Chapman Winston Blubberhouse is a fictional poet and author, created by R. B. Russell and Mark Valentine.[1] In 1993, Russell published a Brief Biography of Blubberhouse which was privately circulated, and thereafter letters started to appear under the name of C. W. Blubberhouse in the pages of The Independent,[2] Daily Mail,[3] The Stage,[4] and Time Out,[5] among other national UK newspapers and magazines. Blubberhouse was also listed in an Oxford College yearbook and appeared in a literary guide.

In 1994, The Sunday Times attacked the Times Literary Supplement for publishing a letter from Blubberhouse,[6] and sent a reporter to the correspondent's address to investigate. They claimed Blubberhouse was "too good to be true", and declared him a hoax.[7]

At the funeral of Oxford bookseller Rupert Cook in March, 1999, it was revealed that he had been partly responsible for the Blubberhouse letters.[8] (It has subsequently been revealed that Roger Dobson was his co-conspirator.) Russell appeared on John Peel's Home Truths programme on Radio 4 in 2001 to tell the story.[9] In a follow-up comment on Home Truths a correspondent used the adjective "Blubberhoused" to suggest that somebody had been hoaxed.

References

  1. ^ "Blubberhouse (And How He Returned to Haunt Me)", by R. B. Russell, The Hotspur (The Parish Magazine of St John's Healey) June 2008.
  2. ^ The Independent, July 8 1994
  3. ^ The Daily Mail, 22 December 1993 & 7 September 1994.
  4. ^ The Stage, January 1994.
  5. ^ Time Out, 13–20 July 1994.
  6. ^ Times Literary Supplement, 12 August 1994.
  7. ^ The Sunday Times, 21 August 1994.
  8. ^ Obituary in The Lost Club Journal, No.2, Winter 200/2001.
  9. ^ BBC Home Truths, 22 September 2001 and 29 September 2001.

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