Celebrating 100 Years

Celebrated for his creative writing as well as his theoretical and critical work, Professor Eagleton has kindly provided this heartfelt personal memoir as a contribution to the Raymond Williams centenary commemorations.

Professor Terry Eagleton is Distinguished Professor of English Literature within the Department of English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University. He obtained his PhD at Cambridge where he was a student of Raymond Williams, and went on to become the youngest Fellow of Jesus College since the eighteenth century, before moving to Wadham College, Oxford in 1968.

In this interview with Dr Sharon Clancy, the Williams Family share memories of their father Raymond Williams and their mother Joy, covering a range of subjects including, class, war, education, religion, Marx and the Lady Chatterley Trial.

This interview has been split into 9 parts for quick and easy access to specific areas of interest.  Click the links below to access the different parts.

PART 1 - On their father Raymond Williams and their mother Joy click to watch

PART 2 - On his views on Marx click to watch

PART 3 - Lady Chatterly Trial and being a Fellow click to watch

PART 4 - Language skills & foreign students click to watch

PART 5 - War, Wales, education and religion click to watch

PART 6 - Their mother's family, the Korean war click to watch

PART 7 - His novels and his writings click to watch

PART 8 - Politics, Adult education, Miner's strike click to watch

PART 9 - Views on class click to watch

The Williams Family are Merryn, Ederyn and Madawc. (Ross - Merryn's daughter is there for information)

Derek was an undergraduate at Cambridge and for part of his time there Raymond Williams was his tutor.

Dr Sharon Clancy is the interviewer.

Dr Howells has written this very personal memoir of time spent in the company of Raymond Williams.

Dr Kim Howells was MP for Pontypridd between 1989 and 2010. He was educated at Mountain Ash Grammar School, Hornsey College of Art, and the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, and was employed as an official with the National Union of Mineworkers between 1984 and 1985. Serving as a minister in successive Labour governments between 1997 and 2009, he also chaired the Intelligence and Security Committee. This is a history which put Dr Howells in an ideal position to write the foreword to the 2011 Library of Wales edition of The Volunteers, a novel by Raymond Williams set in the area around Cardiff and industrial south Wales.

This 3 part discussion between Prof Linden West and Dr Sharon Clancy, explores Williams' ideas on Community, teaching, the importance of place and relationships.

PART 1 - Community click to watch

PART 2 - Teaching and the importance of place click to watch

PART 3 - Relationships click to watch

Prof Morag Shiach was the last postgraduate student to be supervised by Raymond Williams at Cambridge University and is now Professor of Cultural History at Queen Mary, University of London. In 1988 Morag was instrumental in setting up the appeal, to which many people in Cambridge contributed, which was used to set up the Raymond Williams Memorial Trust to continue Raymond Williams’s work in adult education.

The interviewer is Prof Mary Joannu.

In this interview with Professor Jeff Wallace, who has been influenced by the work of Raymond Williams and is a co-founder of the Keywords journal; he shares his views and understanding of Williams' work.

The interviewer is Dr Jan Huyton.

Cilla and Sharon discuss how the work of Raymond Williams continues to influence their lives. The conversation is in TWO PARTS

PART 1 Cilla's thesis and more

PART 2  Why Raymond Williams is still relevent

John Barnie has written this memoir about how Raymond's novel 'Border Country' has influenced his life. He interviewed Raymond for Planet magazine shortly before his death in 1988. John is a poet and essayist from Abergavenny. He taught for a number of years at Copenhagen University before returning to Wales to work for the political and cultural magazine Planet: The Welsh Internationalist as editor.

He is the author of over twenty collections of poetry and essays, many of which are concerned with the environment and the natural world. His work has been translated into Italian, Danish and Estonian. A collection of essays, The King of Ashes, was awarded

a Welsh Books Council Prize for Literature.

A blues guitarist, he has performed in a number of blues and poetry bands, including the bilingual Y Bechgyn Drwg/The Bad Boys, and the trio Hollow Log.

His published works include a memoir, Footfalls in the Silence (Cinnamon Press) and a collection

of poems, Wind Playing with a Man’s Hat (also from Cinnamon). 

Now retired Stephen was Chair of the Co-operative College and Principal of Ruskin College in the UK. Stephen knew Raymond Williams and worked with him occasionally. Here he talks about Raymond with Dr Sharon Clancy

Mary Joannou is Emerita Professor at Anglia Ruskin University now attached to the Labour History Research Unit. This personal memoir describes how Raymond Williams touched the lives of three mature students at Cambridge University, the shock on hearing of his unexpected death, and the foundation of a memorial fund which eventually evolved into the Raymond Williams Foundation.

Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymru politician and community activist, talks about what reading Raymond Williams has meant for her life and her politics. Leanne speaks of the importance of community, aspects of Welsh identity and language, and the message of hope she takes from Williams. The location of the interview is a Barry Sidings Country Park at the foot of Mynydd Gelliwion. The park was developed on land previously used as railway sidings where coal was loaded from the nearby colliery to be transported to the docks. The river Rhondda can be heard flowing in the background, and the flow of traffic can also be heard. This park is a real border location between rural and urban, a very fitting location to talk about Raymond Williams's work.

Joseph Boughey is a life member of the Raymond Williams Foundation and was a trustee between 2011 and 2020. Joseph has continued to maintain an interest in the work of Raymond Williams and recently presented a stimulus at a Philosophy in Pubs symposium on Red and Green, Ecology and Politics – discussing Williams’ work in this area. This short piece written for the Williams centenary foregrounds what Joseph perceives to be Williams’ careful focus on the use and meaning of words and some of their political implications.