Editing Harold Pinter (section)

==Biography==

===Early life and education===
Pinter was born on 10 October 1930, in [[Metropolitan Borough of Hackney|Hackney]], east London, the only child of British Jewish parents of Eastern European descent: his father, Hyman "Jack" Pinter (1902–1997) was a ladies' tailor; his mother, Frances (née Moskowitz; 1904–1992), a housewife.<ref name=GussowConv103>Harold Pinter, as quoted in Gussow, ''Conversations with Pinter'' 103.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pinter |first=Harold |title=Harold Pinter: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center |url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00108/hrc-00108.html |access-date=2021-04-27 |website=legacy.lib.utexas.edu |language=en}}</ref> Pinter believed an aunt's erroneous view that the family was [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] and had fled the [[Spanish Inquisition]]; thus, for his early poems, Pinter used the pseudonym ''Pinta'' and at other times used variations such as ''da Pinto''.<ref name=Billington1>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 1–5.</ref>  Later research by [[Antonia Fraser|Lady Antonia Fraser]], Pinter's second wife, revealed the legend to be apocryphal; three of Pinter's grandparents came from Poland and the fourth from [[Odesa]], so the family was [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazic]].<ref name=Billington1/><ref name=JewishBackground>For some accounts of the significance of Pinter's Jewish background, see Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 2, 40–41, 53–54, 79–81, 163–64, 177, 286, 390, 429.</ref><ref name=Woolf1>[[Cf.]] {{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/jul/12/theatre.haroldpinter |title=My 60 Years in Harold's Gang |first=Henry |last=Woolf |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=12 July 2007 |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group|GMG]] |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5zu6rYC0X?url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2007/jul/12/theatre.haroldpinter |archive-date=3 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}; Woolf, as quoted in Merritt, "Talking about Pinter" 144–45; {{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/howard-jacobson/howard-jacobson-harold-pinter-didnt-get-my-joke-and-i-didnt-get-him-ndash-until-it-was-too-late-1297593.html |title=Harold Pinter didn't get my joke, and I didn't get him – until it was too late |first=Howard |last=Jacobson |work=[[The Independent]] |date=10 January 2009 |publisher=[[Independent News & Media|INM]] |location=London |issn=0951-9467 |oclc=185201487 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5zu70UVpG?url=http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/howard-jacobson/howard-jacobson-harold-pinter-didnt-get-my-joke-and-i-didnt-get-him-ndash-until-it-was-too-late-1297593.html |archive-date=3 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Pinter's family home in London is described by his official biographer [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] as "a solid, red-brick, three-storey villa just off the noisy, bustling, traffic-ridden thoroughfare of the [[Lower Clapton]] Road".<ref name="Billington, Harold Pinter 2">Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 2.</ref> In 1940 and 1941, after [[the Blitz]], Pinter was [[Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|evacuated]] from their house in London to [[Cornwall]] and [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]].<ref name="Billington, Harold Pinter 2"/>  Billington states that the "life-and-death intensity of daily experience" before and during the Blitz left Pinter with profound memories "of loneliness, bewilderment, separation and loss: themes that are in all his works."<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 5–10.</ref>

Pinter discovered his social potential as a student at [[Hackney Downs School]], a London grammar school, between 1944 and 1948. "Partly through the school and partly through the social life of Hackney Boys' Club&nbsp;... he formed an almost [[Wiktionary:sacerdotal|sacerdotal]] belief in the power of male friendship. The friends he made in those days – most particularly [[Henry Woolf]], Michael (Mick) Goldstein and Morris (Moishe) Wernick – have always been a vital part of the emotional texture of his life."<ref name=Woolf1/><ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 11.</ref>  A major influence on Pinter was his inspirational English teacher Joseph Brearley, who directed him in school plays and with whom he took long walks, talking about literature.<ref>A collection of Pinter's correspondence with Brearley is held in the [[Harold Pinter Archive]] in the British Library.  Pinter's memorial epistolary poem "Joseph Brearley 1909–1977 (Teacher of English)", published in his collection ''Various Voices'' (177), ends with the following stanza: "You're gone.  I'm at your side,/Walking with you from [[Clapton Pond]] to [[Finsbury Park]],/And on, and on."</ref>  According to Billington, under Brearley's instruction, "Pinter shone at English, wrote for the school magazine and discovered a gift for acting."<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 10–11.</ref><ref>See also "Introduction by Harold Pinter, ''Nobel Laureate''", 7–9 in Watkins, ed., '' 'Fortune's Fool': The Man Who Taught Harold Pinter: A Life of Joe Brearley''.</ref>  In 1947 and 1948, he played [[Romeo Montague|Romeo]] and [[Macbeth (Macbeth)|Macbeth]] in productions directed by Brearley.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 13–14.</ref>

