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Some Men in London #1
Some Men in London: Queer Life, 1945–1959
The first part of a major new anthology which uncovers the rich reality of life for queer men in London
In the 1940s, it was believed that homosexuality had been becoming more widespread in the aftermath of war. A moral panic ensued, centred around London as the place to which gay men gravitated.
In a major new anthology, Peter Parker explores what it was actually like for queer men in London in this period, whether they were well-known figures such as John Gielgud, ‘Chips’ Channon and E.M. Forster, or living lives of quiet – or occasionally rowdy – anonymity in pubs, clubs, more public places of assignation, or at home. It is rich with letters, diaries, psychological textbooks, novels, films, plays and police records, covering a wide range of viewpoints, from those who deplored homosexuality to those who campaigned for its decriminalisation.
This first volume, from 1945 to 1959, details a community forced to live at constant risk of blackmail or prison. Yet it also shows a thriving and joyous subculture, one that enriched a mainstream culture often ignorant of its debt to gay creators. Some Men In London is a testament to queer life, which was always much more complex than newspapers, governments and the Metropolitan Police Force imagined.
In the 1940s, it was believed that homosexuality had been becoming more widespread in the aftermath of war. A moral panic ensued, centred around London as the place to which gay men gravitated.
In a major new anthology, Peter Parker explores what it was actually like for queer men in London in this period, whether they were well-known figures such as John Gielgud, ‘Chips’ Channon and E.M. Forster, or living lives of quiet – or occasionally rowdy – anonymity in pubs, clubs, more public places of assignation, or at home. It is rich with letters, diaries, psychological textbooks, novels, films, plays and police records, covering a wide range of viewpoints, from those who deplored homosexuality to those who campaigned for its decriminalisation.
This first volume, from 1945 to 1959, details a community forced to live at constant risk of blackmail or prison. Yet it also shows a thriving and joyous subculture, one that enriched a mainstream culture often ignorant of its debt to gay creators. Some Men In London is a testament to queer life, which was always much more complex than newspapers, governments and the Metropolitan Police Force imagined.
449 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 30, 2024
About the author
Peter Parker
10 books9 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Peter Parker (1954-) was born in Herefordshire and educated in the Malverns, Dorset and London. He is the author of The Old Lie: The Great War and Public-School Ethos and biographies of J.R. Ackerley and Christopher Isherwood. He edited the Reader’s Companion to the Twentieth-Century Novel and The Reader’s Companion to Twentieth Century Writers, and was an associate editor of The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He writes about books and gardening for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines and lives in London’s East End.
Peter Parker (1954-) was born in Herefordshire and educated in the Malverns, Dorset and London. He is the author of The Old Lie: The Great War and Public-School Ethos and biographies of J.R. Ackerley and Christopher Isherwood. He edited the Reader’s Companion to the Twentieth-Century Novel and The Reader’s Companion to Twentieth Century Writers, and was an associate editor of The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He writes about books and gardening for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines and lives in London’s East End.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
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October 2, 2024A really excellent and comprehensive anthology focusing on queer men in London post war to the end of the 50s. Includes extracts from newspapers, letters, diaries, novels, plays, and quite a bit from the censors of plays. Many queer voices.
Obviously a lot of it is homophobic, and some of it really vile stuff. The last extract of the book is, jawdroppingly, a court report about a young man accused of sexual assaults on two women. The accused had had homosexual encounters before, and a psychologist literally described his attempted rapes *in court* as "a step in the right direction". I mean...fucking hell. Fuck.
A lot of this makes one feel, as one might feel now, that the British press en masse needs to be shot at dawn. However, there are also lots of non-awful pieces--loving, thoughtful, atmospheric, defiant, humane, and often very funny. I shall cherish Noel Coward's remark on seeing a poster of Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde in The Sea Shall Not Have Them: "Why not? Everybody else has."
Brief but very useful annotations from the anthologist. This includes, in the biographical notes, a comment that one individual's book Come Cruising "disappointingly turns out to be about yachting".
A fantastic bit of work bringing the queer London 1950s to life. Highly readable and invaluable. I shall get the 1960s volume.
Obviously a lot of it is homophobic, and some of it really vile stuff. The last extract of the book is, jawdroppingly, a court report about a young man accused of sexual assaults on two women. The accused had had homosexual encounters before, and a psychologist literally described his attempted rapes *in court* as "a step in the right direction". I mean...fucking hell. Fuck.
