Posted on 08/20/2026 8:30:16 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Earlier this year, shortly after it was announced that the publisher Simon & Schuster had bought the rights to Jason Arday’s memoir, the then professor of sociology of education at Cambridge University gave an interview to The Bookseller. “I always wanted to be a person who flew close to the sun,” Arday mused. “But sometimes I wonder: did I fly too close?”
On the evidence of his book – due to be published in the UK on August 27 – and all that has emerged about Arday in recent weeks, the answer is probably yes. Titled Great and Unfortunate Things, the memoir might have been more honestly named Great and Improbable Things. This week, suspicions were raised about whether Arday’s resignation letter, in which he announced his intention to leave his post at Cambridge, was written by AI; the casual reader of Great and Unfortunate Things might suspect the ghostly hand of AI too – although the book was apparently written in collaboration with the definitely human writer Eve Claxton.
Arday, as we now know, is well used to making extravagant claims about his life. Since The Telegraph launched its investigation, questions have swirled around the authenticity of his PhD thesis, while he has been found to have exaggerated purported feats, such as single-handedly raising £5.5m for charity, academic posts he has apparently filled, and multiple athletic achievements (semi-professional footballer; 600 miles of running in six days). In the last week, The Telegraph revealed that Arday claimed he had featured in a television programme, Seven Up, broadcast before he was born, and that he even falsely claimed to have published a book with the impeccably believable title Being Young, Black and Male: Challenging the Dominant Discourse.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
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Arday reminds me of Obama.
A lot.
Read the Wikipedia article about Jason Arday.
He was a con artist that took advantage of the system and the idiots in it..................
His defenders seem to believe that “black people cannot be guilty of anything” because white people are so awful. It’s a variant of the George Floyd story.
Well heck, from what we’ve learned of the man should we have expected anything else?
I’m sorry he ended up like he did however I’ll say this, 99.9% of the time I have found myself in the situation I’m in (good OR bad) I put me there...no one else.
Are they handing out book advances this easily? Maybe I could get a nice advance for my memoirs of my Medal of Honor quality heroics when I was in Vietnam.
And, every single person who endorsed this line of crappola needs to be cleansed from the system.
And Simon & Schuster is owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
Great investment decision.... .
Perfect
Maybe he offed himself not out of shame, but because he feared he’d be sued into bankruptcy by these publishers and media outlets.
This episode is more than about Jason. It’s about an academic subculture that believes, apparently, that lying is just another way to tell the truth.
Academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism suspended from university
Pathological liar.
When I was growing up I actually had a friend who turned into one. It’s a strange condition. They will actually have entire conversations that appears completely plausible and believable... But then you find out it’s complete nonsense... Then it happens again and again and again and after awhile you just come to understand that you can’t believe a word they’re saying to you... Ever!
This dude came back home from out west (Alberta) for Christmas one year... He was engaged to a young woman who lived in our town, had a fantastic job out west... They were getting married in the spring, etc... The woman he claimed to be marrying? Turns out they sat next to each other on the plane back from Alberta... And she didn’t know him from Adam... His entire story was complete BS from start to finish.
That was decades ago and I haven’t seen him since... I always thought to myself... This dude would make a great author if he had put his mind to writing a book.
Who T F is Jason Arday ... ?
Some guy.
Gone now.
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