Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} William the Fourth (Just William #4) by Richmal Crompton ISBN 13: 9780333662281. There is only one William. The loveable imp and his band of Outlaws have been harassing his unfortunate family and delighting hundreds of thousands of readers for years. Here, William invents a water race where competitors have to run with a mouth full of water, without swallowing it or spitting it out. It's just a shame he doesn't have time to think before speaking to (and drenching!) Mrs. Adolphus Crane during the race! "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. Richmal Crompton, who wrote the original Just William stories, was born in Lancashire in 1890. In all, thirty-eight William books were published, the last one in 1970, after Richmal Crompton’s death. Martin Jarvis, who has adapted the stories in this book for younger readers, first discovered Just William when he was nine years old. He made his first adaptation of a William story for BBC radio in 1973 and since then his broadcast readings have become classics in their own right. Martin is an award-winning actor who has appeared in numerous stage plays, television series and films. Richmal Crompton. Richmal Crompton Lamburn (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969) 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. Contents. Life 1 Work 2 List of published works 3 Just William short story collections 3.1 Just William plays 3.2 William -like books 3.3 Others 3.4. Richmal Crompton Lamburn was born in Bury, Lancashire, the second child of the Rev. Edward John Sewell Lamburn, a Classics master at Bury Grammar School and his wife Clara (née Crompton). Her brother, John Battersby Crompton Lamburn, also became a writer, remembered under the name John Lambourne for his fantasy novel The Kingdom That Was (1931) and under the name "John Crompton" for his books on natural history. Richmal Crompton attended St Elphin's Boarding School for the daughters of the clergy, originally based in Warrington, Lancashire. She later moved with the school to a new location in Darley Dale, near Matlock, Derbyshire in 1904. In order to further her chosen career as a schoolteacher, she won a scholarship to Royal Holloway College, part of the University of London in Englefield Green, Surrey. Crompton graduated in 1914 with a BA honours degree in Classics (II class). She took part in the Women's Suffrage movement. In 1914, she returned to St Elphin’s as a Classics mistress and later, at age 27, moved to Bromley High School in southeast London where she began her writing in earnest. Cadogan (1993) shows that she was an excellent and committed teacher at both schools. Having contracted poliomyelitis, she was left without the use of her right leg in 1923. She gave up her teaching career and began to write full-time. Later in her forties, she suffered from breast cancer and had a mastectomy. She never married and had no children although she was aunt and great-aunt to other members of her family. Her William stories and her other literature were extremely successful and, three years after she retired from teaching, Crompton was able to afford to have a house (The Glebe) built in Bromley Common for herself and her mother, Clara. In spite of her disabilities, during the Second World War she volunteered for the Fire Service. She died in 1969 at her home in Chislehurst, London Borough of Bromley. Crompton's best known books are the William stories, about a mischievous 11-year-old schoolboy and his band of friends, known as "The Outlaws". Her first short story featuring William to be published was "Rice Mould Pudding", published in Home Magazine in 1919. (She had written "The Outlaws" in 1917, but it was not published until later.) In 1922, the first collection, entitled Just William , was published. She wrote 38 other William books throughout her life. The last, William the Lawless , was published posthumously in 1970. The William books sold over twelve million copies in the United Kingdom alone. [1] They have been adapted for films, stage-plays, and numerous radio and television series. Illustrations by Thomas Henry contributed to their success. Crompton saw her real work as writing adult fiction. Starting with The Innermost Room (1923), she wrote 41 novels for adults and published nine collections of short stories. Their focus was generally village life in the Home Counties; though these novels have the same