Fantasist teacher leaves Bedales

He seemed every inch the Scottish academic. With a lilting Hebridean accent, apparently fluent Gaelic and penchant for tweed, Dr Scott Peake was a popular and well-respected head of classics at one of England's top public schools.

Tales of an idyllic childhood near Skye and past glories playing cricket for Scotland were lapped up by pupils and staff at £21,500-ayear Bedales in Hampshire.

But one 14-year-old pupil was so enamoured of his stories that he searched for his teacher's name on the internet - only to discover his past as a serial fantasist forced to resign from a string of high-profile jobs.

The 40-year-old classicist's elaborate tales conceal his real upbringing on a council estate in Woolwich. Now he is believed to be back there, in his late mother's two-bedroom semi, having quit Bedales after four terms for "personal reasons".

Staff at the school described him as "an enthusiastic, knowledgeable and energetic teacher" and a "popular and successful" games coach. But a statement added: "Bedales understands that Dr Peake will be pursuing a career outside teaching."

A relative of the pupil who uncovered Dr Peake's past claimed he told pupils "an extraordinary web of lies" and was "hardly a good role model".

Dr Peake's love affair with Scotland began as a student at St Andrews University, where he gained his PhD.

His enthusiasm for the country won him a post as head of the Saltire Society, which promotes Caledonian culture.

This, however, led to newspaper investigations revealing that no one on Raasay, where he claimed to have been born, had ever heard of him. When asked about the claims, Dr Peake resigned from the Saltire Society post in November 2001.

At the time, he was also classics professor at Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire, but was allowed to continue teaching because he was so highly regarded by staff and pupils. The following year he successfully applied to be head of classics at The Ley's School in Cambridge but discrepancies relating to his age and birth certificate forced him to pull out of the job before he had started.

A spokesman at the time said: "Dr Peake has the ability and the qualifications for the job. It is the peripheral aspects of his CV that he feels compelled to embellish. He is quite a colourful character."

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