WATERHOUSE, KEITH (SPENCER)

born , Feb. 6, 1929, Hunslet, Leeds, Yorkshire, Eng. English novelist, playwright, and screenwriter noted for his ability to create comedy and satire out of depressing human predicaments. Waterhouse left school at the age of 15 and worked at various odd jobs before becoming a newspaperman first in Yorkshire and then in London, remaining a columnist (for the Daily Mirror and Punch) for most of his life. His first novel, There Is a Happy Land (1957), was followed by the best-selling Billy Liar (1959). The public easily identified with its hero, a young man who compensates for his mundane, tawdry existence by a series of fantastic daydreams. Billy Liar was turned into a successful play in 1960, a film in 1963, and a musical in 1974. Together with Willis Hall, Waterhouse wrote several plays and revues, among them Celebration (performed 1961), All Things Bright and Beautiful (1962), They Called the Bastard Stephen (1964), Whoops-a-Daisy (1968), and Who's Who (1971). Other novels include The Bucket Shop (1968; also published as Everything Must Go), Billy Liar on the Moon (1975), Office Life (1978), Maggie Muggins (1981), and In the Mood (1983). He was also the author of several television series.