This article covers various hoax letter writers.

Henry Root

Henry Root is the creation of writer

William Donaldson Charles William Donaldson (4 January 1935 – 22 June 2005) was a British satirist, writer, playboy and, under the pseudonym of Henry Root, author of '' The Henry Root Letters''. Life and career Son of Charles Glen Donaldson (1904–1956) an ...

who wrote to numerous public figures with unusual or outlandish questions and requests. The letters were published as ''The Henry Root Letters'' and ''The Further Letters of Henry Root'' and a compilation volume, ''The Complete Henry Root Letters''. The Henry Root character inspired the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

, ''

Root Into Europe ''Root Into Europe'' is an ITV comedy-drama based on the character from William Donaldson's book ''The Henry Root Letters''. Five episodes Written by Donaldson and Mark Chapman and produced by Aspect Film & TV for Central Independent Television ...

'', starring George Cole.

Others

Other

prank A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. ...

mail and reviewers include: * John Hargrave of Zug.com, who sent a letter to all US senators, posing as a child and asking them for their favourite joke. * Bill Geerhart, author of the book ''Little Billy's Letters'' (Morrow, 2010) *

Ed Broth Ed Broth is the author of ''Stories From A Moron: Real Stories Rejected by Real Magazines'', published in January, 2005 by St. Martin's Press. The book consists of numerous prank letters Broth mailed to magazines and their responses. An example ...

- also possibly the creation of comedian

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...

. * Robin Cooper who wrote ''The Timewaster Letters'' - the creation of

Robert Popper Robert Darren Popper (born 23 November 1967) is a British comedy producer, writer, actor, and author, best known as co-creator of the mock BBC documentary ''Look Around You'', and creator of Channel 4's sitcom ''Friday Night Dinner''. He also w ...

. * Ted L. Nancy - the creation of comedian

Barry Marder Barry Marder is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is identified with the character of Ted L. Nancy, author of the ''Letters from a Nut'' series of books. Career Marder has performed at most major theaters in the United States a ...

. * W. Morgan Petty - the

nom de plume A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Brian Bethell. *

H. Rochester Sneath H. Rochester Sneath MA L-ès-L (c. 1900 – ?) is a fictional character, headmaster of the fictional Selhurst school, who was created by Humphry Berkeley in a series of hoax letters to public school headmasters and public figures starting in 194 ...

- the fictional headmaster of the fictional

British public school In England and Wales (but not Scotland), a public school is a fee-charging endowed school originally for older boys. They are "public" in the sense of being open to pupils irrespective of locality, denomination or paternal trade or profess ...

Selhurst, created by

Humphry Berkeley Humphry John Berkeley (21 February 192614 November 1994) was a British politician and author. He was noted for his three changes of parties and his early support for gay rights. He is also remembered for a series of hoax letters he sent as fi ...

. * the fictitious Lazlo Toth - the creation of actor/writer

Don Novello Donald Andrew Novello (born January 1, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, singer, writer, film director and producer. He is best known for his work on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1978 to 1980, and again from 1985 to 1986, often as the ...

, who played

Father Guido Sarducci Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character created by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci is a chain-smoking priest with tinted glasses, who works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Holy See, Vatican newspaper ...

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

. * Edna Welthorpe was a prudish middle-aged housewife who was strongly opposed to her creator

Joe Orton John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his death in 1967, was short but highly influential. During this brie ...

's plays. * James Spence, author of ''Silly Beggar: The World's Stupidest Begging Letters'', wrote absurd comedy emails requesting free items from companies. *

Bob Servant ''Bob Servant Independent'', renamed ''Bob Servant'', is a British television sitcom written and created by Neil Forsyth. The first series of six episodes was broadcast in 2013 on BBC4 and repeated on BBC2 Scotland, starring Brian Cox in the ti ...

who swapped emails with Internet Spammers in the book ''Delete This At Your Peril'' - the creation of

Neil Forsyth Neil Forsyth (born 1978) is a Scottish author, television writer and journalist. Early life Forsyth grew up in Dundee, Scotland where he attended the High School of Dundee and his first writing appeared in a Dundee United fanzine. He gradu ...

. * David Thorne, who came to public attention for tongue-in-cheek letters and emails, such as an attempt to "pay" a bill with a drawing of a seven-legged spider (2008) and repeatedly

RSVP RSVP is an initialism derived from the French phrase ''Répondez s'il vous plaît'', literally meaning "Respond, if you please", or just "Please respond", to require confirmation of an invitation. The initialism "RSVP" is no longer used much in ...

ing for a party to which he had not been invited. * Liz Reed - another character created by

, 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.

References

External links

Henry Raddick: man of letters - Amazon starHenry Raddick discussion at Metafilter
at UNSW Press {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoax Letter Writers Literary forgeries Journalistic hoaxes

Henry Root

Others

See also

References

External links