The Sound and the Fury
Weekend / 30th January 1974
Proof, if any were needed, that certain columns in newspapers seem to have always existed simply to fill space. This chap has filled a good third of a page saying absolutely nothing. The real interest for me lies in the garish ‘coming up next week’ promotion, which is very characteristic of modern womans’ magazines. I’ve actually read Charlie Williams’ autobiography “‘Ee, I’ve Had Some Laughs”, which Weekend was running extracts from at that point. It’s fascinating as a memoir of someone overcoming open, unrepentant racism, but also reflects the racism Charlie had absorbed as a way of coping; playing things the racists’ way. Alternative comedy helped question a lot of bigotry, and although we’ve still got some way to go, we can at least identify and talk about that nowadays.
Tags: blatant racism, blatant sexism