Donald Sinclair (hotel owner)
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Donald Sinclair (10 July 1909 - 1981) was the owner of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, which he had acquired after an extensive career in the British Navy. He was the inspiration for the character Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, due to his stuffy, snobbish and eccentric treatment of his guests, which included John Cleese and members of the Monty Python cast.
Several of the show's plotlines were partly based on real life events. The episode "The Builders" was inspired by an incident involving several builders who had come to rebuild Sinclair's garden wall. Sinclair witnessed them having a tea break; mistakenly believing they were deliberately slacking, he went into a fit of rage. Sinclair's general dislike of labourers was also depicted in the pilot episode, "A Touch of Class", in Basil's dealings with O'Reilly.
Sinclair was also known for his xenophobic mistreatment of foreigners as depicted in "Waldorf Salad", which was based upon Sinclair's reaction to the "clearly American" table manners of Terry Gilliam. The excuse of 'we've had a bomb scare' - depicted in the series finale, "Basil the Rat" - was used by Sinclair when he flung Eric Idle's rucksack over the hotel wall. Sinclair really did employ cheap labour (à la Manuel) in the form of foreigners, many of whom suffered abusive treatment under his employment.
Cleese, who played Basil Fawlty, played a character named Donald Sinclair in the movie Rat Race.
Sinclair died in England in 1981. Despite rumours that he had emigrated to Canada, he never left Torquay. [citation needed] He was survived by his wife Beatrice, daughter Beatrice (Ann) and daughter Helen.
Opinions are divided on how closely Sinclair resembled Basil Fawlty. Former staff and visitors have remembered actual events there that were allegedly as ludicrous as those depicted in the programmes.[1] However Sinclair's wife and daughters are adamant that Fawlty was an inaccurate caricature of Sinclair.[2]
Much of this information was revealed in the Fawlty Towers DVD release. Since the phenomenal success of the programme, the several owners of the Gleneagles Hotel since Sinclair have been keen to advertise the establishment's role in the show's origins.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2002%2F05%2F18%2Fnfawlt18.xml "Fawlty Hotelier was bonkers, says waitress", article by Richard Saville in The Daily Telegraph, 18/05/2002, URL accessed Sep 1st, 2006
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/05/11/nfawlt11.xml "My husband was not like Basil", article by Richard Saville in The Daily Telegraph, 11/05/2002, URL accessed June 14th, 2006
| Fawlty Towers |
| Characters: |
| Basil Fawlty | Sybil Fawlty | Manuel | Polly Sherman Major Gowen | Terry the Chef | Miss Tibbs & Miss Gatsby Audrey | Notable guests |
| Episodes: |
| A Touch of Class | The Builders | The Wedding Party | The Hotel Inspectors | Gourmet Night | The Germans Communication Problems | The Psychiatrist | Waldorf Salad | The Kipper and the Corpse | The Anniversary | Basil the Rat The "thirteenth episode" rumour |
| Cast and crew: |
| John Cleese | Connie Booth | Prunella Scales | Andrew Sachs Ballard Berkeley | Gilly Flower | Renee Roberts | Brian Hall John Howard Davies | Bob Spiers |
| See also: |
| Donald Sinclair | Wooburn Grange Country Club | Torquay | The hotel | Don't Mention the War (song) |
