Some Men In London: Queer Life 1960-1967
Thursday 3rd October
Ukrainian Community Centre, 14 Royal Terrace, EH7 5AB
7pm
7.30pm
We are thrilled to welcome Peter Parker to Edinburgh to discuss his new book Some Men in London: Vol. 2, Queer Life 1960-1967 - the second part of a major new anthology which uncovers the rich reality of life for queer men in London. Do please join us for what promises to be a fascinating and memorable evening!
Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1960-1967
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. Peter Parker's fascinating new compendium explores what it was actually like for queer men in London in this period, whether they were well-known figures such as Francis Bacon, Joe Orton and Kenneth Williams, 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 second volume, from 1960 to 1967, shows how key elements in British society gradually changed their views on homosexuality, resulting in the landmark 1967 act by which it was no longer considered a crime if it took place between adults in private. This did not end violence, discrimination and prejudice, but it at least ended official persecution. Some Men in London is a testament to queer life and its thriving, joyous subculture - a subculture without which the 1960s would have been immeasurably impoverished.
About Peter Parker
Peter Parker is the author of biographies of J.R. Ackerley and Christopher Isherwood, The Old Lie, The Last Veteran, Housman Country and A Little Book of Latin for Gardeners. He edited A Reader's Guide to the Twentieth-Century Novel and Reader's Guide to Twentieth-Century Writers, is an advisory editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and contributed essays to Britten's Century and Fifty Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read. He has written about people, books, art, architecture and gardening for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, and lives in London's East End.