A lot of this makes one feel, as one might feel now, that the British press en masse needs to be shot at dawn. However, there are also lots of non-awful pieces--loving, thoughtful, atmospheric, defiant, humane, and often very funny. I shall cherish Noel Coward's remark on seeing a poster of Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde in The Sea Shall Not Have Them: "Why not? Everybody else has."
Brief but very useful annotations from the anthologist. This includes, in the biographical notes, a comment that one individual's book Come Cruising "disappointingly turns out to be about yachting".
A fantastic bit of work bringing the queer London 1950s to life. Highly readable and invaluable. I shall get the 1960s volume.
May 21, 2024
A wonderful deep dive into a specific period of LGBT history.
This was a wonderful anthology, edited to perfection and provided a brilliant insight into post-war life for 'Some Men in London'.
Thankyou to Netgalley and the Publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
This was a wonderful anthology, edited to perfection and provided a brilliant insight into post-war life for 'Some Men in London'.
Thankyou to Netgalley and the Publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
May 6, 2024
From Peter Wildeblood’s A Way of Life (1956):
“They undressed quietly, folding up their clothes and putting them on separate chairs. When Johnny was naked, he began to comb his hair with great concentration, in front of a mirror which hung on the wall. The flesh on his back was white and smoothly muscled. Gordon had never looked at a man’s body in this way before; he saw it for the first time as something to desire and fear, an instrument of tenderness and annihilation whose purposes he could not know. Closing his eyes, he stretched out his hands and felt Johnny’s shoulders firm and warm against his palms.
The light burned all night, looking down upon the bed like the fiery eye of an angel.”
“They undressed quietly, folding up their clothes and putting them on separate chairs. When Johnny was naked, he began to comb his hair with great concentration, in front of a mirror which hung on the wall. The flesh on his back was white and smoothly muscled. Gordon had never looked at a man’s body in this way before; he saw it for the first time as something to desire and fear, an instrument of tenderness and annihilation whose purposes he could not know. Closing his eyes, he stretched out his hands and felt Johnny’s shoulders firm and warm against his palms.
The light burned all night, looking down upon the bed like the fiery eye of an angel.”
July 12, 2024
An essential panorama of the lives of queer men post-war. Funny and surprising and determined.
August 11, 2024
Looking forward to part two coming out in Sept , so so satisfying ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
October 18, 2024
Silly thing to say about an anthology, I know, but this is a bit episodic. You're just getting into someone's diary or novel or letter, and the narrative switches. I suppose when it comes to the really interesting ones you can always hunt out the full text. That aside, all I can say is how stupid it was to spend all that time and resources persecuting those over the age of 21 for having consensual sex. It's a bit like today with the police infiltration of environmental pressure groups. Which also involves the use of agents provocateurs to induce otherwise law-abiding members of the public to commit 'offences'. Plain daft.
October 31, 2024
Powerful anthology of queer life in Britain (largely London) after WWII. First hand accounts paint a picture of happiness in a challenging social environment.
July 10, 2024
This is a thoroughly researched view of the life of gay men in London. The materials include letters, diaries, newspaper articles, court records, fiction excerpts and more. It will give you a good idea of what gay men faced during these fifteen years. It was the period when the Wolfenden Report was conducted and published and we see here also its immediate reception - this is the part I found most interesting, together with the glimpses into private diaries and correspondence.
I would appreciate more thorough commentary on the individual pieces to provide more detailed context. The biographies of people included in this volume are very useful.
I received the ARC through NetGalley and I'm providing an honest review in exchange.
I would appreciate more thorough commentary on the individual pieces to provide more detailed context. The biographies of people included in this volume are very useful.
I received the ARC through NetGalley and I'm providing an honest review in exchange.
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May 5, 2024Expansive, immersive, and expertly edited. In all, an enthralling anthology.
August 27, 2024
This book was amazing.
Following a conversation with Jim Mac Sweeney, the manager of the independent bookshop in London - Gays The Word, he persuaded me to read this historical book on a period of gay history within London that ranges from the end of the second world war until the partial decimalization of homosexuality by parliament. To be honest, this would not normally be the kind of book I would opt to read, but thanks to Jim it turned out to be a great read and a great insight into a time that I knew only a little about, and that was through the trial of Peter Wildeblood and the writings of Quentin Crisp.
