Crowley was expelled from Cefalu in 1923, having meanwhile dictated his extraordinarily prolix memoirs, his Confessions, to Leah Hirsig. Subtitled an autohagiography, the autobiography of a saint, it has flashes of great richness, insight and fascination amid a general tone of airy self-satisfaction, in which Crowley constantly insists on his innocence, purity of mind, and continual surprise at the shabbiness of the world.
After Cefalu, Crowley spent much of the 1920s in Tunisia, France, and Germany, returning to London occasionally and staying in hotels and short-term apartments: around 1928-30 these included Oddenino's Hotel near the Café Royal, Yeoman House on Haymarket, and the Georgian House at 10 Bury Street, just south of Jermyn Street. On at least one of these returns he stayed at the Duke's Hotel, in its secluded location (convenient for the Mayfair / Piccadilly area) just off St.James's Place, one of London's discreetly plutocratic little corners tucked away towards the foot of St.James's Street.
Mindful of his notoriety, and perhaps foreseeing trouble over the bill, he checked in here under the resonant name of “Mr Bishop”.