Book sheds new light on London’s ‘Mayor of Richmond Row’

London-born author Lynda Curnoe has published a new book about the late poet and downtown fixture Roy McDonald, which contains facts she says may surprise those who knew the man nicknamed “the Mayor of Richmond Row.”

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Recognized for his long beard, rumpled second-hand clothes and a suit jacket covered in buttons, McDonald became something of a cultural icon in the city as the subject of books, videos, a song and a play.

More than six years since his death, readers can now get an intimate look at his life thanks to Curnoe.

Dozens of people attended the weekend launch event for Curnoe’s book at Brown & Dickson Bookstore, including friends and family of McDonald.

Organizing Roy McDonald: A London Story is a biography of McDonald and an account of Curnoe’s time spent helping him organize his things in the summer of 2002, after city hall threatened to sell his house if he didn’t clean up the property and pay his owed municipal taxes.

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Curnoe describes the book as a biography that includes documents and letters backing up facts of McDonald’s life, some of which might come as a surprise to readers, she said.

“I think I have information there that nobody knows about,” Curnoe said. “(People) knew Roy very well but they don’t know all the facts of his life, which I have in the book.”

One example? McDonald’s mother had called him a genius since his birth, a fact that she says figured prominently into his adult life.

She also mentions a document from the registrar at the University of Western Ontario rejecting McDonald as a student because he did not have the courses needed for admission. It was found, almost comically, as she sorted her papers in 2002 to be sent to the university’s archive of famous Londoners.

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McDonald was found dead in February 2018 in the house he lived in all his life at 294 Wellington Rd., south of downtown. He died peacefully in his sleep. In his book, Curnoe writes that McDonald had “obviously known death was near” and that he was found lying in his bedroom with his arms crossed over his chest.

She writes: “Hanging nearby was a clean blue suit in good condition. He had put together a large white poster board covered with photos documenting his life.”

McDonald was a published author and poet. As a young man, he wrote a column for The Free Press called Thoughts of a Teen-Ager, later renamed after he outgrew the title. In the 1970s, McDonald published two books of his own, Living: A London Journal, in which he chronicled a week in his life, and The Answer Questioned, a long poem he often recited.

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He embraced a bohemian lifestyle that rejected the trappings of regular work and family. He’d often stand outside the downtown bar Joe Kool’s, reciting his poetry to Passersby.

Born and raised in London, Curnoe first met McDonald when she was 14 through her brother, renowned artist Greg Curnoe, who died in 1992. They met in her brother’s studio, marking the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

“I used to hang around with him as a teenager because he was so interesting. You could talk about anything with Roy” Curnoe said.

Despite knowing McDonald “very well,” Curnoe says there was a lot that surprised her as she sifted through rooms full of plastic bags, all filled with papers, books and documents. They ranged from his early years all the way up to the his final ones.

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She called the process of sorting his papers “a big job,” noting he had about 24 boxes of journals filled with his writing.

Organizing Roy McDonald: A London Story is available at Brown & Dickson Bookstore (1025 Elias St.) and Attic Books (240 Dundas St.). It retails for $29.95.

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