Disgraced Cambridge professor appears to have stolen memoir title from old TV show

The University of Cambridge professor who resigned in disgrace this week over plagiarism and potential lies about his background and professional experience appears to have even cribbed the title of his upcoming autobiography from “Spartacus,” a TV show that ran from 2010 to 2013.

Jason Arday, the youngest black person ever to hold a full professorship at the university resigned Wednesday from his position at Cambridge, has a book coming out with publisher Simon & Schuster, titled “Great and Unfortunate Things.” In an excerpt, Arday claims an aid worker in Brazil told him that he was “destined to do great things,” but was also “destined for very sad and difficult things as well.” The title of his memoir appears to be a play on this prophecy.

In the very first episode of “Spartacus,” the protagonist’s wife tells him that she’s received a vision from the Gods, that if Spartacus goes to war, he is “destined for great and unfortunate things.”

Episode seven of the first season is also called “Great and Unfortunate Things,” and in the final episode of the series, Spartacus echoes his wife’s words during a speech to his army. Performing a web search for the phrase brings up just two references: Arday’s book and “Spartacus.”

Simon & Schuster has an expensive egg on its face

Simon & Schuster did not respond to a Just the News inquiry, but the publisher said earlier in the week – before Arday resigned – that it still planned to publish his book on Aug. 11, The Guardian reported. Arday had previously claimed to the outlet that Simon & Schuster paid him 1.4 million (it is not clear if that is in U.S. or U.K. currency) for the book, a high price for a book The Guardian said was only expected to sell around 5,000 copies. The outlet reported that Simon & Schuster may not be able to pull the book due to a contract and the potentially large advance payment, hoping to recoup some of its money.

Before Arday resigned, Simon & Schuster released a statement about Arday’s upcoming book. “We have worked closely with Professor Jason Arday on 'Great and Unfortunate Things' since acquiring it and can speak to the professionalism and integrity he has brought to every stage of the publication,” the publisher said.

"The sappiest white liberals": Times of London

“'Great and Unfortunate Things' is Arday’s memoir about overcoming remarkable challenges and responding to adversity with resilience. It is told through his own recollections and those of the people closest to him,” it added.

A review of the book by The Times of London called it “mawkish, self-aggrandizing, and hard to believe,” adding that the book “feels precision-tooled to flatter the biases of the sappiest white liberals.”

Arday resigned Wednesday shortly after Cambridge announced it would be investigating him for plagiarism and embellishing his life story. The announcement came after Cambridge repeatedly defended Arday as the “victim of a vile campaign.”

Arday’s resignation letter itself has come under scrutiny after AI writing detection software, Pangram, suggested the letter was “fully AI generated,” with “high confidence” in the detection.

Jussie Smollett, Ph.D.?

In audio obtained by The Washington Free Beacon, Arday claimed in a speech that he was regularly threatened with violence, including “pigs’ heads in my parents' door.” No evidence exists to suggest the police were notified about such incidents, and the British press could not find a butcher who sold an entire pig's head.

Arday told The Telegraph that police spoke to a local butcher as part of an investigation into the alleged incident, and claimed that officers found that the butcher had sold a “whole hog” on the morning in question, yet the Metropolitan Police told The Times they could find “no record of any allegation involving a pig’s head and no record of any of the subsequent claims about officers visiting butchers.”

Arday’s troubles began when academic Nathan Cofnas reported that more than 100 passages of his Ph.D. were similar to a thesis that had been published six years earlier. He was also accused of embellishing his life story, including farfetched claims of racist threats.

The Free Beacon also reported that Arday had lied about his ability to fundraise for charities, based on 16 years of records reviewed by the outlet. The media outlet found that Simon & Schuster edited and toned down Arday’s more fantastical claims about fundraising and athletic accomplishments. The Times of London also published an interview with Arday last week in which he acknowledged that he alone did not raise millions of pounds for charity, but that he worked with about 100 other people to do so.

Arday has also claimed to raise money for more than 80 charities, yet the Free Beacon found records for only two: One told the outlet that Arday raised just under £11,000 pounds for them and the other could not legally provide fundraising information.

On Wednesday, The Telegraph questioned Arday’s claims of publishing a previous book, titled “Being Young, Black and Male: Challenging the Dominant Discourse.” As the outlet reported, the publisher accepted Arday’s proposal, but the book was never published.

Claiming experience he never had

The National Review also reported that Arday lied about being a visiting professor at The Ohio State University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which Arday claimed in his official Cambridge biography (which no longer exists). That DEI office closed in 2025, and the university told The National Review that it had no record of Arday ever working there. This revelation followed reporting from Scotland’s The Herald showing that Arday also lied about being a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow’s School of Education.

Arday did not respond to a Just the News query. He has previously denied allegations of plagiarism.