Find sources: "Billy Liar"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( July 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Billy Liar appeared in 1959, followed by his first screenplay, Whistle Down the Wind, in 1961 - which told the story of three children on a farm mistaking a fugitive hiding in their barn for Jesus. All the while, he was churning out sometimes serious, often humorous newspaper columns - working every day on his trusted Adler typewriter. British cinema's exclusion of the young, skint and state educated is a national shame | Danny Leigh". TheGuardian.com. 8 September 2018.

His credits, many with lifelong friend and collaborator Willis Hall, include satires such as That Was The Week That Was, BBC-3 and The Frost Report during the 1960s; the book for the 1975 musical The Card; Budgie; Worzel Gummidge; and Andy Capp (an adaptation of the comic strip). In 1999, the British Film Institute named Billy Liar number 76 in its list of the top 100 British films. He was soon hired by the Daily Mail where, Waterhouse said, he was allowed to retain his treasured independence. Legend has it that the paper's sub-editors were not allowed to change a single word of his columns. Keith Waterhouse, who has died aged 80, was one of Britain's most prolific authors, with more than 60 books, plays and television scripts to his credit.The film had its World Premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square on 20 July 1961. It played there for 3 weeks, ending its run on 9 August, three days after it began its general release in the London area. I have always loved this book and the film - and have even seen it on the stage as well. Strangely, it doesn’t seem to be as well known as I think it should be and I have by and large failed to get anybody else interested in the film. And, believe me, I have tried. I first came across the name Billy Liar through the song of the same name recorded by The Decemberists in 2004, an upbeat piano driven pop song about a young man suffering from boredom, and it remains one of my favourite songs from the prolific band.

The classic comedy of a 50s youth trapped inside a Walter Mitty fantasy-world, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Billy is an employee in an undertaker. He spends the first part of his Saturday morning at work, as everyone did in that era. He strolls around town, goes to the pub, meets a girlfriend or two and then comes down to earth. It’s a special day for Billy because he’s convinced himself that he is about to enter the big time as a comedy writer for a name in London. From start to finish, however, Billy is deluding himself.

I don't have the foggiest idea of where to get a copy of this, but I am anxious to do so , frankly due to its co The play is set in one Saturday: Act 1 in the morning, Act 2 in the early evening, and Act 3 at night.

His habitual embroidery of the truth, has left him tangled in a web of pointless lies. He has told: Married twice, Waterhouse had recently suffered ill health and had been cared for by his second ex-wife, Stella Bingham. I wished I’d written Keith Waterhouse’s first novel; and now, even more, I wish I’d written his second . . . Billy Liar is very funny: funny in a wild and sardonic and high-spirited way without malice or cruelty.’ - John Braine, author of Room at the Top Billie Liar by Keith Waterhouse provided the latest foray into the world and mores of the late fifties. It’s yet another novel that resides firmly in northern English working class life. But unlike Alan Sillitoe, John Braine or Stan Bairstow, Billy Liar lives almost entirely in the comic. Until, that is, when it doesn’t.Billy dreams big - of becoming a famous scriptwriter, of leaving behind his drab existence and running away to London and of making it with the wonderful free spirit played by Julie Christie in the film. And, somehow, we know that none of it will happen. He chose the Mail, over the pleas of every other national editor, when he left the Daily Mirror in 1986 after 35 years when the late Robert Maxwell took over. Crowther, Bosley (23 April 1962). "Screen: 'Whistle Down the Wind' From Britain:Artful Story of Guest in a Barn Arrives (Published 1962)"– via NYTimes.com. When he stepped down from the newspaper in May this year, current editor Paul Dacre paid tribute to the curmudgeonly columnist. Billy aspires to get a more interesting job as a scriptwriter for comic Danny Boon ( Leslie Randall), but when Boon comes to town, he is not interested in Billy's overtures. However, Billy tells everyone that Boon is very interested in his stories and that he will be moving to London very soon. Whenever Billy experiences something unpleasant, such as his parents scolding him or his boss harassing him, he imagines himself to be somewhere else. His fantasies generally involve himself as a hero with everyone very pleased with him. However, Billy shows himself to be happier fantasizing about being a great success than actually taking a risk to make something of himself.

Waterhouse was of the mimetic school of writers, managing to capture the unique patter of his Yorkshire dialect and local turn of phrase without becoming exclusive or alienating those of us who aren't local or even reading 53 years after publication. It is this quality that stands Billy Liar head and shoulders above others of the time, it hasn't dated because at its heart there are no politics, young men still struggle with their identity and purpose in life and suffer from being misunderstood by those closest to them. His 1959 book Billy Liar was subsequently filmed by John Schlesinger with Tom Courtenay as Billy. It was nominated in six categories of the 1964 BAFTA awards, including Best Screenplay, and was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1963; in the early 1970s the sitcom Billy Liar based on the character was quite popular and ran to 25 episodes. Waterhouse left school at 15 with no formal qualifications but said: "I wanted to be a writer from before I could write. And all along, I think, I wanted to work in newspapers." We owe a debt of gratitude to the publisher Valancourt, whose aim is to resurrect some neglected works of literature, especially those incorporating a supernatural strand, and make them available to a newreadership."Billy also finds himself attracted to his former girlfriend Liz ( Julie Christie), who has just returned to town from Doncaster. Liz is a free spirit who, unlike anyone else in town, understands and accepts Billy's imagination. However, she has more courage and confidence than Billy, as shown by her willingness to leave her home town and enjoy new and different experiences. Under pressure, Billy ends up making dates with both Barbara and Rita to meet each one on the same night at the same local ballroom. There, the two girls discover the double engagement and begin fighting with each other. All of Billy's lies seem to catch up with him as it's announced publicly that he is moving to London to work with Danny Boon, and Billy's friend scolds him for lying to his mother. Keith Waterhouse, who has died aged 80, always described himself as a lazy man, even though he produced a body of work that reduced his Fleet Street rivals to envious dismay. Apart from the novels, plays, film scripts, sitcoms and magazine articles that flowed unceasingly from his vintage Adler typewriter (he hated new technology), he also wrote a twice-weekly newspaper column, beginning in the Daily Mirror in 1970, and from 1988 for the Daily Mail, until the paper announced his retirement last May.