42-534: Billy Liar is a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse that was later adapted into a play, a film , a musical and a TV series . The work has inspired and been featured in a number of popular songs. The semi-comical story is about William Fisher, a working-class 19-year-old living with his parents in the fictional town of Stradhoughton in Yorkshire . Bored by his job as a lowly clerk for an undertaker , Billy spends his time indulging in fantasies and dreams of life in
84-674: A decline in the standards of modern English; for example, he founded the Association for the Abolition of the Aberrant Apostrophe , whose members attempt to stem the tide of such solecisms as "potatoe's" and "pound's of apple's and orange's" in greengrocers' shops. In February 2004, he was voted Britain's most admired contemporary columnist by the British Journalism Review . On 4 September 2009,
126-720: A favourite with amateur groups. The play was adapted for the Irish stage as Liam Liar by Hugh Leonard in 1976. The play is set in one Saturday: Act 1 in the morning, Act 2 in the early evening, and Act 3 at night. The 1963 film was directed by John Schlesinger and featured Tom Courtenay , who played the part when Albert Finney left the cast in the West End play, as Billy and Julie Christie as Liz, one of his three girlfriends. Mona Washbourne played Mrs. Fisher, and Wilfred Pickles played Mr. Fisher. Rodney Bewes , Finlay Currie , and Leonard Rossiter also had roles. The novel
168-509: A reported 4,579 children having been fed by food banks between April 2019 and February 2020. A chapel dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin was built in 1636, and enlarged in 1774. It was a brick structure with a tower. It was enlarged by subscription in 1826. There were two churches built on the site. The Victorian church, of which the spire remains, is the tallest in Leeds, was built in 1864 and
210-483: A rubbish disposal chute leading to huge bins at street level. Hidden in the complex on the second floor were shops and a public house , 'The Pioneer'. Twelve of the blocks were six storeys in height and six were of seven, with the entrance on the second floor. The estate covered a large area of Hunslet and was arranged in three clusters around a small park. The individual flats had large windows and were spacious and light, and were very popular with their new tenants. But
252-613: A statement released by his family announced that Waterhouse had died quietly in his sleep at his home in London. He was 80 years old. Hunslet Hunslet ( English: / ˈ h ʌ n z l ə t / ) is an inner-city suburb in south Leeds , West Yorkshire , England. It is 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds South parliamentary constituency . The population of
294-507: Is now prospering as it follows the trend of Leeds generally and the expansion of office and industrial sites south of Leeds city centre. Hunslet is first mentioned as Hunslet (sic, for *Hunsflet ) in the Domesday Book of 1086, though twelfth-century spellings of the name such as Hunesflete seem to be more conservative: the name appears originally to have meant 'Hūn's creek', from an Anglo-Saxon personal name Hūn (or Hūna ) and
336-553: Is still primarily based around manufacturing and heavy engineering. Newer industries have moved to the western fringes of the area in recent years with the building of new office complexes including the Leeds City Business Park which originally opened with offices for companies including O2 and British Gas . O2 have since moved to Morley . The Morrisons supermarket in the Penny Hill Centre as well as
378-654: The Daily Mirror , Waterhouse on Newspaper Style , is regarded as a classic textbook for modern journalism. This was followed by a pocket book on English usage intended for a wider audience entitled English Our English (And How To Sing It) . He moved from the Mirror to the Mail in 1986 out of his objection to the Mirror 's ownership by Robert Maxwell , and remained at the Mail until shortly before his death. He fought long crusades to highlight what he perceived to be
420-657: The M62 to Manchester and Hull. The motorway was completed in 1971, and isolated a large part of Hunslet Moor. Leeds Hunslet Lane railway station was located on the Hallam Line . It opened in 1840, but in 1846 the Midland Railway replaced it with Leeds Wellington station , and Hunslet Lane became a goods depot, which closed in 1972: the area is now occupied by the Crown Point Retail Park. There
462-553: The 1960s; the book for the 1975 musical The Card ; Budgie ; Worzel Gummidge ; and Andy Capp (an adaptation of the comic strip ). 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
