What do you think?
Rate this book
William's Birthday and Other Stories
With the original text shortened and adapted by Martin Jarvis, this is a collection of four favorite "Just William" stories.
96 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1999
16 people want to read
About the author
Richmal Crompton
259 books175 followersRichmal Crompton Lamburn was initially trained as a schoolmistress but later became a popular English writer, best known for her Just William series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books.
Crompton's fiction centres around family and social life, dwelling on the constraints that they place on individuals while also nurturing them. This is best seen in her depiction of children as puzzled onlookers of society's ways. Nevertheless, the children, particularly William and his Outlaws, almost always emerge triumphant.
Crompton's fiction centres around family and social life, dwelling on the constraints that they place on individuals while also nurturing them. This is best seen in her depiction of children as puzzled onlookers of society's ways. Nevertheless, the children, particularly William and his Outlaws, almost always emerge triumphant.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 29, 2025
William’s Birthday and Other Stories by Richmal Crompton
10 out of 10
Just William is included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, in the Comedy section and for very good reasons http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/12/j... given that the main character is a vibrant, inventive, explosive, cunning, hilarious, deceitful, enchanting, overbearing, lying boy that makes this reader wonder what would happen if the fictional character could be seen nearby…indeed, there is a crowd of ruffians that roam the streets nearby, in this gated community where they take the lockdowns, social distancing and mask wearing to mean…well, nothing really and the offspring are sent outside to stop annoying their parents and pour their screams, anxiety, bad education, genes to match on to the others and when the latter protest, they are immediately scolded and given lectures that would be better spent on…their children, what, what…the last is a quote from The Madness of King George http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/03/t...
Apparently, there is an endless line of stories with William Brown, there are about 24 short volumes in the Just William series and the under signed has laughed over the past few days at his exploits in different circumstances, one of which is playing just now – for there are tales read by the marvelous Martin Jarvis – wherein the protagonist is trying to access a hotel, he wants to see a performer that had exalted him earlier, only to see that he is not to be admitted, until he is confused for a nephew called Trevor.
The stranger is expecting a relative that he has not seen and thus mistakes William for someone else, says he is embarrassed by the fact that his nephew has been unable to escape the revolving door, only to be told by the always argumentative hero that he does not see how this could be, since it was not him trapped in the door…the dialogue continues in a most amusing manner, with our friend unable to answer questions related to people he does not now, for he is not the nephew he claims to be, in order to gain entrance in the hotel.
The uncle asks about the mother and when the boy says she is fine, he is bewildered and responds that she had written to say there had been no improvement and considering the mistakes made, the appearance of the disheveled boy, the adult states that ‘you must be half witted’ and his interlocutor immediately embraces this explanation and repeats ‘I am half witted…the doctor says there is hope for the future, but at the present I am half witted’, continuing the mistaken answers for the questions, although he is now aware of the situation and cautiously answers ‘she is well, in a sort of way, well in one way and not well in another’, when asked about Lucy…and we know that the boy has an elaborate, fabulous imagination and a penchant for embroidery and says about Lucy that she went dancing and got hot , sat in the garden without putting anything over her evening dress…only to be told that ‘Lucy is your mother’s dog!
‘I thought you said another name, you have got a strange sense of humor/ yes that is what I have got’ this exchange is continued with a question about Pongo, which William is sure must be the name of a dog and he says that Pongo has a dog biscuit every morning and some bones in the middle of the day, to which the uncle is asking amazed ‘bones’, to be told that he has more than that, they also feed Pongo scraps…’dog biscuits, scraps, bones…is that any way to feed a two year old child is the furious retort of the adult…obviously, another hilarious mistake has been made, aggravated by the habit that our dear William has to elaborate and crate endless fictions, until in this case the real Trevor appears and the identity thief is exposed.