At the age of 12, Pinter began writing poetry, and in spring 1947, his poetry was first published in the ''Hackney Downs School Magazine''.<ref>Baker and Ross 127.</ref>  In 1950 his poetry was first published outside the school magazine, in ''[[Poetry London]]'', some of it under the pseudonym "Harold Pinta".<ref name=RansomColl>{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00108/hrc-00108.html |title=Harold Pinter: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center |last=Staff |work=[[Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center]] |publisher=[[University of Texas at Austin]] |year=2011 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604035449/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00108/hrc-00108.html |archive-date=4 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 29–35.</ref>

Pinter was an atheist.<ref>"The Meeting is a about the afterlife, despite Pinter being well known as an atheist. He admitted it was a "strange" piece for him to have written." Pinter 'on road to recovery', BBC.co.uk, 26 August 2002.</ref>

===Sport and friendship===
Pinter enjoyed running and broke the Hackney Downs School sprinting record.<ref>Gussow, ''Conversations with Pinter'' 28–29.</ref><ref name=Bakerchap1>Baker, "Growing Up", chap. 1 of ''Harold Pinter'' 2–23.</ref>
He was a [[cricket]] enthusiast, taking his bat with him when evacuated during the Blitz.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 7–9 and 410.</ref> In 1971, he told [[Mel Gussow]]: "one of my main obsessions in life is the game of cricket—I play and watch and read about it all the time."<ref>Gussow, ''Conversations with Pinter'' 25.</ref> He was chairman of the Gaieties Cricket Club, a supporter of [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire Cricket Club]],<ref>Gussow, ''Conversations with Pinter'' 8.</ref> and devoted a section of his official website to the sport.<ref name=Gaieties>{{cite web |url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/cricket/index.shtml |title=Cricket |editor=Batty, Mark |work=haroldpinter.org |access-date=5 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613203308/http://www.haroldpinter.org/cricket/index.shtml |archive-date=13 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> One wall of his study was dominated by a portrait of himself as a young man playing cricket, which was described by [[Sarah Lyall]], writing in ''[[The New York Times]]'': "The painted Mr. Pinter, poised to swing his bat, has a wicked glint in his eye; testosterone all but flies off the canvas."<ref name=Lyall>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/movies/07lyal.html |title=Harold Pinter – Sleuth |first=Sarah |last=Lyall |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 October 2007 |location=New York City |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104055337/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/movies/07lyal.html |archive-date=4 January 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Sherwin>{{cite news |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article5963091.ece |title=Portrait of Harold Pinter playing cricket to be sold at auction |first=Adam |last=Sherwin |work=[[TimesOnline]] |date=24 March 2009 |publisher=[[News Intl]] |location=London |issn=0140-0460 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616211500/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article5963091.ece |archive-date=16 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  Pinter approved of the "urban and exacting idea of cricket as a bold theatre of aggression."<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 410.</ref>  After his death, several of his school contemporaries recalled his achievements in sports, especially cricket and running.<ref>Supple, T. Baker, and Watkins, in Watkins, ed.<!--For bibliographical details, if needed, see [[Harold Pinter Bibliography]].--></ref>  The [[BBC Radio 4]] memorial tribute included an essay on Pinter and cricket.<ref name=Burtoncricket>{{cite web |url=http://www.lordstaverners.org/news.cfm?fullID=70 |title=Latest News & Charity Fundraising News from The Lord's Taverners |first=Harry |last=Burton |work=[[Lord's Taverners]] |year=2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627142610/http://www.lordstaverners.org/news.cfm?fullID=70 |archive-date=27 June 2009 |access-date=26 June 2011}}</ref>

Other interests that Pinter mentioned to interviewers are family, love and sex, drinking, writing, and reading.<ref name=GussowBillMerr>See, e.g., Gussow, ''Conversations with Pinter'' 25–30; Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 7–16; and Merritt, ''Pinter in Play'' 194.</ref> According to Billington, "If the notion of male loyalty, competitive rivalry and fear of betrayal forms a constant thread in Pinter's work from ''The Dwarfs'' onwards, its origins can be found in his teenage Hackney years. Pinter adores women, enjoys flirting with them, and worships their resilience and strength. But, in his early work especially, they are often seen as disruptive influences on some pure and [[Platonic love|Platonic]] ideal of male friendship: one of the most crucial of all Pinter's lost [[Garden of Eden|Edens]]."<ref name=Woolf1/><ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 10–12.</ref>

