Kate Aaron's Blog, page 11
October 9, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Polari
Polari is a form of cant slang adopted by the queer subculture in England throughout the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries. Its origins are murky, although there’s evidence at least some of it dates back as early as the 1500s, where it was used by a number of socially marginalised groups, including actors, […]
October 8, 2015
People in History: John Inman
Born in Preston, NW England, in 1935, from an early age John Inman exhibited a tendency towards camp which would become a hallmark of his later success. His mother ran a boarding house and his father was a hairdresser, but Inmanwas always determined to become an actor, no doubt influenced by his parents’ move to […]
October 7, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Camp
Wikipedia describes camp as “a social, cultural, and aesthetic style and sensibility based on deliberate and self-acknowledged theatricality.” It is all those things, and more besides, but it’s difficult to pin down. Nonetheless, we all know camp when we see it. Camp is effete, it’s garish, it’s hyperbole and exaggeration, it’s shameless, crude, funny, and […]
October 6, 2015
People in History: Robin Hood
Yes, I know. I’m including Robin Hood as biography when we have no idea if he actually existed or not. In my defence, I offer Jesus Actually, the legends surrounding Robin Hood almost certainly have their origins in the life of a real figure. A number of men have been suggested to have been […]
October 5, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Class
Class is a peculiarly English phenomenon. Which isn’t to say other countries don’t have class systems, because of course they do, but whenever one thinks of “class” one can’t help conjuring up images of English lords and ladies juxtaposed against ruddy-faced farmers, sootycoal miners, andDickensian street urchins. Class plays an important part in the queer […]
October 4, 2015
People in Fiction: While England Sleeps
David Leavitt’s 1993 novel,While England Sleeps, is an ambitious inter-generational, cross-class, multi-national story about love and loss. Set in England in the 1930s, it is narrated byBrian Botsford, a young man from a privileged background who wants to be a writer.Brian meets a young working-class man, Edward, who is employed on the Underground, itself the […]
October 3, 2015
People in History: The Cambridge 5
In the 1950s, during the height of the first Cold War period, Britain was rocked by the uncovering of a Soviet spy ring which reachedto the very heart of the establishment. Kim Philby was born in India in 1912. His father was a famous author and convert to Islam who worked for the Indian Civil […]
October 2, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Blackmail and Espionage
Ever since the law criminalised homosexual acts and identities, it has been open to abuse from blackmailers. When I examined the Burney Collection, almost a quarter of complaints concerning sodomy related to blackmail, the threat of “swearing sodomy” against an innocent party. If discovered, the blackmailer was subject to the same punishment as somebody convicted […]
October 1, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Post-Legalisation
Homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales in July 1967 with the passing of the Sexual Offences Act. At least, that’s the common perception. Actually what this Act did was define an exemption from prosecution for private, consensual sexual contact between two males over the age of 21, excluding army and merchant navy personnel. Anything […]
September 30, 2015
People in History: David Maxwell Fyfe
Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, first Earl of Kilmuir, might seem an odd subject for today’s blog.Not only wasn’t he queer, but he worked tirelessly against any attempt to decriminalise homosexuality, and may well have been behind the “pogrom” of the 1950s that deliberately targeted gay men for persecution. It’s easy to look back with a […]