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#1732794575025504-539: The Costco wholesale warehouse on Leathley Road are also large employers. In 2011, Aston Barclay, a car auction group, purchased the former Motor Auctions Leeds car centre on Hillidge Road to further add to the regeneration of the area. According to an article by the Yorkshire Evening Post , 43% of the area's population lives in poverty and it has the ninth highest child poverty rate in the country, with
546-522: The Hunslet Grange (usually known as 'Leek Street Flats'). Construction of the 350 flats and maisonettes started in 1968 following a widespread slum clearance project in the area. The complex was commissioned by Leeds City Council and built by Shepherd Construction , in a maisonette style with so-called 'streets in the sky' and overhead walkways connecting blocks. The exterior of the buildings were pale grey pebbledashed concrete. Each floor had
588-583: The Jack Lane area of Hunslet. The area has a mixture of modern and 19th century industrial buildings, terraced housing and 20th century housing. It is an area that has grown up significantly around the River Aire in the early years of the 21st century, especially with the construction of modern riverside flats. It was at one point the main production site for Leeds Creamware, a type of pottery (still produced) so called because of its cream glazing. Hunslet
630-544: The Meadow Lane Gas Works for the production of town gas , before conversion to North Sea natural gas. Penny Hill surrounds Church Street. This is the old centre of Hunslet referred to as Hunslet Grange when the Leek Street Flats (1968 to 1983) were built. The Leek Street Flats developed problems with crime and condensation and were demolished fifteen years after their construction. The area
672-581: The Old English word flēot 'creek, inlet', probably referring to an inlet from the River Aire (> -fleet : Adlingfleet , Adelingesfluet 1086 ; Marfleet , Merefluet 1086 ; Ousefleet , Useflete 1100–1108). There are also the Old Norse personal names Húnn (Old Danish Hun ) and Húni , cognates of Hūn(a) . The district of Hunslet Carr, whose name is first attested in
714-602: The South Bank of Leeds. Hunslet was formerly a township in the parish of Leeds, in 1866 Hunslet became a separate civil parish , on 1 April 1925 the parish was abolished and merged with Leeds. In 1921 the parish had a population of 71,626. Hunslet, in the lower Aire Valley, is bounded on the east by the River Aire and covers nearly 1,200 acres of flat land. The underlying rocks were coal measures . Hunslet has different areas including Hunslet Moor, Hunslet Carr, Crown Point, Pottery Fields and Penny Hill. Hunslet today
756-483: The area as well as offering vocational education courses for 14- to 16-year-olds. Hunslet is also the home of Voluntary Action Leeds, the Council for Voluntary Service in Leeds, which provides direct support services and specialist advice to Voluntary Sector organisations across the city. The M621 and A61 , two major roads, pass through the area, providing convenient access to the whole of Yorkshire and access
798-513: The big city as a comedy writer. In 1960, the novel's author, Keith Waterhouse, co-wrote a three-act stage version with Willis Hall . The action took place on a single set combining the living-room, hallway, and porch of the Fisher household. The first production opened in the West End of London with Albert Finney in the title role. It has since been produced all over the world, and has become
840-518: The brewery closed. In 1823 forty working men from Hunslet raised the sum of £1 5s 1d which they sent to the radical publisher Richard Carlile who was serving a prison sentence in Dorchester gaol for the publications in which he exposed the reactionary policies of the government of Lord Liverpool . The subscription was accompanied by a noble letter written by one of the contributors, William Tillotson. The population of Hunslet grew rapidly in
882-494: The early 1970s the sitcom Billy Liar based on the character was quite popular and ran to 25 episodes. Waterhouse's first screenplay was the film Whistle Down the Wind (1961). Without receiving screen credit, Waterhouse and Hall claimed to have extensively rewritten the script for Alfred Hitchcock 's Torn Curtain (1966). Waterhouse wrote the comic play, Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989; Old Vic premiere, 1999), based on
