John Betjeman A.N.Wilson hoax

And it couldn't have happened to a nicer person

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Hoax love letter fools Betjeman biographer

Alex Kumi
Monday August 28, 2006
The Guardian


It is, at first glance, a tantalising insight into the love life of one of
the nation's most celebrated poets. The letter from Sir John Betjeman to his
mistress must have seemed almost too good to be true when it fell into the
lap of AN Wilson, the late poet laureate's biographer. It was so convincing
that Wilson included it in his new book about Betjeman as evidence of a
hitherto unknown "fling".

But it was indeed too good to be true. It now seems Wilson was the victim of
an elaborate hoax. The poet, who was born 100 years ago today, never penned
the note.

The telltale sign that the letter is a joke is that the capital letters at
the start of each sentence spell out "A N Wilson is a ****". A journalist
drew the biographer's attention to the coded message last week, and after
rereading the letter he admitted that it was a hoax. "Of course I saw the
funny side - I laughed about it a lot when I found out," Wilson told the
Guardian yesterday. "It is quite childish of somebody and I have absolutely
no interest in who wrote it."

The biographer, who estimates that he read about 50,000 Betjeman-related
letters while researching his book, said there was little he could have done
to avoid being caught out. "If I went through every single letter to check
the start of each sentence I wouldn't have written the book."

Wilson said the discovery had "come at a good time" because the book was
about to be reprinted anyway. He estimated that around 13,000 copies had
been printed originally, but another 30,000 are to be printed without the
letter. He speculated that the few copies containing the hoax may be sought
by book collectors.

Details of the hoax come just days after the Guardian revealed there were
tensions between Wilson and Bevis Hillier, who wrote an authorised Betjeman
biography. Hillier, who worked for 25 years on his three-volume biography,
suggested Wilson may have used him as his "unpaid research worker" by
drawing on his material. But Wilson, who described Hillier's second volume
as a "hopeless mishmash of a book" in a review for the Spectator in 2002,
denied using any of Hillier's work for research purposes. Hillier has denied
any involvement in the hoax.

The letter, which surfaced two years ago while Wilson was researching the
biography, was addressed to Honor Tracy, an Anglo-Irish writer with whom the
poet worked at the Admiralty during the war. It appeared to have been
written by the poet in May 1944 - 11 years after he married Penelope
Chetwode.

When it came to Wilson's attention it was accompanied by a note in which"Eve
de Harben" wrote that she had received the letter from her father, a cousin
of Tracy. Tracy died in 1989. De Harben, who wrote from an address in
France, sent what was claimed to be a typed copy of the love letter. The
trickster said the original had been sold to an American collector of
memorabilia related to the poet. Wilson has said he did think it odd, when
he finally returned the letter to De Harben at the stated address, that it
was returned with "addressee and address not known".

Betjeman became poet laureate in 1972, and died in May 1984.

The letter

Darling Honor,

I loved yesterday. All day, I've thought of nothing else. No other love I've
had means so much. Was it just an aberration on your part, or will you meet
me at Mrs Holmes's again - say on Saturday? I won't be able to sleep until I
have your answer.

Love has given me a miss for so long, and now this miracle has happened. Sex
is a part of it, of course, but I have a Romaunt of the Rose feeling about
it too. On Saturday we could have lunch at Fortt's, then go back to Mrs H's.
Never mind if you can't make it then. I am free on Sunday too or Sunday
week. Signal me tomorrow as to whether and when you can come.

Anthony Powell has written to me, and mentions you admiringly. Some of his
comments about the Army are v funny. He's somebody I'd like to know better
when the war is over. I find his letters funnier than his books.
Tinkerty-tonk, my darling. I pray I'll hear from you tomorrow. If I don't
I'll visit your office in a fake beard.
All love, JB

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/art...859782,00.html

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michael adams

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