A. N. Wilson

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Andrew Norman Wilson (born 27 October, 1950), is an English writer, known for his biographies, novels and works of popular and cultural history. He is also (as of 2004) a columnist for the London Evening Standard. In 2006, he was the victim of a notable literary hoax played by a rival biographer.

1 Life and work
2 Betjeman letter hoax
3 Bibliography
- 3.1 Non-fiction
- 3.2 Fiction
4 Notes and references

[edit] Life and work

A. N. Wilson was educated at Rugby School and New College, Oxford (BA 1972, MA 1976). Destined originally for ordination in the Church of England, Wilson entered St Stephen's House, the High Church theological college at Oxford, but left at the end of his first year.

His particular slant on biography, and to some extent his take on the Victorian era topics he has covered in God's Funeral and The Victorians, can be traced to this early, but thwarted, intention to take Holy Orders. His acclaimed life of Leo Tolstoy, and his books on Jesus, C. S. Lewis and Hilaire Belloc, are notable for their deeply informed and also sceptical attitude to religious belief.

Wilson is also noted for mischief, for example in comments on the parentage of Queen Victoria, and his dissenting views, which many found disrespectful, of Iris Murdoch.

[edit] Betjeman letter hoax

In August 2006 Wilson's biography of Sir John Betjeman was published. It was then discovered that he had been the victim of a hoax and had included a letter (to Anglo-Irish writer, Honor Tracy) which purported to be by Betjeman detailing a previously unknown love affair, but which he acknowledged to be a fiction, when it was pointed out that it contained an acrostic spelling out an insulting message to him.<ref name="hoax">Brooks, Richard. "Betjeman love letter is horrid hoax", The Sunday Times, 2006-08-27. Retrieved on 2006-08-28.</ref> The letter was sent to Wilson by "Eve de Harben", who then wrote to a journalist to reveal the hoax. The acrostic spelt out "AN Wilson is a shit" and "Eve de Harben" is an anagram of "Ever been had". Bevis Hillier, Wilson's arch rival and Betjeman's authorised biographer, was an immediate suspect but initially denied all knowledge. A week after the hoax was publicised, however, Hillier admitted responsibility, stating that "When a newspaper started billing Wilson’s book as 'the big one', it was just too much."<ref name="hoax-confession">Brooks, Richard. "Betjeman biographer confesses to literary hoax", The Sunday Times, 2006-09-03. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.</ref>

Wilson later claimed that he has struck back with a hidden message of his own in a reprinting of the book. That has yet to be discovered.<ref name="wilson reply">Marre, Oliver. "Pendennis", The Observer, 2006-09-10. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.</ref>