• LISTEN: The 'Plagiarising Professor': Debunking Jason Arday's Fantastical Life - Listen to the latest Daily Mail Deep Dive podcast
• READ MORE: Cambridge 'plagiarism' professor claimed he ran nine marathons with broken leg that 'ballooned to twice the size'... but photos of him at the finish line tell a different story
• See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source

On the latest episode of the Daily Mail's Deep Dive podcast, host Chris Pleasance sits down with senior feature writer Guy Adams to break down his weeks-long investigation into 'plagiarising professor' Jason Arday.

Arday, 41, seemingly had the world at his feet in 2023, when he was appointed Cambridge University's youngest ever black professor. The appointment was celebrated by the world's media, with Arday the subject of glowing profiles in the Guardian and on the BBC.

The professor's rise was meteoric, given the childhood he has described. Diagnosed with autism and global developmental delay, Arday has said he could not speak until he was 11 and could not read or write until he was 18.

Last week, Arday resigned from his position at Cambridge, his reputation battered by accusations of plagiarising sections of his PhD thesis and mounting questions over his extraordinary backstory. The professor denies these accusations and disputes claims made about his past.

On the latest episode of Deep Dive, Chris Pleasance sits down with senior feature writer Guy Adams to break down his weeks-long investigation into 'plagiarising professor' Jason Arday

The 'Plagiarising Professor': Debunking Jason Arday's Fantastical Life - Listen to the latest Daily Mail Deep Dive podcast

Adams, who began reporting on Arday ahead of the publication of his memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things, calls him a 'fabulist' and says that almost every claim he examined fell apart under scrutiny.

He told Deep Dive that Arday's downfall could prove a 'reckoning' for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring policies, given his belief that multiple institutions were unwilling to investigate his past thoroughly.

'Pretty much everything you looked at [relating to Arday's past] fell apart,' Adams said.

'The broader thing here is whether this is going to be a big moment for DEI, a sort of reckoning. The idea that rather than employing people on their merit, you should have positive discrimination, that certain demographic groups ought to be given jobs.

'Maybe this will be a moment when actually, finally, we will go back to the old-fashioned method of just choosing the best people for the job. I don't know.'

Many of the claims Adams disputes are connected to Arday's charity work. The professor has said he raised an astonishing £5million for charity through long distance running.

That figure, Adams points out, would make Arday one of the most prolific fundraisers in Britain since Captain Sir Tom Moore.

Many of the claims Adams disputes are connected to Arday's charity work. The professor has said he raised an astonishing £5million for charity through long distance running

Arday said he raised the money by pulling off a series of extraordinary athletic feats, including running nine marathons after suffering an epileptic fit and fracturing his leg. He makes the claims in his memoir.

Adams said: 'In his book, Arday writes that on his 21st marathon, he had an epileptic fit. Having had an epileptic fit, he fell over and broke his leg, then ran nine marathons on a broken leg.

'By the end, his leg had swollen up to twice its normal size. What got him over the finish line, in this sort of Hollywood-style book, was that they shut off Piccadilly for him to finish the marathon.

'He says there were two or three thousand standing on the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus cheering him on. They created a wall of sound that carried him over the finishing line.

'But on TV footage, you can see him finishing the marathon. Both his legs are exactly the same size and there's about 25 people standing on the statue. Several of those people are tourists eating their packed lunches.'

For a full forensic breakdown of Arday's extraordinary backstory and the accusations of plagiarism, search for Deep Dive wherever you get your podcasts.