King of the Dupers

The American historian Bernard Wasserstein became curious about Trebitsch Lincoln, a dim figure of the early twentieth century who crops up in historical footnotes. Picking up clues about him in Foreign Office files, Wasserstein shrewdly scented a biographical scoop. The Secret Lifes of Trebitsch Lincoln is the utterly improbable story of a thwarted megalomaniac who was also a champion conman. Indeed it’s tempting at times to dismiss the whole thing as a hoax.

The nomadic Trebitsch was born into a Jewish merchant family in provincial Hungary in 1879. After a spell of petty crime, Trebitsch fled to Britain andbecame a Christian convert. At the turn of the century he was in Canada, proselytising the Jews of Montreal. By 1903, following a quarrel about his stipend, he was back in Britain bent on self-promotion: and before long he was talking the Archbishop of Canterbury into awarding him the curacy of a village in Kent. The Archbishop was one of Trebitsch’s many dupes. Promptly abandoning the clerical life, Trebitsch proceeded to bowl over Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, the Quakermillionaire, Liberal and early social scientist. Largely through Rowntree's influence, Trebitsch became MP for Darlington in the General Election of 1910 – though at the time of his nomination he was not even a British citizen!

In less than a year, his phantom political career had ended in bankruptcy – a condition which Trebitsch rarely escaped. Accompanied by his submissive Hungarian wife and growing fami1y, Trebitsch decamped to Rumania. There he speculated on oil wells. But this scheme – like all Trebitsch's financial schemes failed miserably. On the eve of the First World War, he was back in Britain again – without visible means of support, yet certain he had a salient part to play in the coming conflict.

Bernard Wasserstein chronicles Trebitsch's outrageous attempts to become, first, a British, and then a German, spy. When he realised that neither side had any use for him, Trebitsch went to New York and sold a sensational exaggerated version of his exploits to the American Press. Former British MP was German spy, shrieked the credulous headlines. Originally seen as a mere nuisance, Trebitsch needled the British establishment into regarding him as a public enemy. And for British Intelligence it became a priority to stop Trebitsch's mouth.

Extradited and embittered, Trebitsch was imprisoned on the Isle of Wight from l916 to 1919. Behind bars he fantasised about destroying the British Empire. After the First World War Trebitsch teamed up with European Rightists and militarists. But he was mixing with gangsters who would have distrusted even somebody who was trustworthy. With Hungarian assassins trailing him, and with his safety in Europe so far from guaranteed, Trebitsch headed off for the Far East.

His most outlandish behaviour was still to come. Stricken by spiritual crisis, he converted to Buddhism, emerging in the 1930's as the abbot of Buddhist monastery in Shanghai. With the twelve spokes of the Buddhist Wheel of Forgetting branded on his shaven skull proclaimed the world an illusion. All the same, he remained worldly enough to impound the belongings of the Buddhist initiates he recruited on flying visits to Europe. Moreover, when the Japanese invaded China in 1937, Trebitsch instantly espoused the Japanese cause; and as soon as the Second World War broke out in 1939 he volunteered his services as a Nazi propagandist.

The present biographer is not certain what happened to Trebitsch himself. He probably died in 1943, during the Shanghai Terror.

(Neil Berry, Guardian)

I. Find English equivalent for the following:

- начало двадцатого века;

- неожиданно появиться;

- человек, страдающий манией величия;

- на пороге нового столетия;

- обращать в свою веру;

- устремляться к чему-либо;

- привести в замешательство;

- выдать преступника другому государству.

II. Answer the questions:

1.Where did Bernard Wasserstein find information about Trebitsch Lincoln?

2.How did he characterize Threbitsch Lincoln?

3.Why did Threbisch flee to Britain?

4.What did he do in Canada?

5. What had he managed to achieve in Britain?

6. Why was Threbitsch imprisoned?

7. What was Threbitsch’s activity at the Far East?

8. What was the end of Lincoln Trebitsch?

III. Say what is true and what is false. Correct the false sentences:

1. Wasserstein became interested in writing about Threbitsch Lincoln when he became aware he would be the first to tell he story.

2. After a spell of petty crime Threbitsch fled to Canada and became an Anglican convert.

3.The Archbishop was one of Threbitsch’s many dupes.

4. On the eve of the First World War he was back in Britain again.

5. For German Intelligence it became a priority to stop Threbitsch’s mouth.

6. When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, Threbitsch refused to adopt the Japanese cause.

IY. Find a word or phrase in the text which is similar in meaning to the following:

- to appear suddenly and unexpectedly;

- a man who persuades people to give their money or property by lying them;

- a trick in which someone tells the public something that is not true;

- travelling from place to place;

- brave interesting or humorous actions;

- being ready to believe what people tell and easy deceived;

- to join somebody in order to work together for a particular purpose.

Y. Express the meaning of the following words and phrases:

- file;

- scoop;

- megalomaniac;

- to proselytize;

- dupe;

- to decamp;

- establishment;

- to extradite;

- to impound.

YI. Demonstrate the meaning of the following words and expressions in sentences of your own:

- to crop in;

- conman;

- nomadic;

- to be bent on smth.;

- to bowl over;

- exploits;

- embitter;

- outlandish.

YII. Topic for discussion:

1. Personality role in history.

UNIT 4

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