Taking extracts from newspaper articles, plays, novels, biographies, letters and personal diaries, Peter Parker has perfectly brought to life the rawness of what it meant to be a gay man in London at time when not only was it illegal, but when the police actively sought out gay men to bring them before the courts and whereupon the press destroyed their reputations. Read in this day, it seems otherworldly that such persecution could have taken place, but as Peter Parker himself stated in his opening, he has compiled these reports to show 'In an era when homosexual men have legal rights and can even marry, we need to be reminded what people really thought, felt and said in the past - if only to ensure we never return there.'
If ever there was a time for such a book to be compiled and read, it is for this day and age in which we are living. A fantastic read - and I have already put in my order for the second part - just a pity I am unable to make it over to London for the book launch and signing.
Damian North
Author
Following a conversation with Jim Mac Sweeney, the manager of the independent bookshop in London - Gays The Word, he persuaded me to read this historical book on a period of gay history within London that ranges from the end of the second world war until the partial decimalization of homosexuality by parliament. To be honest, this would not normally be the kind of book I would opt to read, but thanks to Jim it turned out to be a great read and a great insight into a time that I knew only a little about, and that was through the trial of Peter Wildeblood and the writings of Quentin Crisp.
Taking extracts from newspaper articles, plays, novels, biographies, letters and personal diaries, Peter Parker has perfectly brought to life the rawness of what it meant to be a gay man in London at time when not only was it illegal, but when the police actively sought out gay men to bring them before the courts and whereupon the press destroyed their reputations. Read in this day, it seems otherworldly that such persecution could have taken place, but as Peter Parker himself stated in his opening, he has compiled these reports to show 'In an era when homosexual men have legal rights and can even marry, we need to be reminded what people really thought, felt and said in the past - if only to ensure we never return there.'
If ever there was a time for such a book to be compiled and read, it is for this day and age in which we are living. A fantastic read - and I have already put in my order for the second part - just a pity I am unable to make it over to London for the book launch and signing.
Damian North
Author
September 18, 2024
This is a remarkable anthology! It draws on an impressive range of sources as the bibliography makes clear. An equally large range of lived experience is covered. In the process the influence of homophobia in Parliament and the press is also given due weight. The predatory nature of police surveillance is also brought out. The result is a comprehensive picture of a shifting landscape, with due weight given both to the well-known turning points such as the Wildeblood trial and the Wolfenden Report, and to less familiar episodes such as the relaxation of the ban on representation of homosexuality on stage in 1958. The compilation includes a dazzling array of material from police reports to sociology and psychology. It even includes some poems. And the gently unobtrusive commentary steers the reader expertly through the unfolding story. All in all, this is a model to emulate.
August 30, 2024
I’m very pleased that this book exists - a kind of documentary history of queer life (largely criminal persecution of queer men) in London in the period before the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Parker has assembled a wide range of sources and reading them is gripping, immersive, often moving. I think Parker could have done a lot more editing - names appear in the sources that are not glossed, and his very short head notes often take an enormous amount for granted. But this is a book that deserves to be read, not least to show how far we have come, and is especially useful on showing the cruelty and hypocrisy of many in the UK’s ruling class.
July 18, 2024
This anthology is an absolute gem, beautifully capturing the vibrant lives of queer men in London during the specified period. I couldn't put it down—it was such a page-turner that I devoured it all in a weekend!
While some of the information was familiar, there were many magical pieces that were incredibly exciting to discover, especially the enchanting Denton Welch extract, among many others!
Expertly edited, it's filled with detailed and fascinating accounts. Overall, it's an engaging and enlightening read that's both informative and deeply interesting.
While some of the information was familiar, there were many magical pieces that were incredibly exciting to discover, especially the enchanting Denton Welch extract, among many others!
Expertly edited, it's filled with detailed and fascinating accounts. Overall, it's an engaging and enlightening read that's both informative and deeply interesting.
July 11, 2024
This was a very thorough and expansive anthology that provided a large collection of accounts of queer men living in London during the specified period. It is well-edited and contains an extensive amount of detailed information. In summary it was a very interesting and informative read.
June 2, 2024
An important and truly unique anthology that is bound to become a classic.
October 26, 2024
Such a fascinating read. In parts heart-breaking, entertaining, insightful and demoralising. A must-read for any gay man, if only to reflect on the privilege of having been born in a different age.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews