(139) Testing the authenticity of James´ CVs

Trevor McCallum and I had a working lunch on 23rd July 1997 to discuss plans for an anti-Darwinism TV series. I was slightly surprised when, as Trevor left, he asked for my CV.

On 29th July, I completed and posted to him the synopsis for the series. I asked my wife to run off for me a copy of my CV from the computer records, but she said that she had already done this and given it to McCallum when he had visited.

On 30th July, (when McCallum would have received my synopsis) I watched an episode of the TV soap opera Brookside, a series that I had not been following closely.

A character called Jimmy Corkhill has a fake series of ´O´ level results fabricated for him, along with a fake employment history, by teenager Danny Simpson.
When presented with these, which Simpson had made up by removing his mother’s name from her computer records of her exam results and substituting Corkhill’s, Jimmy’s reaction was scepticism that anyone would believe them.
He began to read out the list of his ‘qualifications’.

"English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Biology…",

and by the time he had got that far I felt I knew what was coming,

"... Latin, French", he concluded.

Those were precisely the six ´O´ levels that I had passed.

Clicking on the Results at the head of this Entry will amplify them and verify that.

Grades lower than ´C´are not passes, so I failed Geography and Chemistry.

Later Corkhill was to use his fake CV to almost obtain a job as a swimming instructor.
He did not intend to take it if it were offered; it was an exercise to prove the viability of going after employment in this crooked way.

And it could well have worked but for a youth getting into difficulties at the pool where his interview was conducted. The interviewer asked for Corkhill to take the deep end whilst he dived in. At that Corkhill scarpered… because he could not swim!
... ... ...
I began to study the subject in far greater depth.