautions (1939)
- William and the Evacuees (1940)
- William Does His Bit (1941)
- William Carries On (1942)
- William and The Brains Trust (1945)
- Just William's Luck (1948) – the sole novel-length story
- William The Bold (1950)
- William and the Tramp (1952)
- William and the Moon Rocket (1954)
- William and the Space Animal (1956)
- William's Television Show (1958)
- William the Explorer (1960)
- William's Treasure Trove (1962)
- William and the Witch (1964)
- William and the Pop Singers (1965)
- William the Ancient Briton (1965)
- William and the Masked Ranger (1966)
- William the Superman (1968)
- William the Lawless (1970)
The stories have been adapted numerous times for various media. Three movies (Just William, Just William's Luck and William at the Circus) were produced in The '40s, as was a radio series. Later on, in The '90s, BBC released several Audiobook adaptations of the stores read by Martin Jarvis, which are probably the most well-known adaptations to date.
No less than four TV series have been made based on the characters and stories. The first one, produced for the BBC in 1962-63, was simply called William whereas the three subsequent series (in 1976, 1994 and 2010) used the Just William title, which has gradually come to stand for the series as a whole.
This series provides examples of:
- Big Eater: William has an immense appetite, particularly for party food, and will often demolish a meal he's found in his adventures before returning home for tea. Justified by the fact he's as active as his life allows him to be.
- Book Dumb: William is a terrible student in every academic field, driving both his teachers and parents to distraction. Left to his own devices, he can be quite ingenious.
- Disguised in Drag: In 'William Makes Things Hum' from William the Rebel, William is forced to borrow clothes from a girl the same age, who dons his clothes. Interestingly while he hates the experience and tries to get his own clothes back as soon as possible, the girl is delighted to be wearing boys' clothes, mentions several times she wishes she was a boy and only very reluctantly swaps back.
- Friend to All Children: Miss Cannon, a girl Robert is infatuated with in "William the Intruder," who turns up to tea with the Browns half an hour late because she was playing Indians with William in the garden.
- Generation Xerox: One story focuses on the Outlaws' various schemes to get some fireworks for Bonfire Night. At the end of their story, their fathers, walking home from work, hijack the fireworks and begin reminiscing about their childhood exploits as a gang, which bear a suspicious resemblance to the Outlaws.
- Guile Hero: Many stories have William having to defeat Hubert Lane or an especially obnoxious adult by outwitting them.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: William and Ginger are the closest of friends, and Ginger appears far more often than the other Outlaws.
- Hypocritical Humor: Meta example: the stories often make fun of child-raising "experts" with no children of their own. The author, Richmal Crompton, was unmarried and childless for her entire life.
- Implacable Man: In Violet Elizabeth's first appearance, the boys try to shake her off, but she follows them relentlessly, enjoying herself even as she shreds her dress in brambles and faceplants in the mud.
- Innocently Insensitive: William may be a well-intentioned boy, but he often has little grasp of other people's feelings, and accidentally says the wrong thing frequently.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mr Brown and Ethel. Mr Brown does show an appreciation for his son's good intentions, in a sly way, while Ethel does occasionally show she does love her little brother, despite her generally moody character.
- KidAnova: Despite claiming to not like girls, William does have a tendency to fall for the pretty ones — or at least the ones who aren't too silly in his opinion. Quite a number of them turn out to like him, too.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Various characters who have no children and are infatuated by the idea of them often get a reality check when they encounter William or his peers.
- The Leader: For all his other faults, William is a natural born leader of men. The Outlaws and more generally other children follow him because he has all the best ideas as to how to have fun, and follows them through with complete determination. This is also why most grown-ups particularly don't like him.
- Love Martyr: William's mother quietly adores her youngest, and is ready to believe he's become the calm, studious child she wants him to be on the flimsiest of evidence. William takes advantage of this belief often.
- New Neighbours as the Plot Demands: A lot of the early stories were written before the cast was solidified outside the Brown family, leading to new characters being introduced as new neighbors whenever the plot required it.
- Nice Girl: Joan and Mrs Brown. Joan is rather caring and loving, while Mrs Brown is the most tolerant member of the Brown family. There are a fair few women and girls who apply.
- Nice Guy: William himself, oh, so much. While he has his faults and does unintentionally cause a lot of trouble, he never truly means harm, and often is trying to be helpful. The rest of the Outlaws also qualify. There are a fair few recurring men and boys who apply.
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: In one story, William hides in a tailor's shop window by pretending to be one of the mannequins. He finds it impossible to keep still though, fuelling the local children's urban legend that the mannequins are made of real boys who the shopkeeper abducted.
- Noble Demon: William and his friends regularly picture themselves as robbers, pirates, kidnappers and so on and even name themselves 'The Outlaws', but they are almost never actively malicious (at least against the undeserving).
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: William has been eleven since 1920. He will no doubt still be eleven in 2120, and quite right, too.
- Not So Above It All: William's father is much less bothered by his youngest causing trouble if it gets rid of a person or guest he finds annoying; one example is "William and the Smuggler," where he and William are both equally irritated by Mr. Percival Jones. Another is "William and the White Satin" where the narrator notes him as being rather envious of William and his cousins when they get out of having to attend a wedding by dirtying their white clothes.
- Nouveau Riche: The Botts, inhabitants of the Manor (it is not clear whether they are owners or tenants). Mr. Bott made his money from "Bott's Digestive Sauce". Mrs. Bott in particular is highly pretentious, and goes to great lengths to hide her upbringing, which doesn't work. It is implied at one point that Violet Elizabeth's lisp is affected and she doesn't actually have a speech impediment.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Ginger, so named for his red hair. We never learn his real first name.
- Playing Sick: William attempts to get out of Mrs. de Vere Carter's "Band of Hope" by faking being sick. A while later, he tries to feign sickness to get out of being a page at a wedding. Both times it fails.
- The Psycho Rangers: Hubert Lane has his own four man gang that mirrors William's. They stand no chance against the Outlaws on a level playing field, but fortunately for them Hubert's parents are significantly more liberal with their gifts than William's, and Hubert himself is a gifted schmoozer.
- The Roaring '20s: The setting of the earliest books. This changed though, as each book was basically set in the decade in which it was written.
- The 2010 TV series very clearly takes place in The '50s.
- The Guardian called this "a sensible compromise between the William as first written, to whom telephones would be exotic, and an updated one, listening to his iPod."
- Sliding Scale of Beauty: Ethel is a 'world class beauty' with countless young men falling for her "red gold hair" and blue eyes.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: One of William's aunts, who proclaims herself to be in a poor state of health and spends most of her time eating and sleeping. Until William's intervention anyway.Aunt Emily had come down a month ago for a week’s visit and had not yet referred to the date of her departure. William's father was growing anxious.
- Vague Age: While William is always 11, the ages of his 'grown up' brother and sister Robert and Ethel range from as young as 17 to as old as 22 depending on the story.
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: In one story, Mr. Moss puts William in charge of his sweet shop for the morning, which to any eleven-year-old is a dream come true. William helps himself and his friends to all the sweets he wants... and they have the effect you would expect. By the time Mr. Moss returns...
