Tom Wolfe
Dominick Dunne
William is born in the City of London in 1966. He was brought up in Lincoln's Inn Fields and then Islington. Attends St Anthony’s School in Hampstead.
William's mother Bridget worked at 10 Downing Street as a 'Garden Room Girl' secretary for prime ministers Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Harold Wilson. His father Bill worked as a constitutional lawyer and partner for the Westminster parliamentary law firm of Dyson, Bell.
William's parents begin the restoration of the derelict manor of Upton Cressett in the depths of the Shropshire countryside.
The restoration takes two years and the family camp in the house at weekends, driving up in a white Citreon Safari.
William starts at Moor Park prep school where he becomes captain of 1st XI cricket. Taught by the inspirational English teacher Mike Thomas, he starts writing poems and short stories.
August 1979 - William and his family have an audience at the summer papal residence of Castel Gandolfo outside Rome with Pope John Paul II, now a saint. After an extended member of his family founded The Tablet in 1840, William went on to be chairman and editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald.
After attending the Benedictine monastery of Downside, William passes the Westminster School Entrance exams. He plays cricket for the school XI and also Middlesex 2 XI.
Headmaster Jonathan Rae puts William under the wing of former English cricket captain and psychiatrist Mike Brearley for extra-curricular 'psychoanalysis'. Brearley becomes a mentor for the aspiring writer. He leaves before his 'A' levels to teach himself at an Oxford crammer.
William's father becomes a Member of Parliament at the Stafford by-election of 1985.
Meets Graham Greene in the restaurant Chex Feliz au Port in Antibes in August 1987. Greene writes to William to stay he 'very much' likes a short story William has written and advises on how to get it published.
CambridgeAt Cambridge, William is literary editor of Varsity and President of the Buckingham Literary Society where he meets such novelists as Sebastian Faulks, Candia McWilliam and John Mortimer.
He writes for The Spectator and several national newspapers, including covering the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Velvet Revolution in Prague. William works for Bloomsbury Publishing in Soho Square as a holiday job.
William is captain of the Cambridge Cresta Run team that beats Oxford in St Moritz in January 1990. In his final year, he is offered a job as a trainee TV presenter on TV-Am but turns it down to become a graduate trainee at The Times.
His English Finals dissertation is on the satire of Tom Wolfe who becomes a literary hero. On arriving at The Times's offices in Wapping to start his first job, William sends Tom Wolfe his 15,000 word thesis on his work c/o Farrar, Strauss and Giroux in New York. Wolfe replies saying he is 'very impressed' and invites the young trainee to New York to interview him.
Dances with Madonna at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival and writes about it for The Times. William is appointed as the paper's US West Coast Correspondent and moves to Los Angeles. He becomes next-door neighbour to David Hockney on Woodrow Wilson Drive. David and William become friends.
William also shares his Hollywood Hills house with the actress Elizabeth Hurley. He becomes part of a Happy Valley-style ex-pat social set dubbed the 'Viles' by the LA media.
In 1992, William was sent to Nashville, Tennessee, to interview the American novelist Jay Mcinerney about his novel Brightness Falls. He was then married to Helen Bransford. Wiliam ended up staying the night at their house after becoming memorably ill after a night on the town with the Bad Boy of American literature. The incident was to feature in a memorable chapter in Educating William which was serialised in The Times Magazine.
William is appointed American Correspondent-at-Large for the Daily Mail, aged 28. He also reviews for The Observer and The Times Literary Supplement and writes for such American publications as the New Republic, Los Angeles Magazine and San Francisco Examiner. He identifies himself as a 'classical liberal' with conservative leanings.
Appointed US Special Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and Telegraph Magazine. He covers the OJ Simpson case and becomes friends with Vanity Fair writer and novelist Dominick ('Nick') Dunne.
He advises William to order navy leather 'reporter' notebooks from Smythson in London. This is so that it looks like he is writing 'in my diary' when he is scrawling notes at a dinner or party. William soon has a draw full of them.
Finally meets Tom Wolfe at his Upper East side apartment on East 79th Street when A Man in Full is published. They remain in contact by fax and Wolfe personally inscribes a battered copy of Bonfire to William.
Moves back to England to research and write The Third Woman; The Secret Passion That Inspired The End of the Affair (Little, Brown). He obtains a rare interview in Oxford with Graham Greene's 93 year old wife Vivienne and the Graham Greene estate give permission to publish from Greene's letters to Catherine Walston. The book is serialised in The Times and is published by Carrol & Graf in America. He is now represented by the literary agent Gillon Aitken.
