Story first appeared in Happy Mag 85, June 1929 Issue, under the same title.
Adapted for radio by Richmal Crompton in collaboration with Rex Diamond.
Script published by David Schutte in William the Terrible. ISBN: 978 0 9546802 4 4
This episode begins at the home of the Browns on a Saturday afternoon by the fire.
Setting up later events, Mr Brown receives a letter from Mr Lane, asking him to second the proposal of more classes for the youth by the MP that is staying with him. Brown is pleased by this, particularly as Mrs Brown says that politics needs clever people such as himself.
The bathroom geyser, a natural gas water heater originally invented by Benjamin Waddy Maughan, a painter, in 1868 (dangerous to use as no flue for venting gas vapours), has recently been fixed. The one owned by the Browns may have been a later model designed by Ewart and Son that could mix hot and cold water to the desired temperature.
We discover William double-checking this resolution by the sound of the boiler bursting, just as his mother was imploring Mr Brown to give 'the boy a chance'. That chance goes flying out of the window as William explains that there has been a 'bit of an accident with the ole geyser', which has exploded and according to Mr Brown, 'wrecked the place'.
As in episode one, William goes off mumbling to himself about the injustice of the world aimed towards him. An issue he intends to resolve by becoming Prime Minister.
Ginger meets William and upon spotting Hubert Lane through a hedge, they fire shots at him with William new garters. This eventually ends in a discussion which leads to a General Election in the barn later that day. William as Conservative, Ginger as Liberal, and Hubert as Socialist. I was surprised to see that the same Socialist party still exists as the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB). It last put forward two candidates for the 2019 General Election, achieving just 157 votes and no seats. In comparison, the Conservative party gain 13,966,454 votes and stayed in power with 365 seats, something William may have been happy with considering that his father was Conservative.
The speeches are due to take place in the barn and this is the ideal entrance of Violet Elizabeth. She is fantastic in this scene as she has no fear of the boys and has a talent for heckling them. Ginger has the idea that his success will be based on inviting his voters to his next birthday party with the benefits of looking at his aunt's parrot through the window. This falls as Violet Elizabeth though the previous party was 'a rotten party'.
Hubert explains that Socialism is about getting other people's money and sharing it around. This will make all of his voters richer. This stumbles when Violet Elizabeth points out the flawed logic of this idea. As if everyone becomes a Socialist, then there will be no money to share around from elsewhere. Hubert's attempt falls when he ends his speech with saying that if anyone in the audience had an sense they'd see the logic of this proposal.
William simply tells a story of an Air Force pilot in WWII and the Battle of Britain, who took down 18 Germain planes in one fell swoop. William survives the questioning and says that this pilot was a Conservative. William is unanimously elected!
This brings us back to Mr Brown's letter as the children become aware that there is an MP wanting to give them extra classes. With much cajoling, William is convinced that as the newly elected Prime Minister, he must attend the adult's meeting and put a stop to this monstrous proposal.
The children all attend the meeting through Mrs Bott, who lets them in. The MP is pleased to have children taking an interest, well she was, until William started speaking!
The MP learns that this is Mr Browns boy, which puts Mr Brown out in the cold when he arrives late when he is received with the MP stating to him, 'I wonder how you dare to show your face here'.
We don't know if the classes are adopted, but we can imagine William's fate as Britain's most short-lived Prime Minister.
| Cast |
|---|
| William |
| Mr John Brown |
| Mrs Brown |
| Ginger |
| Hubert Lane |
| Mr Lane |
| Violet Elizabeth |
| Miss Crump |
| 1st Boy |
| 2nd Boy |
