In 1972 Ted Morgan met William Burroughs in London, where the latter move in the mid-60s.
Ted Morgan recounted how, as friends of a mutual friends, they had gotten along with William effortlessly due to their "overlapping frames of reference". He came to learn that Burroughs was entirely honest in his dealings with others, always paying his bills, never writing a bad cheque, and never shirking his part of the bill in restaurants. According to Morgan, there was something Keaton-esque in Burroughs's blank, expressionless face, his nasal Midwestern drawl, and his gallows humour.
Burroughs had grown tired of London and longed for Tangier, where he could write and smoke dope. Morgan observed that, largely because of Burroughs's reputation, many aspiring writers had arrived in Tangier, hoping the weed would enhance their prose, only to find they were writing nonsense. Burroughs, however, claimed that hashish and majoun sharpened his synapses and conjured the strange images that populated his writing.
William S. Burroughs by Paul Natkin
In London, Burroughs had given up dope but had taken to drinking heavily. Morgan recalled hosting a dinner for him at the Hungry Horse, inviting a woman Burroughs liked—Felicity Mason—who wrote novels under the name Anne Cumming, inspired by her sexual conquests. Burroughs ordered a bottle of 100-proof Absolut vodka and seemed to enjoy it, though his expression remained unchanged and his speech even. At one point, Morgan noticed Burroughs cleaning his glasses with a slice of bread. He later asked Felicity, who lived near Burroughs, to drop him off at Duke Street. She rang Morgan afterwards, saying, "He was so silent I thought he was dead," but added, "He was a very gentle corpse."
Morgan noted that in London, Burroughs had become somewhat of a recluse. He had no instinct for self-promotion and struggled with the basic tasks of daily life, such as making appointments, renewing his driving licence, or answering the telephone. However, all of this changed when Burroughs returned to New York in 1974.