- Hoax letter writers
This page covers various hoax letter writers.
Henry Root
Henry Root is the creation of writer
William Donaldson 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 mini-series , "Root Into Europe ", starringGeorge Cole .Henry Raddick
There is a lexical link between Henry Root and
Henry Raddick (Raddick is an anglification of Radix, meaning root) who writes 'unusual' reviews (bordering on crank/prank territory) for Amazon.com. Nevertheless, speculation has been rife as to who Henry Raddick is. Besides Donaldson, suspects includeCharles, Prince of Wales . This has been denied by royal staff.The same person is also the author of various fake reviews purporting to be by
Andrew Lloyd Webber Fact|date=June 2008.Francis Wagstaffe
Francis Wagstaffe is the creation of the Reverend Toby Forward, BEd, MA, and the Reverend David Johnson, BA (Cantab), sometime President of the Cambridge Union, now Chaplain to the
Oxford Union .Wagstaffe wrote to prominent people, mostly Anglican bishops, but also others including Michael Green,
Conrad Swan ,Ted Hughes ,Roy Jenkins ,Roger Freeman ,Cilla Black ,Rocco Forte ,Stella Rimington , andMelvyn Bragg as well as organisations including theRoyal Air Force , theRoyal Artillery , theBritish Broadcasting Corporation ,British Rail ,Madame Tussauds , theVictoria and Albert Museum , and the Russian Embassy.In the earlier letters he poses as a purveyor of
Cumberland sausage s and former prep school proprietor who is seeking guidance on the Christian faith, and in the later letters he poses as His Grace the Most Reverend the Archbishop of the Old Northern Catholick Church of the East Riding Mar Francis II Metropolitan and Primate, Knight Grand Commander of the Order of Saint John of Beverly (1st Class).Published as Toby Forward and David Johnson, eds, "The Spiritual Quest of Francis Wagstaffe" (
Leominster : Gracewing, 1994). The publication supported St Peter's Young Homeless Support Centre in Highfields,Leicester .Others
Other
prank mail and reviewers include:*
Ed Broth - also possibly the creation of comedianJerry Seinfeld
* Robin Cooper who wrote The Timewaster Letters - the creation ofRobert Popper .
* Sterling Huck, who wrote [http://www.sterlinghuckletters.com/ The Sterling Huck Letters] , published in 2002.
*Ted L. Nancy - possibly the creation of comedianJerry Seinfeld
*W. Morgan Petty - the nom de plume of Brian Bethell.
*H. Rochester Sneath - the fictional headmaster of the fictional British public school Selhurst, created byHumphry Berkeley
*Lazlo Toth - the creation ofDon Novello , the actor who playedFather Guido Sarducci onSaturday Night Live .
* Bill Geerhart, who wrote [http://www.radaronline.com/from-the-magazine/2008/04/letter_to_charles_manson_richard_ramirez_ted_kacyinski_bill.php/ The Billy Letters] , published by Radar Magazine in 2008.
*Edna Welthorpe was a prudish middle-aged housewife who was strongly opposed to her creatorJoe Orton 's plays.
* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/cdp/member-reviews/AZN3ZSQQU3WW5/ref=cm_pdp_reviews_see_all?ie=UTF8&sort%5Fby=MostRecentReview Wayne Redhart] 'top 500' spoof reviewer of over 200 items on amazon.co.uk (currently ranked as the 153rd most 'helpful' reviewer on the site)
* [http://www.thedose.com/features/rudyletters/ Rudy Schumann] - author of The Rudy Lettersee also
*"
Diary of a Nobody " - a fictional diary written byGeorge Grossmith External links
* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/25699.html Henry Raddick: man of letters - Amazon star]
* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/27355.html "I am not Henry Raddick!" - HRH Prince of Wales]
* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/26027.html Lloyd Webber web hoaxer unmasked]
* [http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/22264 Henry Raddick discussion at Metafilter]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.