William's first play, The Green Room, debuts at The Cockpit Theatre in London and is selected as a 'Critics' Choice' by The Observer at The Edinburgh Festival. The play, directed by Ranald Graham, is a dark sexual comedy about the life and death of the English linguistic philosopher A.J Ayer, author of Language, Truth and Logic. The Daily Mail describe William's play as 'bluer than The Blue Room', the risqué West End play by David Hare starring Nicole Kidman.
Marries Ilaria Bulgari at Farm Street church in Mayfair, London in February 2003. He works as a society critic and social commentator for the Evening Standard for several years. Meets writer and translator Tony Macnabb, a tutor at the National Film and Television School, who becomes his screenwriting partner.
William starts a media company that publishes the Annabel's magazine for the Birley family and Aspinalls magazine for Damian Aspinall and casino partner James Osborne. On a tour around Port Lympne house in Kent with Osborne, William is introduced to the brilliant mural work of Rex Whistler for the first time. He vows to find a 21st century Rex Whistler to paint a series of murals at Upton Cressett.
Founds Spear's magazine with an overdraft and offices in Notting Hill Gate above a kebab shop. Sophia Money-Coutts (now a novelist) is deputy editor. Divorce from Ilaria begins. At his lowest point, William is ‘counselled’ by Dominick Dunne in Claridge’s.
Wins Editor of the Year at the PPA Independent Publisher Awards. Wins this award again the following year in 2008.
Marries writer and philosopher Dr Vanessa Neumann ('The Cracker from Caracas') in June in Westminster. They divorce a year later. William finally starts restoring the family home of Upton Cressett. The house has been a deserted wreck for four years.
Spear's is sold to British media tycoon Mike Danson, owner of the New Statesman. William remains as co-owner, Board member and Editor-in-Chief of Spear’s. On the 20th anniversary of Graham Greene's death, William writes on Greene's legacy as a 'critic-at-large' for the New Statesman. William dates the London based art dealer Helen Macintyre. Their relationship ends disastrously and publicly on the front pages after only six months.
A series of gilded ceilings and murals are painted at Upton Cressett by the Jerwood Prize winning artist Adam Dant. They are described as 'daring and bold' by the architectural editor of Country Life. Upton Cressett wins 'Best Hidden Gem' in the country as a heritage tourism destination at the Hudson's Heritage Awards.
William launches the Spear's 'Save Our Historic Landscape Campaign' in reaction to the controversial planning reforms proposed by the Tory-led Coalition government. He submits a report on 'Heritage and the NPPF Planning Reforms' to the Rt Hon Greg Clark MP at the planning minister's request. He writes a cover story for the New Statesman attacking the government's draft planning reforms entitled 'A Very English Revolution'.
William travels across the country - visiting heritage sites, historic landscapes and Victorian seaside resorts - in the tradition of countryside campaigner and writer JP Priestley. He writes in the Daily Telegraph that his 'cause is to preserve 'the aesthetic soul of England'. Petitions prime minister David Cameron in Downing Street on behalf of 100 prominent figures from the world of the arts, entertainment, business and politics.
On February 28th 2014, William marries society milliner Laura Cathcart at the Church of the Holy Redeemer in Chelsea – his third wife. They live between London and Shropshire, along with two black pugs, a white peacock called York and around 20 exotic chickens.
William and Laura's daughter Cosima is born in Shropshire in June.
Begins his 'restore-a-wreck' memoir about renovating Upton Cressett after his two divorces a few weeks before his 50th birthday.
Their son Rex is born in January 2017 after Laura nearly had to give birth on the M52 motorway in Telford. He is named after Rex Whistler, the famous English muralist who was the model for the artist-soldier Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited.
After the death of Tom Wolfe, William writes a lengthy personal tribute in The Times based on their conversations and correspondence over a decade. The Spectator also unearths a Balzacian interview that William did with Wolfe back in 1998 in which he confessed that he could not write ‘if I have any money in my bank account'.
In April, 2019, William travels to Atlanta to meet his 'American cousin' Rosanne Cash, multi Grammy winning daughter of country legend Johnny Cash. He later joined Rosanne and the Cash family clan in Arkansas at the annual Johnny Cash Festival where he wrote a story for Times 2 headlined 'Me and My Cousin Johnny' a cover photo of William holding a guitar showing the family likeness.
