When I read George Lamming’s words inscribed for ‘Mike
Henshaw’ on Season of Adventure’s flyleaf, I was curious to find out who
this person was. It was easy to guess
that ‘Mike Henshaw’ was not just another fan whose book Lamming had
signed. At book signings, usually the
author asks your name and then writes your name and adds Best Wishes … All the best
… With love … or some such
thing. The author doesn’t know you from
Adam. Here it was different. “I do
appreciate your help,” indicated a personal and closer relationship.
I only had a name and some personal words. I put on my deerstalker, stuck a pipe in my
mouth and went to google. I searched for
Michael Henshaw and Mike Henshaw.
Michael Taylor or Michael Smith might have returned hundreds of hits,
but Henshaw doesn’t appear to be a common surname, so the number of hits were
considerably less. Wherever I could see
that the person was American, I jumped across and went to the next link. Lamming had migrated to England in the 1950s,
and had lived there ever since, so I was fairly confident that Mike Henshaw was
a Briton. I had no other clues.
I read a number of pages on different Mike/Michael Henshaws,
but was not convinced. Linkedin had
around 70 professionals named Michael Henshaw.
I found a systems engineer, an aeronautical engineer, a behavioural ecologist,
an accountant, also an actor. I read an
obituary in The Guardian for a
Michael Henshaw dated Thursday 4 October 2007.
I went back and read it again carefully.
Among all the Henshaws, this person appeared most likely to be Lamming’s
Henshaw. The more I read, the more I began
to get convinced that this was the man Lamming had inscribed those words
for. But I was not feeling good about
the fact that this Henshaw was no more.
This Michael Henshaw was described as a ‘cool accountant,’ ‘the
famously unorthodox London accountant who specialised in difficult cases involving
creative people.’ The writer Barry Miles
goes on to write that …
Michael waged a
one-man crusade against what he saw as the unfair treatment of artists and
writers by tax inspectors. He insisted that the arts made a substantial
contribution to the economy and, as far he was concerned, for a poet to go on a
walking tour of the Lake District was just as valid a business expense as a
visit to a factory by a businessman – a concept the Inland Revenue had trouble
understanding. But many artists and
writers were delighted to discover someone who appreciated what they were doing
and was prepared to take on their financial problems, and his reputation
quickly spread.
There was also a list of his clients that included media
persons, actors, writers, and poets …
Michael's other media
clients included television and film producers Ken Loach, Ken Trodd and Tony
Garnett, theatre director Michael Bogdanov, broadcaster Humphrey Burton and
actor Anthony Hopkins. Among his writers were David Mercer, David Hare, Fay
Weldon, Alexander Trocchi, Simon Gray, Monty Python collectively, then Terry
Jones and Michael Palin, as well as poets Ted Hughes, Basil Bunting, and even
Allen Ginsberg when he was in Britain.
I was almost sure now that I finally found Lamming’s Henshaw. Lamming’s name among these names would have
sealed the case, but I was willing to be a bit suspended rather than be firmer
on terra. Henshaw must have sorted out
Lamming’s finances and taxes, for which a grateful Lamming ‘warmly appreciates
his help.’
Henshaw was also a colourful person, zipping around town in an open-topped sports car, living in a large
house overlooking Regent's Park, filled with books and art, his first-floor
study dominated by a huge (and extremely fashionable) Arco lamp made of marble
and chrome, the epitome of swinging London.
Barry Miles also writes about Henshaw’s involvement in the arts scene in
London in the 1960s.
I am pleased that I got a signed copy of Lamming’s book,
which is a treasure for me, but how did Henshaw’s book reach India and then me. Even after I was convinced that I had found
my Henshaw, I kept browsing hoping to get some more information. And then yesterday, I came across a link,
which was again a sort of obituary for Michael Henshaw. It reiterated most of the facts I read in
Barry Miles’ article. Towards the end, there
is this …
At his death in 2007 some of Henshaw’s personal documents,
including the Bemrose School photo and his driving licence, were sold off,
along with many of the books that his clients had signed for him. Those inscribed by Alan Sillitoe are now, aptly, in the library at
Nottingham University. If he is perhaps rather a forgotten figure nowadays,
Michael Henshaw lives on perhaps as Austin Powers and as a fleeting figure in
the published diaries of Michael Palin. Surprisingly, the ‘cool ‘accountant
remained a bean counter into old age.
It is sad in a way that Henshaw’s descendants or inheritors
did not see any value in all the documents and inscribed books that they sold. I am sure this is the Mike Henshaw I was
looking for. I tried to locate a
photograph of Mike Henshaw on the Internet, but both articles did not have his
photograph and I was not sure where to look.
