Frances Bradley
Frances Bradley is a Book-Hound in the Bran and Crowe Secondhand Books game.
Player johanngottliebfichte Portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch
Occupation Antiquarian
Special Once per adventure, you may have an informative or suitable item for the current investigation "back at the shop." To remember and uncover such an item requires a use of the corresponding ability (e.g., Art History, Library Use).
Drive Ennui
Pillars of Sanity
- Value of the Intellect
- Knowledge is Power
- Everyone is Equal
Investigative (16)
- Bibliography* 2
- Bookshop Stock 1
- Credit Rating 3
- Cryptography 1
- Document Analysis* 2
- History* 4
- Languages* 4 (Latin, Greek, German, French)
- Library Use* 2
- Occult* 4
- Textual Analysis* 4
General (55)
- Athletics 2
- Conceal 4
- Fleeing 10
- Health 6
- Psychoanalysis 8
- Sanity 10
- Scuffling 4
- Sense Trouble 8
- Stability 10
- Weapons 4
Sources of Stability
- Mary Bradley (mother)
- Lucy McCardle (bluestocking at museum admired from afar)
- Professor R.G. Collingwood (former tutor at Oxford)
Biography Aged 23 years, and employed as a Curator's Assistant, Manuscript Section, British Museum.
Frances grew up in a lower middle class household in North London, the son of an insurance clerk. His family were thrilled when he secured a place at Tottenham Grammar School and subsequently a scholarship to Christ Church College Oxford. Even at his his tender age, Frances had already developed an unhealthy interest in the occult, libertine philosophy, and the scandalous work of de Sade. His interests became known to the elitist Hellfire Club at the university where he became a popular member, thrilling the aristocratic membership with his lurid tales and occultic rituals. However, after two terms at the centre of Oxford's social life, the university discovered the scandalous, heretical, activities of the club. But it was not the sons of England's Dukes and Lords who were punished but the son of an insurance clerk: Frances was sent down from Oxford in ignominy without his degree. He returned to his broken-hearted parents, and managed to get a minor job at the museum. Here, Frances chafes under the scholars who he works for, narrow-minded men who, despite their qualifications, lack his learning. He is dissatisfied with his life and its narrowness and is once again drawn to the dark secrets that enthralled him when a student and has taken to spending his time out of the museum with those in London who trade in the literature in which he is interested.