In April, 2019, William travels to Atlanta to meet his 'American cousin' Rosanne Cash, multi Grammy winning daughter of country legend Johnny Cash. He later joined Rosanne and the Cash family clan in Arkansas at the annual Johnny Cash Festival where he wrote a story for Times 2 headlined 'Me and My Cousin Johnny' a cover photo of William holding a guitar showing the family likeness.
William's latest book, 'Restoration Heart', a memoir of divorce, love and redemption about his four year restoration of his family home in Shropshire will be published by Little, Brown in September 2019.
In 2018, William was appointed as chairman of The Catholic Herald magazine for UK and USA.
One of the highlights of the publication of Restoration Heart in 2019 was William getting a fan letter from his literary idol and friend Julian Fellowes saying that he had enjoyed the book as we had lived almost parallel lives, from monastic school to same Cambridge college, from the expat fringes of LA to being members of the Old Dads Club, restoring old manorial wrecks and happy later marriages. Here at a dinner in New York with Julian as guest of honour.
William in New York at a dinner with Julian Fellowes, Oscar winning screenwriter & creator of Downton Abbey. After reading Restoration Heart, Julian said that we had lived strangely parallel lives, from a Benedictine monastic school to the same Cambridge college, from the expat fringes of LA to being members of the Old Dads Club, restoring old manorial wrecks and happy later marriages. A highlight of 2022 was when Julian and his wife Emma came to stay at Upton Cressett in Shropshire.
As chairman of the Catholic Herald, William and Laura went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with the Order of Malta in November 2022 before the war in Gaza. Here at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem with William's parents Sir Bill and Lady Cash.
Laura here with our great friend Doug Urbanski, showrunner of Slow Horses and BAFTA winner for Darkest Hour. A great friend from the LA Years. This is taken at Cosima and Rex's first holy communion.
William wins 'Writer of the Year' at the PPA Independent Publisher Awards in 2022 and is also nominated as Editor of the Year at the 2023 awards. Under his editorship, from 2021-2024, the Catholic Herald was nominated for eight PPA awards. Here, on awards night at the Honorable Artillery Company with the UK managing director.
William is the editor of the coffee table art book to accompany the acclaimed digital art exhibition 'Da Vinci: Genius'. William wrote the introduction and edited essays on Leonardo da Vinci by art critics and experts. The show opened in Berlin in 2018, Amsterdam in 2019 and USA and India in November 2014.
Biography
William Cash was born in London in 1966 and was brought up in Islington and then Shropshire. He comes from a family of politicians, silk ribbon weavers, Victorian railway builders and newspaper editors. He is related to the 19th century liberal political reformer John Bright and the American country singer Johnny Cash (photo right) whose family sailed from Glasgow to Massachusetts in 1667 in a pilgrim ship captained by Cash's Scottish ancestor William Cash.
He read English at Cambridge in the late 1980s where his heroes were the New Journalist and novelist Tom Wolfe, Graham Greene and the Victorian architectural and social critic John Ruskin. In the summer holiday before starting at university, he encountered Graham Greene in a restaurant in Antibes and the following day returned with a copy of a short story he had written in an envelope marked 'c/o Monsieur Greene'.
A week before he started at Magdalene College, a typed letter from Graham Greene arrived at his family home in Shropshire saying that he liked the story 'very much' and advised how to get it published. He was eighteen.
This story was Cash's first literary success. At Cambridge he was literary editor of Varsityand played for the university 1st XI cricket team and captained - twice - the Cambridge Cresta Run team. In the autumn term of his final year of 1989, he bunked off from lectures to drive to East Germany to cover the fall of the Berlin Wall, as well as the Velvet Revolution in Prague for the front cover of a national newspaper. He began writing for The Spectator, Independent and other national newspapers whilst still an undergraduate, and also worked for Bloomsbury Publishing.
As part of his English Literature Finals, Cash wrote a lengthy dissertation on Wolfe's satire that was marked as a high First, although he only achieved a 2:1 in his final degree due to his French and Middle English papers. His first job was as a graduate trainee at The Times in 1991. On arriving at the paper's offices in Wapping, he sent a copy of his thesis to Tom Wolfe in New York (c/o Farrar, Straus and Giroux) who wrote back saying he was 'very impressed' by it and invited the young Times trainee to visit him in New York once his follow up novel to Bonfire of the Vanities was finished.
That was not to be until 1998 after Cash had been living in LA for seven years, sharing a house in the Hollywood Hills (next-door to David Hockney) with Elizabeth Hurley and working as a correspondent for various British newspapers in America. He also contributed to various U.S magazines including the New Republic, Los Angeles Magazine and San Francisco Chronicle.