Then there is the adventure of the birthday, when his dog is taken ill and has to stay with the vet and the unhappy, at this moment disloyal friend demands to have a…dog as a gift for his birthday and when his mother declines, stating he will not have a dog, since he has Pongo – was that the name – William bids higher still and requests to have…two dogs, because the one he has might die, seeing he had been taken to the vet, in spite of the opposition…later on, when he comes to the house, he is elated to see two Collies tied to a tree in front of the house, where they had been brought by his sister’s boyfriend, who intends to give them to her, but William being unaware – we can venture to say that quite often, knowing something does not belong to him is no reason to have qualms about it – he takes the dogs to be his own, with the result that one of them will gather hundreds and then thousands of…sheep that they are collected and shepherded to the Brown house, where Ethel is invited to look out for her present – the friend knows he has the two dogs tied out the window – and she sees the thousands of sheep and asks how will she feed that, only to be told that a few biscuits will do…
Another segment, happening around Christmas has William and the Outlaws in search for a means to take revenge over a rival group and the hero has the cunning plan – as Baldric in Black Adder – to intrude himself where the presents are kept to be given on Christmas, which the rivals had designed to be a humiliation, with pompous, great offerings for themselves and insulting trifles for the Outlaws…nonetheless, clever, Machiavellian William switches the labels and when the big moment comes, he is the recipient of magic things, while the enemy tribe is in possession of amusing and ridiculous objects.
Two episodes concern neighbors, in one some bizarre, strange people move in, twin brother and sister in search of the psychic revelations, appearances and while the brother tries hard to have inspiration and vision for painting and appears to find none, William paints a lion that is so otherworldly than when the editor of a magazine for the supernatural and the apparitions sees it, he places it in his paper on the cover, the only problem being that when William Brown is showing it to his friends, none of them believes his claim to be author, given his established reputation as a creator of fiction and not as a painter…the other fragment concerns a woman that has rented the place next door and is vicious to young Brown when he has balls, a collar in her yard and the fury she shows is so vehement as to call for some retribution…
The young man comes at night with the appearance of a burglar – he will collect the confiscated balls and collar – using a very grave voice, which allows the woman to make a big fuss the following day, when she claims she had been attacked, ruffled and robbed by a trio of massive fellows and then she embellished, falsifies the truth to the extent that when William reveals he was the triangle of crime that had been on such a rampage, the embarrassed, immense liar offers peace on very favorable terms…
10 out of 10
Just William is included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, in the Comedy section and for very good reasons http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/12/j... given that the main character is a vibrant, inventive, explosive, cunning, hilarious, deceitful, enchanting, overbearing, lying boy that makes this reader wonder what would happen if the fictional character could be seen nearby…indeed, there is a crowd of ruffians that roam the streets nearby, in this gated community where they take the lockdowns, social distancing and mask wearing to mean…well, nothing really and the offspring are sent outside to stop annoying their parents and pour their screams, anxiety, bad education, genes to match on to the others and when the latter protest, they are immediately scolded and given lectures that would be better spent on…their children, what, what…the last is a quote from The Madness of King George http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/03/t...
Apparently, there is an endless line of stories with William Brown, there are about 24 short volumes in the Just William series and the under signed has laughed over the past few days at his exploits in different circumstances, one of which is playing just now – for there are tales read by the marvelous Martin Jarvis – wherein the protagonist is trying to access a hotel, he wants to see a performer that had exalted him earlier, only to see that he is not to be admitted, until he is confused for a nephew called Trevor.
The stranger is expecting a relative that he has not seen and thus mistakes William for someone else, says he is embarrassed by the fact that his nephew has been unable to escape the revolving door, only to be told by the always argumentative hero that he does not see how this could be, since it was not him trapped in the door…the dialogue continues in a most amusing manner, with our friend unable to answer questions related to people he does not now, for he is not the nephew he claims to be, in order to gain entrance in the hotel.
