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asked to interview Sneath to discover more about this unusual school, but Sneath's "secretary", "Penelope Pox-Rhyddene", claimed he was ill. The journalist then visited
Petworth to discover that there was no Selhurst School there, and subsequently turned up on the doorstep of Berkeley's friend's
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to have his post forwarded to his
Cambridge address. After some time they refused to send mail from a nonexistent address, so he would ask his correspondents to reply
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Some of the headmasters answered politely to a person they thought to be a fellow headmaster; one even recommended
Selhurst to a parent of a prospective pupil.
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and a competent nursery maid, Heywood wrote back, "I am not an agency for domestic servants. I really must ask you not to bother me with this kind of thing."
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Selhurst School and
Rochester Sneath were the inventions of Humphry Berkeley, then an undergraduate student at
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127:(c. 1900 – ?) is a fictional character, headmaster of the fictional Selhurst school, who was created by
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was informed of the possibility of designing a new main building for the school; he declined as well.
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was invited to conduct the school orchestra; he, like Shaw and Scott, was not enthusiastic.
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received an invitation to speak at an annual celebration at
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Two of Sneath's correspondents detected the hoax: one was Walter
Oakeshott of
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Mrs Harvey-Kelly, at a
Cambridge address which was that of a fellow student.
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Berkley's earliest letters as Sneath, written in March 1948, were to the
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The
Rochester Sneath letters were published in 1974 under the title
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Berkeley was sent down (excluded from university) for two years.
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to public school headmasters and public figures starting in 1948.
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to ask if he should provide sex education for the school maids.
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Public figures soon found themselves receiving letters too:
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for a reference for a teacher who had a club foot and warts.
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received a letter from Sneath, asking to apply for his job.
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Berkeley ordered headed notepaper printed with
Selhurst's
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textbooks for compulsory
Russian lessons in his school.
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on 29 April revealed that Berkeley was behind the hoax.
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On 13 April 1948, Sneath's letter was published in the
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that the school chaplain was hopeless as a rat catcher.
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446:Fictional characters from the 20th century
106:Learn how and when to remove this message
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392:The Life and Death of Rochester Sneath
369:The Life and Death of Rochester Sneath
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426:Fictional principals and headteachers
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421:Nonexistent people used in hoaxes
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232:A complaint to the headmaster of
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225:A letter to the headmaster of
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345:After Sneath, and publication
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349:Berkeley was later elected
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155:with 175 male students.
246:Even the headmaster of
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362:1959 general election
55:"H. Rochester Sneath"
354:Member of Parliament
303:" be ready for him.
40:improve this article
274:Giles Gilbert Scott
267:George Bernard Shaw
208:Marlborough College
199:of several British
159:Invention of Sneath
139:Fictional biography
119:H. Rochester Sneath
289:Winchester College
153:preparatory school
386:Berkeley, Humphry
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