Early Life
The son of a headmaster in a mining community of Yorkshire, Watson was born into an environment in which vegetarianism, let alone veganism, was unknown. Donald's parents, however, encouraged and supported their three children in determining their own paths in life, a liberal approach which enabled Donald to formulate ideas which were both challenging and controversial. He held his parents in great esteem, and often expressed his gratitude for their wisdom in accepting, if not understanding, his philosophy.
He became a vegetarian at the age of fourteen, although he did not know any others. He did not smoke, consume alcohol, or make contact with foods or substances which he regarded as 'toxins'.
On leaving school at age fifteen, Watson became apprenticed to a family joinery firm where he perfected the skills necessary to work with wood, later (from the age of twenty) becoming a teacher of this subject. He taught in Leicester, where he also played a large part in the Leicester Vegetarian Society, and later in Keswick, where he practised fell-walking and organic vegetable gardening until very shortly before his death.
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