Born On This Day- May 29th... English Writer T.H. White

During the 4 decades that I was an actor, I had a tendency to immerse myself in research, of which only the tiniest touch would be timely & valuable. 

In 1969. I was cast as Merlin in the musical- Camelot at my high school. In school & university, I was often cast as older characters because I had the talent to pull it off, & well, I have always looked older than my years. Being cast as the wizard guide of King Arthur sent me on a journey through the books of T.H White’s Arthurian world: The Once & Future King, The Sword & The Stone, The Queen Of Air & Darkness, The Ill-Made Knight, Candle In The Wind, & The Book Of Merlin. By the time I played Arthur's bastard son- Mordred, a rare age appropriate role, I was fairly well versed in the legends surrounding, Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere & the Knights Of The Round Table.

T.H. White wrote many books for adults & children, but he is most famous for writing writing The Once & Future King, & a series of novels based on Sir Thomas Malory's 15th Century romantic- Le Mortte D'Arthur reinterpreting the legend of King Arthur. The Broadway musical Camelot & the Disney film The Sword in the Stone are both based on The Once and Future King. Much of our historical knowledge of Arthur is owed to White's work.

White was a closeted homosexual & sorrowful, solitary, & sorry man who turning first to psychotherapy & then alcohol to deal with his perceived problem. He eventually retired to one of the Channel Islands, Julie Andrews & her husband, set designer-Tony Walton were 2 of the few who visited him. Julie Andrews: "I believe Tim to have been an unfulfilled homosexual, & he suffered a lot because of it."

White died at 57 years old, in 1964, from heart failure on a ship in Greece.

J K Rowling has acknowledged the influence of White's work on her Harry Potter novels.