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#1732794575025924-472: The first half of the 19th century becoming an important manufacturing centre. Several large mills were built for spinning of flax including Hunslet Mill , and there were chemical works, works for the manufacture of crown and flint glass, extensive potteries for coarse earthenware and the Leeds Pottery. Hunslet Mill, created between 1832 and 1842, is a Grade II listed building. From 1898 to 1935 it
966-549: The first tenants moved in, to be replaced with low-rise council housing, which was largely built around the late 1980s. Low Rise private housing was added in the 1990s and 2000s and a public space known as Hunslet Green occupies much of this space. The area is home to a number of voluntary organisations servicing the community, this includes the Hunslet Club, a youth organisation established in 1940 which provides sport, dance and drama activities for hundreds of young people in
1008-457: The former Braime's engineering works, all in close proximity to each other. Bewerley Street Infant School, designed by famous Leeds architect, George Corson , opened on 8 August 1873. By the 1950s, the school was for Juniors (7 – 11 Years) and the Infants had moved to a school on Hunslet Hall Road. The suburb has a rugby league club with historic roots in the form of Hunslet who play at
1050-454: The former Meadow Lane Gas Works are situated. Pottery Fields House, has the administrative and engineering functions for Northern Gas Networks. Other businesses include Merlin Gerin medium voltage electrical supplies, a scrap yard and Volkswagen auto breakers, and a motorcycle training centre. There are several disused railways crossing the roads, which brought coal from Middleton Colliery to
1092-411: The interior of the library, with an adult and junior reading room, were designed by Thomas Horsman and Co Ltd, costing £1,049 17s 6d . The building is now Hunslet Library and Community Hub. Crown Point once had a large railway depot which contained Leeds' main goods station. After many decades lying derelict the area was redeveloped into the Crown Point Retail Park, though the main railway cutting into
1134-608: The louche life of London journalist Jeffrey Bernard . His career began at the Yorkshire Evening Post and he also wrote regularly for Punch , the Daily Mirror , and latterly for the Daily Mail . He initially joined the Mirror as a reporter in 1952, before he became a playwright and novelist; during his initial stint, he campaigned against the colour bar in post-war Britain, the abuses committed in
1176-701: The name of the British Empire in Kenya and the British government's selling of weapons to various Middle Eastern countries. Subsequently, he returned as a columnist, initially in the Mirror Magazine , moving to the main newspaper on 22 June 1970, on Mondays, and extending to Thursdays from 16 July 1970. Waterhouse published extracts from the columns in the books Mondays, Thursdays and Rhubarb, Rhubarb and Other Noises . His extended style book for
1218-401: The new church building surrounding it was built in the 1970s but was demolished in 2019. Other smaller less notable churches exist in the district. The area is also home to St Joseph's Catholic Club (near a St Joseph's Catholic Church that was demolished in 2005 and is now part of the parish of St Margaret Clitherow). Hunslet's redevelopment in the 1960s was notable for the construction of
1260-554: The period 1175–89 as Kerra , includes the northern English dialect word carr , meaning 'bog' (borrowed into English from Old Norse kjarr , which had the same meaning, but more commonly "copsewood", "brushwood", "thicket"). Meanwhile, Hunslet moor is first mentioned in 1588. Notice : Hunslet is possibly related etymologically to the place-name Honfleur in Normandy, which is probably of Anglo-Scandinavian origin and mentioned as Huneflet in 1025, Hunefleth in 1082 - 87. At
1302-418: The popularity was short-lived; the heating systems were inadequate for the poorly insulated concrete prefabricated buildings , the interiors suffered from condensation and the exterior walls became streaked with black. In addition, the "rabbit-warren" layout made the estate hard to navigate and, within a few years, even harder to police. Demolition of the complex started in 1983, less than fifteen years after
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1344-633: The previous City and Hunslet council ward at the 2011 census was 33,705. Many engineering companies were based in Hunslet, including John Fowler & Co. manufacturers of traction engines and steam rollers , the Hunslet Engine Company builders of locomotives (including those used during the construction of the Channel Tunnel ), Kitson & Co. , Manning Wardle and Hudswell Clarke . Many railway locomotives were built in
