Last week A.N. Wilson, biographer of noted British poet John Bejetman, discovered he was a victim of a particularly elaborate hoax concerning a supposedly undiscovered letter written by the poet – which turned out to be fake. Now the Independent reports that the hoaxer’s identity is Bevis Hillier, the 68-year-old author of a three-volume work devoted to Betjeman who had previously denied any part in the con. His reasons for perpetuating the hoax? Annoyance about the advance fanfare Wilson’s book was receiving.
Hillier had initially been angry when Wilson reviewed the second volume of his biography in an edition of the Spectator and described it as “a hopeless mishmash”. But he was pushed over the edge when Wilson’s new tome received some advance adulation. “When a newspaper started billing Wilson’s book as ‘the big one’ it was just too much,” he said. Hence the hoax, which I can’t help but think is monstrously immature. Think of all the time wasted on that which could have been better spent on another project…though I guess it succeeded in giving Hillier some undue attention.