It appears that I precipitated the exposure of a multiple hoaxer on Wikipedia.<\/p>\n
In Line of succession to the British Throne<\/i><\/a> I noticed that “The Earl of Amersham” had been inserted and, four minutes later, removed. Curious, I looked up Earl of Amersham<\/i> and found it fishy on two points: the title was said to be created in 1964 (since 1960 only three non-royal Brits have been made peers other than life barons) and the genuine but extinct title Earl Roberts<\/a> was attributed to Amersham’s son.<\/p>\n I tagged Earl of Amersham<\/i> as a likely hoax, and within hours . . . well, you can read for yourself<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why (you may ask) does an American anarchist know enough about British aristocracy to spot the hoax? I’ve been fascinated by heraldry<\/a> since I found Moncreiffe & Pottinger’s Simple Heraldry Cheerfully Illustrated<\/i> in my hi-skool’s library circa 1974; and one can’t study heraldry without picking up some knowledge of dynasties and such.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It appears that I precipitated the exposure of a multiple hoaxer on Wikipedia. In Line of succession to the British Throne I noticed that “The Earl of Amersham” had been inserted and, four minutes later, removed. Curious, I looked up … Continue reading