The Professor and the Parson - A Story of Desire, Deceit and Defrocking

London: Profile, 2019. An As New unmarked copy with an As New dustjacket. First Edition, First Printing. 231 pages. 27 illustrations. One November day in 1958, the celebrated historian Hugh Trevor-Roper received a curious letter. It was an appeal for help, written on behalf of a postgraduate student at Magdalen College, who complained that he was being persecuted by the Bishop of Oxford. Curiosity piqued, Trevor-Roper agreed to see the man calling himself 'Robert Peters'. It was to be the start of an investigation he would pursue for the next quarter of a century. Beginning with the detailed dossier Trevor-Roper kept on Peters, Adam Sisman uncovers the extraordinary life of one of England's most eccentric conmen, a serial seducer, a fraud, a bigamist - and possibly the last Anglican clergyman to be formally defrocked . Though he lacked any academic qualifications, Peters succeeded in being appointed to teaching posts in universities from Colombo, Ceylon to Columbus, Ohio - and almost everwhere in between. Despite being didmissed, deported from country after country and repeatedly exposed in the press, Peters always bounced back - leaving a trail of destruction that included at least eight marriages, three prison sentences, an investigation by the FBI and a disastrous appearance on the TV programme 'Mastermind'. L. First. Hard Cover. As New/As New. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.