C.W. Blubberhouse

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 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, December 22, 1993 & September 7, 1994.
  4. ↑ The Stage, January 1994.
  5. ↑ Time Out, July 13–20, 1994.
  6. ↑ Times Literary Supplement, August 12, 1994.
  7. ↑ The Sunday Times, August 21, 1994.
  8. ↑ Obituary in The Lost Club Journal, No.2, Winter 200/2001.
  9. ↑ BBC Home Truths, September 22, 2001 and September 29, 2001.

Further reading