Michael Hone

The number of British homosexuals, in comparison to the population, is mind boggling, for the very simple reason that boarding-school homosexuality gives boys the chance to discover the true nature of their sexuality, which is, for the majority, omnisexual. In the rest of the world homosexuals who had the slightest percentage of heterosexuality used it to the hilt, in order to escape locker-room insults in the best of times, torture and burning at the stake in the worst. Homosexuality was illegal too in Britain and for this, as well as for societal reasons, men who were basically homosexual ended up marrying--unhappily--but the proverbial English stiff-upper-lip saw them through. These men were lenient with their sons in a way that existed nowhere else, boys permitted to dye their hair and wear rings, which has evolved into modern piercings, one of which is the famous Prince Albert, adornments revealed in the bedroom and the backroom. I’ve therefore had to make a draconian choice in men and historical periods, concentrating on the outstanding, in incredible, the outrageous, but also the most pervasive, like prep-school sex and what took place in Victorian London. I’ve taken the best of the best in making this book, a fully-illustrated history of English homosexuality from Caesar to Bruce Chatwin.This is an updated version of my book Christ Has His John, I Have My George. The reader will not wish to have both.… (más)