MUSIC apart, the audio tapes most frequently played in my car are of Martin Jarvis reading Just William.

The range of voices that Jarvis delivers, from booming professors to reedy old maids, is amazing. His producer has remarked that to see him reading the books is a spectacle in itself.

But that's not the point here. William epitomises the golden age of boyhood. From their headquarters in the Old Barn, he and his Outlaws roam the woods and fields with ne'er a care except how to raise the next 6d towards a coveted water pistol. Making up their own fun, they are never taken to attractions like theme parks.

Most crucially, William and his gang inhabit their own world. Everything "adult" is alien to them. Shopping, for instance. In one story, a visiting aunt, a common species in the William landscape, now largely extinct, intends to visit the local shops. Because she has favoured William with a sixpence at the start of her visit, rather than holding it in reserve as a reward for good behaviour, William decides to save her from this ordeal. So he lures her into a game of Red Indians, in which she becomes a squaw, unfortunately captured by William's rival gang.

William also hates dressing up. In another story, he and his gang meet a tramp and resolve that this way of life is the one for them. Fiction this might be, but among silver-haired males will be many who recognise more than a trace of William in their former selves. Not least his aversion to new clothes.

But, about to burst upon us is the new Marks & Spencer "Boys' Collection" - fashion clothing, don't you know. David Beckham has been closely involved with the retailer in settling what it calls "the smallest details, from the shape of trouser legs to the colours of T-shirts''. Every item will bear a designer logo, in a still-secret form of the initials DB, that the company is confident "every boy will want to own''.

Well, William wouldn't, but he and contemporaries weren't subject to the marketing directed at today's generation. Posters promoting the collection will appear in stores during the summer holidays. Goody bags containing promotional flyers will be handed out at summer camps.

And so boyhood yields to the most calculated commercial pressure. Of course, this has been going on for some time - kids demanding particular brands of trainers, T-shirts or whatever. But that doesn't make it any less depressing to see the forces of commerce so ruthlessly directed at the young - perceived as just another consumer group. Perhaps "education, education, education'' should include raising awareness among the young of how business will seek to exploit them. But I don't expect Tony Blair would agree.