Faking It: from bookie's son to baron: the incredible life of Brian Leese

He changed his name many times, deceived everyone he met, distanced himself from his parents and reinvented himself as an Irish baron. This is 'Faking It', the astonishing true story of author Mandy Moore's relative Brian Leese. Brian began as an ordinary schoolboy from London, became a Mormon in Salt Lake City, married an Indian princess in Ischia, Italy, had bisexual affairs and partied in Rome with European royalty and famous writers. After divorcing, he married a Finnish heiress, living a life of luxury in an Irish mansion, all the while lying about his education, upbringing and parentage, and portraying himself as an Irish baron. He wrote books on Irish genealogy, architecture and history but his life was funded by horseracing crime, Nazis in the Bahamas, and American mobsters.

Table of Contents:
Picture and documents credits 11 Preface 15 1. Two lucky escapes - out of Amsterdam and the East End 17 East End squalor 18 Follow the money - A move to Twickenham 19 The dangerous world of bookmaking 20 2. The Leese family in the thirties 23 3. The war years 25 Means, motive, opportunity 26 Going to America 27 4. A new life in Salt Lake City 29 Moses and Marguerite with the Mormons 30 Brian breaks away 31 5. The O'Rourke barony and viscountcy of Breffny 33 What are the chances? 33 A brief history of the O'Rourkes 34 6. The celebrity playground of Ischia 37 7. A secret marriage to an Indian princess 41 8. The glamour of life in Rome 45 Deception and falsehood 47 A dalliance with Muriel Spark 48 9. A Finnish heiress, the Nazis and the Mafia 51 The scandal of Sir Stafford Lofthouse Sands and his millions 51 The Nazi connection 53 The Mafia take control 54 How much did Ulli know? 56 Brian meets Ulli - and her fortune 57 10. A lavish life in a Palladian mansion 59 Castletown Cox reborn 60 11. Sita-Maria and a royal connection 63 Goodbye to Abbeyleix 64 12. A charmed life of literature and the arts 67 13. A tangled web 71 The family left behind in London 73 14. Written in stone 77 15. Why did he do it? 79 References 81

About the Author :
Mandy Moore was born in Brixton, South London, in the home of her Jewish grandfather and cockney grandmother. She lived with them for the first two years of her life, while her jazz singer mother and father toured Britain with Harry Gold and his Pieces of Eight, a leading jazz band of the time. Her interest in family history led to the discovery of her mother's astonishing cousin, Brian Leese, and her decision to write this book about his life.