===Early theatrical training and stage experience===

Beginning in late 1948, Pinter attended the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] for two terms, but hating the school, missed most of his classes, feigned a nervous breakdown, and dropped out in 1949.<ref name=BillingtonBatty1>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 20–25, 31–35; and Batty, ''About Pinter'' 7.</ref>  In 1948 he was called up for [[National service|National Service]]. He was initially refused registration as a [[conscientious objector]], leading to his twice being prosecuted, and fined, for refusing to accept a medical examination, before his CO registration was ultimately agreed.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 20–25.</ref>  He had a small part in the Christmas [[pantomime]] ''[[Dick Whittington and His Cat]]'' at the Chesterfield Hippodrome in 1949 to 1950.<ref name=BillingtonBatty2>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 37; and Batty, ''About Pinter'' 8.</ref>  From January to July 1951, he attended the [[Central School of Speech and Drama]].<ref name=BillingtonBatty3>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 31, 36, and 38; and Batty, ''About Pinter'' xiii and 8.</ref>

From 1951 to 1952, he toured Ireland with the [[Anew McMaster]] repertory company, playing over a dozen roles.<ref name=Mac>Pinter, "Mac", ''Various Voices'' 36–43.</ref> In 1952, he began acting in regional English repertory productions; from 1953 to 1954, he worked for the [[Donald Wolfit]] Company, at the King's Theatre, [[Hammersmith]], performing eight roles.<ref name=BattyAct>{{cite web |editor=Batty, Mark |url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/acting/index.shtml |title=Acting |work=haroldpinter.org |access-date=29 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709085529/http://www.haroldpinter.org/acting/index.shtml |archive-date=9 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=BillingtonActing>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 20–25, 31, 36, and 37–41.</ref> From 1954 until 1959, Pinter acted under the stage name David Baron.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 3 and 47–48.  Pinter's paternal grandmother's maiden name was Baron.  He also used the name for an autobiographical character in the first draft of his novel ''The Dwarfs''.</ref><ref name=Rep>{{cite web |url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/acting/index.shtml |title=The Harold Pinter Acting Career |editor=Batty, Mark |work=haroldprinter.org |access-date=30 January 2011 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5zu83jkqV?url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/acting/index.shtml |archive-date=3 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}, {{cite web |url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/acting/acting_otherrepwork.shtml |title=Work in Various Repertory Companies 1954–1958 |editor=Batty, Mark |work=haroldprinter.org |access-date=30 January 2011 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5zu88k0a7?url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/acting/acting_otherrepwork.shtml |archive-date=3 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In all, Pinter played over 20 roles under that name.<ref name=Rep/><ref name=BillingtonHP1>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 49–55.</ref>  To supplement his income from acting, Pinter worked as a waiter, a postman, a bouncer, and a snow-clearer, meanwhile, according to Mark Batty,  "harbouring ambitions as a poet and writer."<ref>Batty, ''About Pinter'' 10.</ref>  In October 1989 Pinter recalled: "I was in English rep as an actor for about 12 years. My favourite roles were undoubtedly the sinister ones.  They're something to get your teeth into."<ref>Gussow, ''Conversations with Pinter'' 83.</ref> During that period, he also performed occasional roles in his own and others' works for radio, TV, and film, as he continued to do throughout his career.<ref name=Rep/><ref name=BillingtonActing2>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 20–25, 31, 36, 38.</ref>

