Waterhouse, Keith Spencer (1929– )

English journalist, novelist, and dramatist. His second novel, Billy Liar (1959), an account of a whimsical day in the life of a fantasy-prone undertaker's clerk, became a successful play and film. His play Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (1989) was based on the dissolute life of a Spectator columnist. Waterhouse was a journalist on the Daily Mirror from 1970 to 1986, when he moved to the Daily Mail.

Born in Leeds, Waterhouse's Yorkshire working-class background and early job experience helped produce Billy Liar, which he adapted for the stage in collaboration with Willis Hall (1929– ). They went on to write a long line of plays, musical revues, and films together; for example, the screenplays Whistle Down the Wind (1961) and A Kind of Loving (1962) (adapted from a novel by Stan Barstow).

Further novels include Jubb (1963), on life in a new town; Maggie Muggins (1981), a study of urban female alcoholism; Unsweet Charity (1992); and Good Grief (1997). His plays include Bookends (1990) and Our Song (1992). He has also written some non-fiction, including English, Our English (1991).