1386-485: The site of Crown Point Retail Park), as well as a large number of factories. Hunslet was home to the first free public library in Leeds when a branch library opened on evenings from October 1870 in a room at the Hunslet Mechanics Institute. It became a day branch in 1912. On 23 February 1931, the new building was opened by Arthur Greenwood MP and Minister for Health. The fixtures and fittings in
1428-560: The terminus station can still be seen at the southern end. The former track beds are currently let for storage and contain timber and brickwork. Tetley's Brewery was to the north of this area, as was the Yorkshire Chemical Works: both have now been demolished. Next to the river is Clarence Dock . Pottery Fields is the industrial area around Kidacre Street, Leathley Road, Ivory Street, Meadow Lane and Cross Myrtle Street where Leeds City Council 's Pottery Fields Depot and
1470-656: The time of the Domesday survey in 1086, the manor of Hunslet belonged to the Lacys, from whom it passed to various families including the Gascoignes and the Neviles. Hunslet was the birthplace of Thomas Gascoigne , born in 1404 and later chancellor of Oxford University. The brewers Joshua Tetley and Son set up business in Hunslet in 1822 producing beer and bitter today as part of Carlsberg Tetley group. However, in 2011
1512-557: Was a British novelist and newspaper columnist and the writer of many television series. He was also a noted arbiter of newspaper style and journalistic writing. Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet , Leeds , West Riding of Yorkshire , England. He performed two years of national service in the Royal Air Force . 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
1554-696: Was also a passenger station on Hillidge Road: this is gone, but the Station Hotel remains. The railway yard is now used as the Leeds Vehicle Maintenance Facility for Freightliner . An educational hub has been formed in the north of Hunslet, with Leeds City College 's Printworks Campus using the former Alf Cooke printworks building, Leeds College of Building 's Cudbear Street site, the Ruth Gorse Academy , and University Technical College Leeds (UTC) using
1596-568: Was also used as the basis for a sitcom made by London Weekend Television in 1973–1974, starring Jeff Rawle as Billy. The series was scripted by the play's writers, Waterhouse and Hall, and the action was updated to the 1970s. George A. Cooper reprised his West End role as Billy's father. Other regular cast members included Pamela Vezey as Alice, Colin Jeavons as Shadrack, May Warden as Billy's grandmother, and Sally Watts as Barbara. Several new girlfriends were also introduced. The series
1638-412: Was by well-known British sitcom writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais , and the music and lyrics were by film composer John Barry and Don Black respectively. An American adaptation entitled Billy and starring Steve Guttenberg , Peggy Pope , and James Gallery aired briefly on CBS in 1979. Keith Waterhouse Keith Spencer Waterhouse CBE (6 February 1929 – 4 September 2009 )
1680-409: Was redeveloped in the 1960s, the main feature of this being the Hunslet Grange (Leek Street flats). In the 1980s it was again redeveloped, and in the 2000s, the area around the River Aire and Clarence Dock was redeveloped. Aire Park , a 4.9 acres (2 ha) new public open space and redevelopment, is now being planned for the site surrounding The Tetley art gallery as part of the regeneration of
1722-943: Was shown on the Seven Network in Australia during the non-ratings season of 1975–1976, shown on CBC Television in Canada in 1975–1976, and shown on RTÉ 2 in Ireland in 1982. It has never been rerun , although the first series was released on Region 2 DVD in August 2006. The second series was released in March 2007. The complete series was released on 07/05/2018. In 1974, a successful West End musical (entitled simply Billy ) starred Michael Crawford and, in her West End debut, Elaine Paige . The cast also included Gay Soper , Avis Bunnage , Bryan Pringle and Lockwood West . The book
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1764-408: Was the home of the 25 acres (10 ha) Leeds Steel Works , with four blast furnaces , which was the site of a major industrial accident in 1913, when a boiler explosion killed nine men. Thirteen years earlier, four men had died in a very similar explosion. By 1906 Hunslet was home to Leeds’ second-largest gas works , the city's main rail goods yards, known at the time as Midland Goods Station (now
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