Kenh Williams Never Stopped Carryg On - The Gay & Lbian Review

kenneth williams gay

"Ooh! Isn't he bold?" as Julian and Sandy would say to "Mr. 'Orne" the heyday of Polari, or the old Brish gay slang. Julian and Sandy's e of Polari on the BBC rad edy "Round the Horne" troduced Polari to a mass dience, intifyg them as gay to those the know. Round the Horne's e of ultimately led to Polari's near-mise as a means of munitn between gay men. I su…

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THE GAY LIFE OF KENH WILLIAMS

Bgrapher Christopher Stevens has unvered the pth of the star's iendship wh a young gay uple who have never spoken publicly before and who were wns to Williams's long and bter stggle wh his sexual inty. Polari was spoken to skirt the UK’s strict anti-homosexualy laws. ”That may seem like a strg of nonsense words om Dr Sss’s The Cat the Hat or Anthony Burgs’s A Clockwork Orange but ’s a real-life greetg gay men the UK would say to each other the 1950s and 60s.

”Until 1967, homosexual sex was illegal England and Wal. To avoid imprisonment, gay men ed Polari, a language that the Oxford English Dictnary says is “ma up of Italianate phras, rhymg slang and nt terms. Williams is also scribed as never beg able to e to terms wh his homosexualy.

Although often perceived as gay, Williams on var ocsns claimed that he was fact asexual.

POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE

However, his later published diari there are referenc to ‘barely nsummated homosexual dallianc’. Christopher Stevens is the thor of a new bgraphy on Kenh Williams, whose work has been scribed as havg ‘unvered the pth of the star’s iendship wh the gay uple’. Williams was also a close iend of Joe Orton – the gay playwright who wrote a character wh Williams md for his 1966 play LOOT.

The pair were portrayed as a gay uple (homosexualy ws still illegal until 1967) and ma much e of Polari. His diari nta referenc to unnsummated or barely nsummated homosexual dallianc, which he scrib as "tradnal matters" or "tradla" (sce male homosexual activy was a crimal offence the UK before 1967, outright admissn would have been held agast him if anyone had read the diari). He beiend gay playwright Joe Orton, who wrote the role of Inspector Tstt Loot (1966) for him, and had holidays wh Orton and his lover, Kenh Halliwell, Moroc.

KENH WILLIAMS: INIC GAY COMEDY ACTOR

'Orne" the heyday of Polari, or the old Brish gay and Sandy's e of Polari on the BBC rad edy "Round the Horne" troduced Polari to a mass dience, intifyg them as gay to those the know. Round the Horne's e of ultimately led to Polari's near-mise as a means of munitn between gay men. Commonly ed words and acronyms clud:Bold: dargslang: an attractive male or buttocksnaff: bad, drab (om Not Available For Fuckg)mp: effemate (orig: KAMP = Known As Male Prostute)omi-polone: effemate man, or homosexuallalli: legsbutch: mascule; mascule lbianrts/rtso: penisstrillers: pianotra: sexbasket: the bulge of male genals through clothtroll: to walk about (p.

They were stereotypil mp homosexual characters mastream entertament at a time when homosexual acts between men were illegal. Peasemould Gntfuttock, profsnal telephone heavy breather and dirty old man; and Sandy of the extremely mp uple, Julian and Sandy (Julian was played by Hugh Paddick), notable for their double entendr and e of the unrground gay slang, 1959 Williams appeared his own Wt End revue, One over the Eight, for which he missned sketch material om Peter Cook who was still a stunt at Cambridge.

Williams publicly sisted that he was celibate, but private found his homosexualy difficult to al wh. His diari nta many referenc to unnsummated or barely nsummated relatnships, scribed as 'tradnal matters' or 'tradla', probably bee homosexualy was still a crimal offence the Uned Kgdom for much of the perd vered by the beiend Joe Orton who wrote the role of Inspector Tstt Loot (1966) for him and enjoyed holidays wh Orton and Kenh Halliwell Moroc.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* KENNETH WILLIAMS GAY

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