Our penultimate LGBTQ+ History Month Top Pick! This time from one of Queermunity's wonderful readers.
Quentin Crisp probably defined homosexuality for many people in Britain in the 1970's. His 1968 memoir, The Naked Civil Servant, was televised starring John Hurt and made celebrities of them both. The book tells of his struggles to live as an openly 'effeminate' man (his own description) in London during the 1930's and 40's. Crisp changed his name from Denis Pratt in his early twenties and explored the night life around Old Compton St. Crisp stood out due to his carefully cultivated image designed to shock the mores of the time.
He was regularly assaulted but refused to change his ways. Crisp earned money as a rent-boy for six months ('I was looking for love but found only degradation') before finding work as a nude artists model. It amused Crisp that the funding for these sessions came from the Department for Education, making him a Government employee that was paid to take his clothes off - hence the title of his memoir. Following the televising of his book, Crisp became a much sought-after writer, performer and raconteur.
"Crisp stood out due to his carefully cultivated image designed to shock the mores of the time."
Crisp moved to New York, impressed by what he saw as the open-mindedness of Americans. He was a controversial figure; he refused to openly support the Gay Liberation movement and would accept any dinner invitation that came his way. It was said that dinner with Crisp was 'the best show in New York'. Crisp was listed in the phone book, as he felt it necessary to engage with anyone and everyone.
Despite being an atheist, he would habitually answer the phone with 'Yes, Lord?'('just in case'). Crisp remained controversial to the end, criticising Princess Diana ('trash') the AIDS epidemic ('a fad') and homosexuality ('a terrible disease'). He later believed that rather than being gay, he was a trans-woman. 'Had the operation been available to me in my twenties, my life would have been much simpler'.
Crisp died at the age of 90 in Manchester, on the eve of a nationwide tour of his one man show. He often joked that he wanted to live 'for a hundred years, with a decade off for good behaviour'. He got his wish.
Article Written By Stan Broadwell
(He/Him)