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.