Jim Williams played the part of Ronald George Stanforth,
the dull student, who had less to say than the other students. He often
genuinely wanted to learn and Bottomley often called him the teacher's
pet or a crawler, but his lack of intelligence was often misinterpreted
by Dr Pym as cheekiness.
His main means of distracting the class was the incessant
asking for the meaning of whatever was being talked about.
In the very early episodes, the "d" was pronounced, and
Bottomly sometimes pronounced it as if it were hyphenated -
"Stand-forth", but in most episodes the "d" is rarely heard, leading
many to believe that his name should be spelt "Stanforth". But
"Standforth" is definitely the correct spelling.
Jim Williams was the youngest cast member, being only
fourteen years old when the series started.
Before Yes What, he played in a few sketches in Kangaroos
On Parade, and later played in several popular radio shows. He was
interested in the technical side of radio and studied for his
Australian Operators' Proficiency Certificate.
Jim died on May 2nd, 1981, aged 59.