‘You never know what’s coming next, and that’s the beauty of it’
‘You never know what’s coming next, and that’s the beauty of it’
Writer and performer Will Adams talks to Julia Thorley about how a series of ‘Sliding Doors’ moments have guided him through a varied and enduring career.
Will Adams has spent his whole life wrangling words, one way or another. As an editor, he has worked on hundreds of books, as well as writing a considerable number himself, and he has written songs, pantos, sketches and articles, too. He is also an accomplished performer, and has acted and sung on stages of all sizes, including at the Royal & Derngate in Northampton.
At the moment, he is happy to share the news that he has finished the draft of his first novel, a political thriller based on the Old Gentleman character from classic children’s book The Railway Children.
“I was given the book for my sixth birthday, and the story has stayed with me. I love it, but have always wondered about the Old Gentleman and the role he played in the tale. It has been a joy to explore this using clues from Edith Nesbit’s original book, some historical research and, of course, my own imagination. I should perhaps say that this isn’t a children’s book!”
Will says he’s always loved writing and comedy. Growing up, he listened to programmes such as At Last The 1948 Show and I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again. It was perhaps inevitable that when he went to Cambridge to study English in the early 1970s he joined Footlights, which has been the training ground for so many great comedians and performers, including Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and John Cleese from Monty Python, another of Will’s favourites. It was here that one of the key pivotal moments in his life happened.
“I wasn’t a great one for joining clubs, but one evening in the dining hall I found myself sitting with Martin Smith. He was studying Economics, but was actually a frustrated actor. He was keen to join Footlights but needed a writing partner, so we teamed up and wrote a sketch called Inn Between about a pub in Purgatory. One thing led to another and we ended up in a comedy trio with Douglas Adams [of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame], performing as Adams Smith Adams.
“We dabbled with scriptwriting for the BBC, and sold a few one-liners to The Two Ronnies. We were also commissioned to work on Week Ending, which was a satirical current affairs sketch show on Radio 4.”
It turned out there wasn’t much money to be made in this line of work, so Will signed up to an agency doing casual work that led him to a job in a knitwear warehouse. He didn’t have enough work to fill his days, so spent a lot of time doing crosswords and, again perhaps inevitably, started writing his own cryptic clues. This led to a job on a puzzle magazine, his first role in publishing and the start of a career as an editor.
“Then I had another of those Sliding Doors moments. I was working in London when I saw an advert offering the opportunity to relocate to Northamptonshire with Odhams Leisure Group, a company that published collectible partworks on a wide range of topics. That’s how I ended up here, 40 years ago.”
As time passed, Will moved on from Odhams to Thorsons Publishing, but when that company was taken over he took redundancy and made the leap into full-time freelance work. Over the years, alongside his editorial work Will has published two puzzle books, a collection of books on railways, including two volumes of British Railways Past & Present: Northamptonshire, and several other books on railway and nostalgia themes. He also conceived and did the picture research for The Illustrated Railway Children during his time as a freelance editor working for Silver Link Publishing.
Having moved to Northants, Will threw himself into village life, and took part in a WI revue marking the end of the Second World War. From this came the suggestion that he write a panto for the newly formed Denford Thespians. Since then, he has written or co-written 25 shows for them. It was through this group, and another happy accident, that he met his current creative partner, Peter Fairweather. They have worked together on DT’s shows, but also formed Sweet FA, in which guise they write and perform comedy songs reminiscent of Flanders and Swann.
“When we first started performing we would do covers of established songs, but now we create 100% of the material. We are incredibly lucky to have Julie Burgess with us, who writes and plays the music for our lyrics.”
The chance meeting with Martin Smith all those years ago continues to influence Will. They became lifelong friends and have just finished writing Consequences, which they are calling ‘a comedy sci-fi novel with topical satirical undertones’.
“It was Martin’s idea that we should collaborate on something with a ‘Douglas-esque’ feel to it. We had no plan other than to take it in turns to write a chapter and see where it took us. We were about two-thirds of the way through before we decided we needed a formal forward trajectory for the story, which we then stuck to, but within that we were able to write freely. Happily, the result is a unified voice. You can’t see the joins! Now we’re looking into publication options.”
Another of his current writing projects is Beyond the Name Board, which explains the stories behind the names of some of Britain’s railway stations. The first volume is due for publication later this year. As if that wasn’t enough, Will is also producing a local history book, Denford In Living Memory, which will be published privately.
“It’s been fascinating to gather together residents’ memories and to dig into their photo collections. I’ve supplemented this with material from the county archive and elsewhere. I think it’s going to be a lovely little book.”
He talks about the ongoing challenge for new authors to get a foothold in the conventional publishing world when it seems everyone is writing a book.
“I was in Blackwells in Oxford recently and the sheer volume of titles they have on sale is staggering. I wonder how anyone gets noticed at all. That’s no reason not to do it, though.
“I have several projects on the go at the moment, including another railway book. I’m happy to keep exploring opportunities and try something new. The thing about writing is that you never know what’s coming next, and that’s the beauty of it.”
Sweet FA has a Facebook page. Will may be contacted by email: wadams1907@aol.com
If you would like your arts project, venue or event to feature as a weekend cultural piece you can get in touch with Julia Thorley at julia.thorley@googlemail.com