THE POVERTY BAY HERALD

Gisborne, New Zealand

13 February 1930

(page 13)

“BLUEBEARD.”

LECTURE IS BANNED.

SECRETARY’S DEATH.

“Aleister Crowley’s lecture before the Oxford Poetry Society on Gilles de Rais, the fifteenth century magician, and the original “Bluebeard,” was cancelled by the secretary who stated that the authorities had banned it.

Crowley told the Manchester Guardian that he believed the trouble was due to a report that he was responsible, directly or indirectly, for the death of his secretary, Raoul Loveday, an Oxford undergraduate.

Perhaps the lecture was doomed, because Gilles de Rais is said to have murdered 800 children.

“A false accusation has been made that I have not only killed, but eaten, children,” said Crowley.