Malmesbury is a town of gaiety this week. King Carnival reigns and the streets are thronged with happy, laughing people.” So says a newspaper clipping from August 26, 1939.

On Saturday, August 30, those very same streets will once more be thronged with laughing, happy people as the Malmesbury Carnival month reaches its climax with the annual procession.

To celebrate this year, local historian Bob Browning, in league with the Malmesbury Carnival Committee, has published a book crammed with photos charting the event’s colourful past.

Scratching around the library and delving into newspaper archives, Mr Browning found plenty of evidence of Malmesbury folk enjoying communal high jinks including local nurses beating wounded World War One soldiers in a tug-of-war in 1917.

But the word ‘carnival’ did not appear until the Malmesbury Hospital Carnival took place in July 1925, when the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort judged the fancy dress parade.

After finding another newspaper article, Mr Browning said: “Carnival as we know it today can, I think, be dated to 1933.”

That’s when estate agent Charles ‘Casey’ Jones got together with a group of pro-active locals to form a carnival committee. Malmesbury’s first Carnival Queen was Joan Wilkins, who clinched the title because she sold more fund raising tickets than anyone else.

But when Gwen Hitchings was crowned three years later she had no less than 15 attendants “and a wonderful coach to ride in”.

Carnival secretary Charles Jones was the toast of the town that year after he managed to persuade the celebrated band of the 11th Lancers, temporarily residing at nearby Charlton Park, to perform for free.

One of the most popular carnival events was fixing a heavily greased pole across the River Avon to see if anyone could make their way from one bank to the other without taking the plunge.

“Almost all fell into the river much to the amusement of the onlookers,” writes Mr Browning.

Escapologist and magician Bernard Basevi caused a stir when he was chained, tied into a sack and shoved into the river – only to re-emerge a minute or so in triumph.

The carnival grew ever larger after being put on ice during World War Two and by 1953 attractions ranged from fairground rides to cricket and football matches before culminating in a grand parade – as it does today.

* Malmesbury Carnival, History and Recollections by Bob Browning is available from Malmesbury Tourist Information Centre, H J Knees, carnival events and other outlets in and around Malmesbury. All proceeds from the book sales go to the Malmesbury Carnival fund.