Stephen Knight

:"For the Australian dual-code rugby international, see Stephen Knight (rugby). For the British academic and writer see Stephen Thomas Knight"

Stephen Knight (September 26 1951 at Hainault, Essex - 25 July 1985) was a British author.

He is best known for the books "" (1976) and "The Brotherhood" (1984). Both books suggest there is a secret cabal of Masons running most aspects of British society, and have been criticised for their blatantly anti-Masonic tone.

"" suggested that those murders were part of a conspiracy between Masons and the royal family, a claim which is not accepted by historians. Nevertheless, the book became popular as the inspiration for works of fiction, among them the 1978 film "Murder by Decree" by Bob Clark and the graphic novel "From Hell" by Alan Moore. The latter was adapted into a film by the Hughes Brothers in 2001.

"The Brotherhood" was published at a time when Freemasonry was coming under increased scrutiny in the United Kingdom. Later Parliamentary Inquiries in Britain resulted in Freemasonry becoming a declarable interest in public employment, especially in the Judicial System and Police. Fact|date=February 2007 Knight also wrote the books "Cruelly Murdered", "Requiem at Rogano" and "The Killing of Justice Godfrey". He was a religious follower of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and, as a part of this interest, took the name Swami Puja Debal. He struggled with epilepsy for much of his life and was discovered to have a brain tumour in 1980 while taking part in the documentary TV programme "Horizon". The tumour was removed, but returned in 1984. Knight died in 1985 at the age of 33.

ee also

*List of notable brain tumor patients

External links

* [http://casebook.org/authors/obituaries/knight.html Stephen Knight obituary]
* [http://casebook.org/ripper_media/book_reviews/non-fiction/finalsol.html Review of "Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution"]
* [http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/freemasonry/stocks.html Detailed analysis of Knight's Masonic Ripper claims]