He completed his National Service in the Royal Navy in the late 1950s, reaching the rank of Sub-Lieutenant. He was educated at Winchester College (where he first met Julian Mitchell) and Magdalene College, Cambridge.

His heroes were few, but those who were, to Root's mind, "sound" - principally Mrs Thatcher, the Dowager Lady Birdwood and James Anderton, "God's Cop", the self-appointed guardian of Greater Manchester's morals. You Cannot Live As I Have Lived and Not End Up Like This: The thoroughly disgraceful life and times of Willie Donaldson, Terence Blacker, Ebury Press, 2007, pp.The sender of these letters – a cantankerous crusader against pornography and modernity, and for hanging and Mrs. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The millions who enjoyed the original 'Root' will no doubt have assumed that such a public and hysterical scam could never be repeated.

It consists of real correspondence between an apparently wealthy and eccentric retired fish-merchant, and many public figures to whom he wrote, requesting support for bizarre right-wing proposals. M Godding Books Ltd is an internet book business running from Wiltshire and sending books all over the world every working day.

Donaldson lived at 139 Elm Park Mansions on Park Walk, Chelsea, London SW10, from which address all the Root letters were sent. Published in 1980, what would Henry Root of the wet fish emporium make of the A to Z listers of today. In short, he was the British version of Sarah Palin – but people apparently took him seriously (with the exception of Cambridge). His experiences there formed the basis of his first novel, Both the Ladies and the Gentlemen (1975).

a b c "William Donaldson – Womanising satirist and novelist who squandered several fortunes on wild living". Root wrote the BBC – I think Monty Python had his number, the Queen, Prince Charles, various publishing houses.

Esther Rantzen doesn't come out quite so well - there's a disagreement about whether the BBC should pay Root for some unusable script material, and Rantzen sends the same response to two different letters - the first from Root praising the show, the second, again thanking him and saying how much they appreciate viewer contributions is in response to his missive which says simply, "Dear Esther, You're a fat idiot and your show's a disgrace.

Donaldson's ghastly creation wrote outrageous, threatening, scurrilous and outlandish letters to public figures, praising, insulting or attempting to bribe them. Supposedly a wet fish merchant from Fulham, he is an avatar for a lot of the to-the-right-of-Attila-the-Hun, Thatcher-supporting, mildly racist, entitled, liberal-baiting mansplaining that was de rigeur and absolutely unchallenged in the Spectator/Private Eye yachts and casinos circles that Donaldson frequented. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. The phenomenal success of the Henry Root books, especially the first, enabled Donaldson to resume his earlier chaotic lifestyle, and in the mid-1980s he began using crack cocaine.Liz Reed - another character created by William Donaldson, Reed's TV production pitches - for shows such as 'Disabled Gladiators' and 'Anglotrash' - in the guise of Heart Felt Productions were collected in the 1998 book, The Heart Felt Letters.