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 Independent,[2] The Stage, January 1994.</ref> and Time Out,[3] 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,[4] 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.[5]

At the funeral of Oxford bookseller Rupert Cook in March 1999 it was revealed that he had been partly responsible for the Blubberhouse letters.[6] (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.[7] 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. Time Out, July 13–20, 1994.
  4. Times Literary Supplement, August 12, 1994.
  5. The Sunday Times, August 21, 1994.
  6. Obituary in The Lost Club Journal, No.2, Winter 200/2001.
  7. BBC Home Truths, September 22, 2001 and September 29, 2001.

Further reading


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