===Marriages and family life===
[[File:Harold Pinter's home, Worthing.jpg|thumb|right|Pinter's house in [[Worthing]], 1962–64]]
From 1956 until 1980, Pinter was married to [[Vivien Merchant]], an actress whom he met on tour,<ref name=Telegraphobit>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3949227/Harold-Pinter-the-most-original-stylish-and-enigmatic-writer-in-the-post-war-revival-of-British-theatre.html |title=Harold Pinter: the most original, stylish and enigmatic writer in the post-war revival of British theatre |last=Staff |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=25 December 2008 |location=London |issn=0307-1235 |oclc=49632006 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110116050733/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3949227/Harold-Pinter-the-most-original-stylish-and-enigmatic-writer-in-the-post-war-revival-of-British-theatre.html |archive-date=16 January 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> perhaps best known for her performance in the 1966 film ''[[Alfie (1966 film)|Alfie]]''.  Their son Daniel was born in 1958.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 54 and 75.</ref>  Through the early 1970s, Merchant appeared in many of Pinter's works, including ''[[The Homecoming]]'' on stage (1965) and screen (1973), but the marriage was turbulent.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 252–56.</ref> For seven years, from 1962 to 1969, Pinter was engaged in a clandestine affair with BBC-TV presenter and journalist [[Joan Bakewell]], which inspired his 1978 play ''[[Betrayal (play)|Betrayal]]'',<ref name="Billington, pp. 257">Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 257–67.</ref> and also throughout that period and beyond he had an affair with an American socialite, whom he nicknamed "Cleopatra". This relationship was another secret he kept from both his wife and Bakewell.<ref>Fraser, ''Must You Go?'' 86.</ref>  Initially, ''Betrayal'' was thought to be a response to his later affair with historian [[Antonia Fraser]], the wife of [[Hugh Fraser (British politician)|Hugh Fraser]], and Pinter's "marital crack-up".<ref name="Billington, p. 257">Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 257.</ref>

Pinter and Merchant had both met Antonia Fraser in 1969, when all three worked together on a [[National Gallery (London)|National Gallery]] programme about [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]; several years later, on 8–9 January 1975, Pinter and Fraser became romantically involved.<ref name=Fraserone>Fraser, Chap. 1: "First Night", ''Must You Go?'' 3–19.</ref>  That meeting initiated their five-year extramarital love affair.<ref>Fraser, chap. 1: "First Night"; chap. 2: "Pleasure and a Good Deal of Pain"; chap. 8: "It Is Here"; and chap. 13: "Marriage — Again", ''Must You Go?'' 3–33, 113–24, and 188–201.</ref><ref name=Bill252>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 252–53.</ref> After hiding the relationship from Merchant for two and a half months, on 21 March 1975, Pinter finally told her "I've met somebody".<ref>Fraser, ''Must You Go?'' 13.</ref>  After that, "Life in Hanover Terrace gradually became impossible", and Pinter moved out of their house on 28 April 1975, five days after the première of ''[[No Man's Land (play)|No Man's Land]]''.<ref name=Billington253>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 253–55.</ref><ref name=People>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917680-1,00.html |title=People |last=Staff |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |publisher=Time Inc. |date=11 August 1975 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520231356/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917680-1,00.html |archive-date=20 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In mid-August 1977, after Pinter and Fraser had spent two years living in borrowed and rented quarters, they moved into her former family home in [[Holland Park]],<ref>Fraser, ''Must You Go?'' 29, 65–78, and 83.</ref> where Pinter began writing ''Betrayal''.<ref name="Billington, p. 257"/>  He reworked it later, while on holiday at the [[Grand Hotel Eastbourne|Grand Hotel]] in [[Eastbourne]], in early January 1978.<ref>Fraser, ''Must You Go?'' 85–88.</ref>  After the Frasers' divorce had become final in 1977 and the Pinters' in 1980, Pinter married Fraser on 27 November 1980.<ref>Fraser, "''27 November — The Diary of Lady Antonia Pinter''", ''Must You Go?'' 122–23.</ref>  Because of a two-week delay in Merchant's signing the divorce papers, however, the reception had to precede the actual ceremony, originally scheduled to occur on his 50th birthday.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 271–76.</ref>  Vivien Merchant died of acute alcoholism in the first week of October 1982, at the age of 53.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter''  276.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/07/arts/death-of-vivien-merchant-is-ascribed-to-alcoholism.html |title=Death of Vivien Merchant Is Ascribed to Alcoholism |last=Staff |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 October 1982 |location=New York City |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121083451/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/07/arts/death-of-vivien-merchant-is-ascribed-to-alcoholism.html |archive-date=21 January 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Billington writes that Pinter "did everything possible to support" her and regretted that he ultimately became estranged from their son, Daniel, after their separation, Pinter's remarriage, and Merchant's death.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 276 and 345–47.</ref>

