| Donald Trefusis | |
| First: | Loose Ends (radio series) |
| Creator: | Stephen Fry |
| Occupation: | Regius Professor of Philology at the University of Cambridge and Extraordinary Fellow of St. Matthew's College[1] |
| Relatives: | Phillip (nephew) |
Professor Donald Cornwallis Treadway Trefusis (1921–2008) is an eccentric fictional character created by Stephen Fry.
He initially appeared as an occasional contributor of "wireless essays" to Ned Sherrin's BBC Radio 4 programme Loose Ends in 1986. Trefusis was portrayed as a senior tutor at the fictional St Matthew's College and professor of philology at the University of Cambridge. He is an important character in the novel The Liar.[2] Transcripts of the Loose Ends broadcasts were published as essays in Paperweight.[3]
In addition to a propensity for taking very liberal positions on a range of social issues, as when he states his credentials as "a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance,"[4] the greetings and salutations to his broadcasts almost always consist of a non-sequitur (e.g. "Hugely so to you all [...] And if you have been, then it was").
In 2009 Trefusis returned from the grave in a new audio series The Dongle of Donald Trefusis.[5] He also manifested on Twitter.[6]