The professor & the parson : a story of desire, deceit and defrocking / by Adam Sisman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sisman, Adam, author.

Contributor:

Class of 1924 Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Peters, Robert Parkins.

Swindlers and swindling.

Fraud.

Physical Description:

231 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Other Title:

Professor and the parson

Story of desire, deceit and defrocking

Place of Publication:

London : Profile Books, 2019.

Summary:

One day in November 1958, the celebrated historian Hugh Trevor-Roper received a curious letter. It was an appeal for help, written on behalf of a student at Magdalen College, with the unlikely claim that he was being persecuted by the Bishop of Oxford. Curiosity piqued, Trevor-Roper agreed to a meeting. It was to be his first encounter with Robert Parkin Peters: plagiarist, bigamist, fraudulent priest and imposter extraordinaire. The Professor and the parson traces the strange career of one of Britain's most eccentric criminals. Motivated not by money but by a desire for prestige, Peters' lied, stole and cheated his way to academic positions and religious posts from Cambridge to New York, Singapore and South Africa. Frequently deported, and even more frequently discovered, his trail of destruction included seven marriages (three of which were bigamous), an investigation by the FBI and a disastrous appearance on Mastermind. Based on Trevor-Roper's own detailed 'file on Peters', The Professor and the parson is a witty and charming account of eccentricity, extraordinary narcissism and a life as wild and unlikely as any in fiction.

Contents:

Part I: 1958-9. In which the professor meets the parson and hears his history

In which the parson is ejected from Oxford. Part II: 1959-83. In which the professor studies the parson's past

In which the parson pledges to do better

In which the parson finds a saviour

In which the parson does some silly things

In which the parson appoints himself principal

In which the professor comes a cropper. Part III: 1983-2005. The apartheid parson

In which the parson appoints himself principal (reprise). Epilogue. Conclusion: Person parson.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1924 Book Fund.

ISBN:

1788162110

9781788162111

OCLC:

1066039466