A reclusive gifted musician and writer, Daniel changed his surname from Pinter to Brand, the maiden name of his maternal grandmother,<ref name="Bill255"/> before Pinter and Fraser became romantically involved; while according to Fraser, his father could not understand it, she says that she could: "Pinter is such a distinctive name that he must have got tired of being asked, 'Any relation?{{'"}}<ref>Fraser, ''Must You Go?'' 44.</ref>  Michael Billington wrote that Pinter saw Daniel's name change as "a largely pragmatic move on Daniel's part designed to keep the press&nbsp;... at bay."<ref name=Bill254>Billington 254–55; cf. 345.</ref>  Fraser told Billington that Daniel "was very nice to me at a time when it would have been only too easy for him to have turned on me&nbsp;... simply because he had been the sole focus of his father's love and now manifestly wasn't."<ref name=Bill254/>  Still unreconciled at the time of his father's death, Daniel Brand did not attend Pinter's funeral.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/sarah-sands/sarah-sands-pinters-funeral-ndash-more-final-reckoning-than-reconciliation-1224214.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220509/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/sarah-sands/sarah-sands-pinters-funeral-ndash-more-final-reckoning-than-reconciliation-1224214.html |archive-date=9 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Pinter's funeral – more final reckoning than reconciliation |last=Sands |first=Sarah |newspaper=The Independent |date=4 January 2009 |access-date=24 April 2020}}</ref>

Billington observes that "The break-up with Vivien and the new life with Antonia was to have a profound effect on Pinter's personality and his work," though he adds that Fraser herself did not claim to have influence over Pinter or his writing.<ref name=Bill255>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 255.</ref> In her own contemporaneous diary entry dated 15 January 1993, Fraser described herself more as Pinter's  literary midwife.<ref>Fraser, ''Must You Go?'' 211: "With all my timings [of ''Moonlight''], Harold calls me his editor.  Not so.  I was the midwife saying, 'Push, Harold, push,' but the act of creation took place elsewhere and the baby would have been born anyway."</ref> Indeed, she told Billington that "other people [such as [[Peggy Ashcroft]], among others] had a shaping influence on [Pinter's] politics" and attributed changes in his writing and political views to a change from "an unhappy, complicated personal life&nbsp;... to a happy, uncomplicated personal life", so that "a side of Harold which had always been there was somehow released.  I think you can see that in his work after ''[[No Man's Land (play)|No Man's Land]]'' [1975], which was a very bleak play."<ref name=Bill255/>

Pinter was content in his second marriage and enjoyed family life with his six adult stepchildren and 17 step-grandchildren.<ref name=BillingtonHPDD>See Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 388, 429–30.</ref> Even after battling cancer for several years, he considered himself "a very lucky man in every respect".<ref name=Lucky>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4780000/newsid_4785400/nb_rm_4785475.stm |title=Harold Pinter on Newsnight Review |last=Wark |first=Kirsty |work=[[Newsnight Review|Newsnight]] |publisher=BBC |date=23 June 2006 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112034535/http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4780000/newsid_4785400/nb_rm_4785475.stm |archive-date=12 November 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  [[Sarah Lyall]] notes in her 2007 interview with Pinter in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that his "latest work, a slim pamphlet called 'Six Poems for A.', comprises poems written over 32 years, with "A" of course being Lady Antonia. The first of the poems was written in Paris, where she and Mr. Pinter traveled soon after they met. More than three decades later the two are rarely apart, and Mr. Pinter turns soft, even cozy, when he talks about his wife."<ref name=Lyall/> In that interview Pinter "acknowledged that his plays—full of infidelity, cruelty, inhumanity, the lot—seem at odds with his domestic contentment. 'How can you write a happy play?' he said. 'Drama is about conflict and degrees of perturbation, disarray. I've never been able to write a happy play, but I've been able to enjoy a happy life.{{' "}}<ref name=Lyall/>  After his death, Fraser told ''[[The Guardian]]'': "He was a great man, and it was a privilege to live with him for over 33 years. He will never be forgotten."<ref name="Siddique">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/dec/25/harold-pinter-dies |title=Nobel prize winning dramatist Harold Pinter dies |first=Haroon |last=Siddique |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=25 December 2008 |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group|GMG]] |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905141709/http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/25/harold-pinter-dies |archive-date=5 September 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/dec/26/harold-pinter-death-tributes |title=Multi-award winning playwright lauded by dignitaries of theatrical and political worlds |first1=Peter |last1=Walker |first2=David |last2=Smith |first3=Haroon |last3=Siddique |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=26 December 2008 |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group|GMG]] |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |access-date=26 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111163934/http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/dec/26/harold-pinter-death-tributes |archive-date=11 January 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>