Gordon Williams (writer)

Gordon Maclean Williams was a Scottish author of more than 20 novels. Notable among his books is From Scenes Like These, shortlisted for the 1969 Booker Prize, and The Siege of Trencher's Farm, which was adapted for the controversial Sam Peckinpah film, Straw Dogs. Williams was a scriptwriter for films adapted from his own novels as well as for books by other authors. He also worked as a ghostwriter for the autobiographies of footballers Bobby Moore and Terry Venables as well as manager Tommy Docherty. Williams collaborated with Terry Venables, using the shared pseudonym P. B. Yuill, to co-write four novels and create the 1978 television series Hazell.

Biography

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in Scotland, Williams was the son of a police constable who had moved south from Aberdeenshire. He was educated at the John Neilson Institution, leaving aged 16 to become a cub reporter for the Johnstone Advertiser. Following national service with the Royal Air Force in Germany, he moved to London to work as a journalist. He wrote for television and was the author of several novels, including From Scenes Like These, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1969, Walk, Don't Walk and Big Morning Blues. Other early novels include The Camp, The Man Who Had Power Over Women and The Upper Pleasure Garden.
He was a ghostwriter for the autobiographies of association footballers Bobby Moore, Terry Venables and manager Tommy Docherty.
Williams' experiences in the RAF informed his second published novel, The Camp. In 1971, his novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm was controversially filmed as Straw Dogs. Sam Peckinpah's cinematic treatment marked a watershed in the depiction of sexual violence in the cinema, although the film's most controversial scenes are absent from the book. Other film work includes The Man Who Had Power Over Women, from his own novel, and Tree of Hands, as scriptwriter from a Ruth Rendell novel. Williams also wrote the book of Ridley Scott's film The Duellists.
In 1976, film producer Harry Saltzman employed Williams to rewrite the script for The Micronauts. Although the film was never made, Williams' novelisation was published in 1977; he subsequently wrote two sequels.
While working as commercial manager of association football club Chelsea, he renewed his collaboration with Venables, resulting in four co-written novels. From the novels grew the 1978 TV series Hazell, which the pair co-wrote under the shared pseudonym P. B. Yuill. Under the name Jack Lang, Williams also wrote paperbacks "for £300 a time".
He declined director Bill Forsyth's invitation to write the script for the 1981 film Gregory's Girl.
Williams died on 20 August 2017 at the age of 83.