inventiveness and lack of sentimentality as the 'William' books, after the Second World War, such literature had an increasingly limited appeal. Even William was originally created for a grown-up audience, as she saw Just William as a potboiler (Cadogan, 1993). She was pleased by its success, but seemed frustrated that her other novels and short stories did not receive the same recognition. Her first published tale was published in The Girl's Own Paper in 1918, concerning a little boy named Thomas, a forerunner of William who reacts against authority. Crompton tried several times to reformulate William for other audiences. Jimmy (1949) was aimed at younger children, and Enter - Patricia (1927) at girls. Crompton wrote two more Jimmy books, but no more Patricia , and neither was as successful as William . According to the actor John Teed, whose family lived next door to Crompton, the model for William was Crompton's nephew Tommy. 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. The William books have been translated into nine languages and have been sold all over the world. List of published works. The publication dates are for the UK. Just William short story collections. Just William , 1922 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's Christmas Truce , 1929 William Writes a Play , 1929 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 (also published as William's Bad Resolution , 1956) William and the Evacuees , 1940 (also published as William and the Film Star , 1956) William Does His Bit , 1941 William Carries On , 1942 William and The Brains Trust , 1945 Just William's Luck , 1948 William the Bold , 1950 William and the Tramp , 1952 William and the Moon Rocket , 1954 William and the Artist's Model , 1956 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 and the Masked Ranger , 1966 William the Superman , 1968 William the Lawless , 1970 School is a Waste of Time , 1990. Just William plays. William and the Artist's Model , 1956 William the Terrible , BBC Radio Plays volume 1, 2008, published by David Schutte William the Lionheart , BBC Radio Plays volume 2, 2008, published by David Schutte William the Peacemaker , BBC Radio Plays volume 3, 2009, published by David Schutte William the Avenger , BBC Radio Plays volume 4, 2009, published by David Schutte William the Smuggler , BBC Radio Plays volume 5, 2010, published by David Schutte William's Secret Society , BBC Radio Plays volume 6, 2010, published by David Schutte. William -like books. Enter - Patricia , 1927 Jimmy , 1949 Jimmy Again , 1951 Jimmy the Third , 1965. Others. The Innermost Room , 1923 The Hidden Light , 1924 Anne Morrison , 1925 The Wildings , 1925 David Wilding , 1926 The House (1926 book)|The House , 1926 (also published as Dread Dwelling ) Kathleen and I, and, of Course, Veronica , 1926 (short stories) Millicent Dorrington , 1927 A Monstrous Regiment , 1927 (short stories) Leadon Hill , 1927 The Thorn Bush , 1928 Roofs Off! , 1928 The Middle Things , 1928 (short stories) Felicity Stands By , 1928 (short stories) Sugar and Spice and Other Stories , 1928 (short stories) Mist and Other Stories , 1928 (short stories) The Four Graces , 1929 Abbot's End , 1929 Ladies First (book)|Ladies First , 1929 (short stories) Blue Flames (book)|Blue Flames , 1930 Naomi Godstone , 1930 The Silver Birch and Other Stories , 1931 (short stories) Portrait of a Family , 1931 The Odyssey of Euphemia Tracy , 1932 Marriage of Hermione , 1932 The Holiday (1933 book)|The Holiday , 1933 Chedsy Place , 1934 The Old Man's Birthday , 1934 Quartet (novel)|Quartet , 1935 Caroline (novel)|Caroline , 1936 The First Morning , 1936 (short stories) There Are Four Seasons , 1937 Journeying Wave , 1938 Merlin Bay , 1939 Steffan Green , 1940 Narcissa (book)|Narcissa , 1941 Mrs. Frensham Describes a Circle , 1942 Weatherly Parade , 1944 Westover (book)|Westover , 1946 The Ridleys , 1947 Family Roundabout , 1948, republished in 2001 by Persephone Books Frost at Morning , 1950 Linden Rise , 1952 The Gypsy's Baby , 1954 Four In Exile , 1954 Matty and the Dearingroydes , 1956 Blind Man's Buff (1957 book)|Blind Man's Buff , 1957 Wiseman's Folly , 1959 The Inheritor , 1960. Legacy. Richmal Crompton's archives are held at Roehampton University, London and at Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea, where some family lived. References. ^ Greenway, Betty (January 2002). "William Forever: Richmal Crompton's Unusual Achievement" (– Scholar search ) .