It seemed fitting that, when in the 1980s the authorities wanted someone for a pre-recorded radio announcement telling Britain that it was under nuclear attack, they turned to him. It meant, he observed with typical wryness, that he became known as "the voice of doom".
He was born in Cairo on 23 August 1945 and spent his first 14 years in the Middle East and Cyprus, listening to the BBC World Service and the forces radio network BFBS (which rebroadcast BBC plays and comedies).
After dabbling with acting - he appeared with the New Shakespeare Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park, London - he joined BFBS as an announcer.
According to a BBC biography he then travelled around the Middle East for five years, before joining BBC Radio 2. He read the news and presented Nightride.
He transferred to BBC Radio 4 in 1974 after a month with the fledgling commercial station Radio Hallam in Sheffield, and remained with the network until 1 January 2013, as a continuity announcer and newsreader.
In 1988 he became the station's chief announcer despite a sometimes chippy relationship with BBC management. Occasionally that became evident on air.
In the 1970s a new controller of Radio 4 invented a programme called Up to the Hour, a miscellany of items presented by one of the continuity team, which interrupted the Today programme. It wasn't popular.
One morning Donaldson introduced it with the words: "This is Donald Peterson to take you Up to the Hour, drive you out to work or send you round the dial to Radio 2.  And if you're staying, you're very brave!"
His duties included reading the Shipping Forecast, presenting the Six O'Clock News, and reading out funny snippets from newspapers on The News Quiz.
His other interests include walking - usually to pubs to discuss politics and religion, and swimming - sometimes across tiny bays to tavernas, to talk about Mediterranean cookery and books.

The 38-year-old former Manchester United and West Ham player joins the Blues after a spell with Notts County.
Carroll, who has won 42 international caps, will link up with former Northern Ireland team-mate and current Linfield boss David Healy.
"He's obviously a player I know very well and he will bring with him considerable experience," said Healy.
Carroll made his Northern Ireland debut against Thailand in 1997 and is expected to be in the squad for the Euro 2016 finals in France.
Linfield finished second in the league last season and were beaten in the Irish Cup final by Glenavon.
"His experience will be of enormous benefit to the goalkeepers and indeed our entire squad," added Healy.
"I'm looking forward to working with him once his international commitments are concluded in the coming weeks."
Peter Donaldson had one of the most distinctive voices on Radio 4 - warm and resonant, a voice of benign authority with just a hint of humour.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Northern Ireland goalkeeper Roy Carroll has signed for Premiership club Linfield on a one-year deal.