The uncle asks about the mother and when the boy says she is fine, he is bewildered and responds that she had written to say there had been no improvement and considering the mistakes made, the appearance of the disheveled boy, the adult states that ‘you must be half witted’ and his interlocutor immediately embraces this explanation and repeats ‘I am half witted…the doctor says there is hope for the future, but at the present I am half witted’, continuing the mistaken answers for the questions, although he is now aware of the situation and cautiously answers ‘she is well, in a sort of way, well in one way and not well in another’, when asked about Lucy…and we know that the boy has an elaborate, fabulous imagination and a penchant for embroidery and says about Lucy that she went dancing and got hot , sat in the garden without putting anything over her evening dress…only to be told that ‘Lucy is your mother’s dog!
‘I thought you said another name, you have got a strange sense of humor/ yes that is what I have got’ this exchange is continued with a question about Pongo, which William is sure must be the name of a dog and he says that Pongo has a dog biscuit every morning and some bones in the middle of the day, to which the uncle is asking amazed ‘bones’, to be told that he has more than that, they also feed Pongo scraps…’dog biscuits, scraps, bones…is that any way to feed a two year old child is the furious retort of the adult…obviously, another hilarious mistake has been made, aggravated by the habit that our dear William has to elaborate and crate endless fictions, until in this case the real Trevor appears and the identity thief is exposed.
Then there is the adventure of the birthday, when his dog is taken ill and has to stay with the vet and the unhappy, at this moment disloyal friend demands to have a…dog as a gift for his birthday and when his mother declines, stating he will not have a dog, since he has Pongo – was that the name – William bids higher still and requests to have…two dogs, because the one he has might die, seeing he had been taken to the vet, in spite of the opposition…later on, when he comes to the house, he is elated to see two Collies tied to a tree in front of the house, where they had been brought by his sister’s boyfriend, who intends to give them to her, but William being unaware – we can venture to say that quite often, knowing something does not belong to him is no reason to have qualms about it – he takes the dogs to be his own, with the result that one of them will gather hundreds and then thousands of…sheep that they are collected and shepherded to the Brown house, where Ethel is invited to look out for her present – the friend knows he has the two dogs tied out the window – and she sees the thousands of sheep and asks how will she feed that, only to be told that a few biscuits will do…
Another segment, happening around Christmas has William and the Outlaws in search for a means to take revenge over a rival group and the hero has the cunning plan – as Baldric in Black Adder – to intrude himself where the presents are kept to be given on Christmas, which the rivals had designed to be a humiliation, with pompous, great offerings for themselves and insulting trifles for the Outlaws…nonetheless, clever, Machiavellian William switches the labels and when the big moment comes, he is the recipient of magic things, while the enemy tribe is in possession of amusing and ridiculous objects.
Two episodes concern neighbors, in one some bizarre, strange people move in, twin brother and sister in search of the psychic revelations, appearances and while the brother tries hard to have inspiration and vision for painting and appears to find none, William paints a lion that is so otherworldly than when the editor of a magazine for the supernatural and the apparitions sees it, he places it in his paper on the cover, the only problem being that when William Brown is showing it to his friends, none of them believes his claim to be author, given his established reputation as a creator of fiction and not as a painter…the other fragment concerns a woman that has rented the place next door and is vicious to young Brown when he has balls, a collar in her yard and the fury she shows is so vehement as to call for some retribution…
The young man comes at night with the appearance of a burglar – he will collect the confiscated balls and collar – using a very grave voice, which allows the woman to make a big fuss the following day, when she claims she had been attacked, ruffled and robbed by a trio of massive fellows and then she embellished, falsifies the truth to the extent that when William reveals he was the triangle of crime that had been on such a rampage, the embarrassed, immense liar offers peace on very favorable terms…
March 14, 2023
I did not know this was not the original story when I bought the book (great cover and pictures,by the way) so, although the stories are enjoyable and quite imaginative, I felt one could tell something was missing. I'll have a try at the unabridged version one day...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews