The Strange Story Of T Lobsang Rampa

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From the 1950's to 1980, a series of books about the life and adventures of a Tibetan Lama called Tuesday Lobsang Rampa were international best-sellers. In his first book, The Third Eye, (1954) Lobsang claimed that his third eye was literally opened by him having a hole drilled in his temple with a crude trepanation operation. He used the eye to spy on visitors checking their auras to ensure they were not part of a Chinese plot to invade Tibet. Lobsang went on to meet yetis, and sees the mummified body of one of his own previous incarnations. Sequels followed, but a few skeptics asked awkward questions leading to an investigation, and found that Lobsang was in reality a man called Cyril Henry Hoskin, a plumber from the seaside town, Plympton on the South Coast of England. He had never been anywhere near Tibet. Hoskin never denied the truth but embellished it with more books claiming that he was himself the reincarnation of Lobsang. Weirdly, several more books followed, including one called Living With The Lama, narrated to the author by his pet cat. One early book, My Visit To Venus from 1957 was so embarrassing to him that even Lobsang / Hoskin denied having written it, claiming his publishers doctored his original manuscript. When I see Iron Man 3, and Ben Kingsley's Mandarin proving to be a drunken actor from Croydon, I can't help thinking the writers were inspired by Hoskin. The books are embarrassingly laughable if you come across one. Youtube - The Mandarin Unmasked - Iron Man 3 Arthur Chappell