From 1991-1993, William was West Coast Correspondent of The Times, where he covered the LA Riots from both South-Central (under fire) and the study of Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion covered the OJ Simpson trial and various executions. He then become American Correspondent-at-Large of the Daily Mail and later U.S Special Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and Telegraph Magazine. He reviewed books for The Observer and Times Literary Supplement.
During his time in America he came to know, or meet, such literary figures as Jay McInerney, Martin Amis, James Ellroy, Armistead Maupin and the New Journalists Hunter Thompson and - finally - Tom Wolfe ( see Articles) at his East 79th street apartment in New York. Many of his colourful encounters and friendships were included in his first book: Educating William: Memoirs of a Hollywood Correspondent (Simon & Schuster). For reviews, see The Critics.
Cash returned to London in 1999 to write a biography of Graham Greene's relationship with the American society beauty Catherine Walston that inspired The End of the Affair with permission to quote from Greene's letters by the Greene estate. The Third Woman was published in 1999 by Little, Brown in the U.K and Carroll & Graff in America (see The Critics).
In 2000, Cash wrote his first play, The Green Room, a sexual comedy about the life and death of the post-war English linguistic philosopher A.J Ayer based on interviews with his former wife and doctor. The play opened in London at the Cockpit Theatre in London before being performed at the Edinburgh Festival. It was selected as a Critics' Choice by The Observer.
The play was directed by Ranald Graham, a writer for the police flying squad TV drama The Professionals who was also the ‘showrunner’ and writer of the hit ITV oddball cop series Dempsey & Makepeace. Graham and Cash then worked together as writing partners on a number of TV projects. In addition, he teamed to write with Tony Macnabb, a TV writer for Bergerac, the Jersey TV detective drama, who also taught at the National Film and Television School (Tony and William are still working on projects today).
William worked for the London Evening Standard as a social critic and commentator before marrying Ilaria Bulgari in 2003. Two years later he founded a magazine publishing company and launched Spear's magazine (as it became) as a European rival to Forbes. He also published the Annabel's magazine for the Birley family and Aspinalls magazine for the Mayfair casino owned by Damian Aspinall. He was divorced in 2007.
Within three years of launching Spear's, Cash had twice - in successive years - won 'Editor of the Year' at the PPA Independent Publisher Awards. He later sold Spear's magazine to the New Statesman Media Group, staying on as Editor-at-Large.
William has been a champion of the English countryside and has spoken out in the Telegraph, the CPRE magazine and Country Life about the importance of preserving national landscapes, architecture and heritage. He has raised funding for English Heritage's Blue Plaque Scheme and The Churches Conservation Trust for whom he has served on their fundraising committee. During the NPPF planning wars of 2012-13, he launched the Spear's 'Save Our Historic Landscape Campaign' which petitioned Downing Street and resulted in important planning reform changes that the campaign had advocated. In 2019 he was appointed as a Special Adviser to English Heritage.
After a short second marriage in 2008 to the writer and philosopher Dr Vanessa Neumann (a.k.a 'The Cracker from Caracas'), William began restoring his Shropshire family home, Upton Cressett Hall, near Bridgnorth, which was as much in need of 'fixing up' as its 43 year old owner. The restore-a-wreck reclamation project took four years and is the subject of Restoration Heart, an acclaimed memoir (in both UK and US) about the Gulliver-like restoration journey of both heart and family home based on 25 years of love letters (for reviews see The Critics).
In 2018, William was appointed as chairman of The Catholic Herald and The Scottish Observer newspaper (founded 1885). In January 2021, he was appointed as Editor-in-Chief of the Catholic Herald, a role for which he won Writer of the Year at the Independent Publisher PPA awards, making it his third PPA award. The magazine was nominated for ‘Magazine of the Year’ three times under his editorship, including in 2023 and 2024. He resigned as both Director and Editor-in-Chief in October 2024 after the Herald became 100% American owned, 90% by a New York private equity firm. In 2019, he launched a new magazine, The Mace, about the business of politics.
William married for the third time in 2014 to the society milliner Lady Laura Cathcart. They live at Upton Cressett in Shropshire which they also run as an award-winning holiday cottage and ‘group stay’ business. It has won the ‘Best Hidden Gem’ award for Heritage Tourism at the Hudson’s Heritage Awards. Laura and William live with their black pug, Velvet, and their two young children, Cosima and Rex, making only occasional forays to London.