Tonbridge School

This gruesome episode, shocking as it was, prefigured the callous and transgressive behavior that would later define Crowley's persona.

After his father's death, Crowley was sent to a series of boarding schools, including Malvern College and Tonbridge School, both known for their strict discipline and corporal punishment.

In the Confessions, Crowley recalled these years with loathing.

He reported frequent beatings and public humiliations.

He later claimed that he left Malvern after he was bullied and possibly sexually molested by older boys.

True or not, his mother refused to send him back.

Crowley then attended Tonbridge School in Kent.

At first, he did well there, excelling at chess and enjoying outdoor pursuits like fishing and rock climbing in his spare time.

He was born in nineteen forty-seven in Edinburgh, Scotland.

He grew up in Royal Tunbridge Wells, England, and was a scholarship student in classics at Tonbridge School.

He later received a BA in psychology, philosophy, and physiology from the University of Oxford and a PhD in economics from Essex University.

Paul moved to the US eight years after meeting his to-be wife, Sarah Rines, while spending a year as a visiting professor at Cornell University, where she had just joined the faculty.