Robert Keable was a famous novelist in the 1920s who is virtually unknown today. His first novel Simon Called Peter, about a WW1 chaplain's affair with a nurse, shocked many, was name checked in The Great Gatsby, and became a huge international best seller. What no one knew at the time was it was semi-autobiographical. His grandson tells the extraordinary story of the book and of the author's life. Robert Keable was a Cambridge educated priest who served as a missionary in Africa, before becoming chaplain to ill-treated black labourers in France. After the war he left the church, and his wife, and ran away to Tahiti with his mistress to live for a year in Paul Gauguin’s house. He stayed in Tahiti, built his own house, continued writing and married a Tahitian princess.
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THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER
Mr Simon Keable-Elliott
A graduate of Durham University, Simon was Head of Politics and Director of Model United Nations at Royal Russell School for 25 years. He now works as a writer, researcher, and lecturer. His first book Utterly Immoral, Robert Keable and his scandalous novel was published in November 2022, and he had also written articles for The Church Times, The History News Network, The Beresford Family Society Magazine, The Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (to be published next year) and Genealogy Today. He is a regular speaker at events run by Western Front Associations, U3As and Family History Societies.
OTHER EVENTS
Learn how one company came to control the world's flow of diamonds into the marketplace for over a century.
The morning lecture will look at classical dance and after lunch we will move into more modern times.