Bevis Hillier (born 28 March 1940) is an English art historian, author and journalist.

[2] Hillier was educated at Reigate Grammar School and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won the Gladstone Memorial Prize for History.

It took Hillier 28 years to research and write, and was published by John Murray in three volumes (1988, 2002 and 2004).

From the age of 60, Hillier has resided at the almshouse of the Hospital of St Cross in Winchester, Hampshire, having an appreciation for the architecture reminiscent of his time at Oxford.

Hillier was an immediate suspect for the literary forgery: the Sunday Times article revealing the hoax was accompanied by a prominent picture of Hillier and noted that an envelope containing a letter supposedly from de Harben to the newspaper had been bought in Winchester, his home town.