| William Donaldson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 January 1935 |
| Died | 22 June 2005 (aged 70) |
| Pen name | Henry Root |
| Occupation | Writer and satirist |
| Notable work(s) | The Henry Root Letters |
| Spouse(s) | Sonia Avory Claire Gordon Cherry Hatrick |
Charles William Donaldson (4 January 1935 - 22 June 2005[1]) was an English satirist, writer, playboy and, under the pseudonym of Henry Root, author of The Henry Root Letters.
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Donaldson enjoyed a privileged upbringing in Sunningdale, Berkshire as the son of a shipping magnate. He was educated at Winchester College, where he met Julian Mitchell. While reading English at Magdalene College, Cambridge, he was orphaned and inherited a substantial fortune. He spent some of that inheritance supporting young writers such as his contemporaries Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.[2]
On graduation, Donaldson became associated with the set surrounding Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and worked as a theatrical producer. He established himself as a central player in the United Kingdom satire boom of the early 1960s as co-producer, with Donald Albery, of Beyond the Fringe (1960), and of dramatisations of J. P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man (1959) and Spike Milligan's The Bed-Sitting Room (1963). The pair earned a weekly £2,000 from Fringe when the principal performers, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller, were earning only £75. However, Donaldson managed, not for the last time, to squander his fortune.
In 1971, Donaldson left for Ibiza where he imprudently spent his last £2,000 on a glass-bottomed boat. Before long he was scavenging for food on the beach. Returning to London, he found refuge with a former girlfriend who was running a brothel on the Fulham Road.[1] His experiences there formed the basis of his first novel Both the Ladies and the Gentlemen (1975).
However, it was to be Donaldson's fictional correspondent Henry Root that made him a final fortune. Root's satirical lampooning of the wealthy, famous and influential was retold in the books:
Donaldson lived at Elm Park Mansions on Park Walk, Chelsea, from which address all the Root letters were sent. Nearby The Henry Root restaurant has been established in his memory[3].
Donaldson's biographical survey of roguish Britons through the ages, Brewer's Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics (2002), has been described as "a breathtaking triumph of misdirected scholarship".[2]
The phenomenal success of the books, especially the first, enabled Donaldson to resume his chaotic lifestyle and in the mid-80s he began using crack cocaine. He continued its use for more than a decade, but insisted he was not addicted.[2]
He married Sonia Avory in 1957 and she bore him his only child, Charlie. However, he left her for Jacki Ellis, then wife of Jeffrey Bernard, who then abandoned him. A sequence of affairs followed, including liaisons with Sarah Miles and Carly Simon.[1] He abandoned Miles for Simon, whom he described as "the answer to any sane man's prayers; funny, quick, erotic, extravagantly talented" but this did not prevent him from jilting her once they were engaged and returning to Miles.[4] In 1968, he inherited another fortune and married Claire Gordon. The couple becoming the epitome of 1960s Swinging London. He later remembered that "sex, whether in company or not, has been the only department in life in which I have demanded from anyone taking part the very highest standards of seriousness."[2]
He was survived by his third wife Cherry Hatrick.