I've had a hugely entertaining few days researching a story about people=20=
selling fake titles (such as Lord and Lady So-and-so of Such-and-such) = on=20 the net. It started out as a fairly humdrum story, but there's a great=20=
punchline at the end.
The Earl of Bradford, an authentic aristocrat and former member of the=20=
House of Lords, is something of a geek. Since getting turned on to the=20=
internet a few years ago, he has set up a whole bunch of web sites.
One for his Covent Garden restaurant, Porters:
and several others covering aspects of London, heritage, stately homes,=20=
and so on:
http://www.statelyhomes.com http://www.virtual-london.com http://www.londonlantern.com
These were all produced for him by his own team of web designers. But = his=20 latest site is one he knocked up all by himself:
Lord Bradford says that there are a whole bunch of sites out there = selling=20 meaningless titles. People buying them are wasting their money and being=20=
ripped off, he says. They also expose themselves to ridicule when they=20=
discover what they have really spent their money on.
He mentions several sites that annoy him, but some are more murky than=20=
others. I tried to follow up his allegations by contacting two of them.
English Feudal Titles is a company based in Devon, and it sells a = service=20 that allows people to call themselves "Lord" or "Lady". It works like = this: you pay them some money for a square foot of their land, which becomes=20=
yours. You choose what name to give it, ie, "Westminster". Then your = name=20 is changed by deed poll to "Lord John of Westminster". It's perfectly=20 legal, and it means you can put your lordly name on all your personal=20 documents - passport, driving licence and so on - but you are not=20 *actually* a Lord of anything. You cannot claim to be a Lord. All that's=20=
changed is your name.
The guy behind this site is called Robert Farmer. On the phone he = happily=20 admits that he is not selling a proper title, but says: "Our web site=20 doesn't say we *do* sell proper titles. We make it plain what people are=20=
really buying."
Well, sort of. It is true that his site:
http://www.englishtitles.co.uk
... does spell out that what you are paying for is a piece of land and = the=20 fees of a solicitor. It doesn't really spell things out quite as clearly=20=
as Mr Farmer did to me on the phone.
Mr Farmer says Lord Bradford is "very cynical." He believes Lord = Bradford=20 is starting this campaign purely to protect his own interests.
"Lord Bradford is happy to use his title to further his own business=20 interests," he says, "and he doesn't want other people being able to buy=20=
their own titles and take a cut for themselves."
While that's a logical argument, it doesn't really add up. There are=20 already hundreds of other titled aristocrats around who could try using=20=
their title to back a business venture. Surely a few newcomers to the=20 scene, properly titled or not, would not be able to have any serious=20 impact on Lord Bradford's personal income.
Mr Farmer is unhappy about faketitles.com but appears to be taking the=20=
criticism well. He says that in a few days, he will post his own = rebuttal=20 at http://www.faketitles.info
The second title retailer that I tried to contact was the owner of=20 http://www.nobletitles.com. This is a far more professional looking = site,=20 but if you read the allegations about it at Noble Scams:
... (another anti-scam site, but nothing to do with Lord Bradford) you=20=
will find a detailed investigation into the activities of the owner of = the=20 Noble Titles.
This is where things started to get amusing.
There's a phone number at the bottom of the Noble Titles front page, so = I=20 rang it. A woman answered just by saying the number when she picked up. = I=20 asked if I had reached Noble Titles, and her tone of voice changed and = she=20 said yes, and said she would try to put me through to the office.
The line went silent for a minute or two. She came back saying "all = lines=20 were engaged" and could she take a message. I gave her my number, said I=20=
was a journalist looking for comment, and that was it. I didn't hear = back=20 from anyone at Noble Titles, but the next day this page appeared on the=20=
Noble Titles site:
http://www.nobletitles.com/bradfordscam.htm
In short, it makes various counter-claims, accusing the accuser of = selling=20 fake titles himself. But the most hilarious bit comes towards the end,=20=
when the Noble Titles people say:
"Please also note that when you visit the website of Lord Bradford and=20=
Baronage Press you get a special treat: a COOKIE=85 A cookie is planted = into=20 your computer without your even knowing it. A cookie traces your every=20=
move, letter, e-mail, IM=92s, internet searches and browses - even your=20=
private banking transactions."