What a great day we had at Nottingham Pride. Many thanks to everyone who turned up. And special thanks to the Pride committee for their naked midsummer ritual that ensured good weather. Having to work most weekends I don't get much chance to visit Prides, but there's another one I definitely don't want to miss.
Sunday 16th August is Doncaster Pride. There was some controversy after the local government elections in May when the town's new Mayor declared that he'd withdraw the money the council had already promised Doncaster Pride because he said the LGBT community wasn't worth it. It did some good though because there's been more interest in Doncaster Pride than ever before. I've a personal interest in going because I was born there, so I'd like to give my support.
I'd like to step outside our heritage border briefly to look at Doncaster's links. Doncaster is on the edge of Barnsdale, where the original Robin Hood ballad was set. It was also where the Earl of Lancaster declared his opposition to Nottingham Castle's queenly couple Edward II and Piers Gaveston. This led to the defeat of the Lancaster Rebellion and the outlawing of many people - including one Robert Hood of Wakefield.
The town is also the home of Robin Hood's co-murderer Sir Roger of Doncaster, and where legend says Robin founded St. Mary Magdelene's chapel.
Not far from Doncaster is the old RAF Finningley, also on the edge of Barnsdale. Actually, until 1972 Finningley was in Nottinghamshire so should feature in our project, and in the 1960s my uncle Group Captain Jimmy Cromarty, OBE, (who sadly died a couple of weeks ago) was station commander. RAF Finningley is now called, appropriately, Robin Hood Airport.Unfortunately my plans to get to Doncaster Pride may be scuppered by the absence of decent transport links - I can get there in time to catch the last bus back! Wish me luck!
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Monday, 20 July 2009
Pride march comes home
Nottingham Pride is less than a week away, and there's a tingle of excitement this year because we're having our first march - Walk With Pride. In a way you could say that the Pride march is coming "home".
Let's start at the beginning. The Stonewall Riots of June 1969 led to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in New York shortly afterwards. They held a march on the first anniversary of the riots. Two British men were there at the time and together they were inspired to form a GLF group in the UK. One man was Aubrey Walter, the other was a 19-year-old sociology student from Nottingham called Bob Mellors.
The first UK GLF meeting attracted 9 people and from them grew an organisation that has earned a place in history as one of the pioneers of protest, even though, as a national group, it existed for less than 3 years.
After a small-scale attempt at a protest march and various "zaps", the GLF decided to hold a march with the deliberate aim of showing the "straight" world that gay men are willing to fight prejudice and discrimination. Following the example of the US GLF, the UK group arranged the first London Pride march on the Stonewall anniversary in June 1972. The idea took a couple of years to catch on, until today there's an LGBT parade every week somewhere in the world.
The Nottingham march could be a kind of memorial or celebration of thanks to the late Bob Mellors who died in 1996. It is sad that it has taken so long to have a Pride march in his home county. I hope everyone will turn out in their thousands to join in or cheer the marchers.
And just in case you think the city council have allowed the march to take place because they support diversity, write to them and ask why we can't march through the Market Square like the Caribbean and St. Patrick' Day marches.
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage, click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
Let's start at the beginning. The Stonewall Riots of June 1969 led to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in New York shortly afterwards. They held a march on the first anniversary of the riots. Two British men were there at the time and together they were inspired to form a GLF group in the UK. One man was Aubrey Walter, the other was a 19-year-old sociology student from Nottingham called Bob Mellors.
The first UK GLF meeting attracted 9 people and from them grew an organisation that has earned a place in history as one of the pioneers of protest, even though, as a national group, it existed for less than 3 years.
After a small-scale attempt at a protest march and various "zaps", the GLF decided to hold a march with the deliberate aim of showing the "straight" world that gay men are willing to fight prejudice and discrimination. Following the example of the US GLF, the UK group arranged the first London Pride march on the Stonewall anniversary in June 1972. The idea took a couple of years to catch on, until today there's an LGBT parade every week somewhere in the world.
The Nottingham march could be a kind of memorial or celebration of thanks to the late Bob Mellors who died in 1996. It is sad that it has taken so long to have a Pride march in his home county. I hope everyone will turn out in their thousands to join in or cheer the marchers.
And just in case you think the city council have allowed the march to take place because they support diversity, write to them and ask why we can't march through the Market Square like the Caribbean and St. Patrick' Day marches.
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage, click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
Friday, 10 July 2009
Out of their Trees - a legal mash
There are times when it doesn't surprise me when a well-known actor comes out. Last month David Ogden Stiers admitted being gay. His face and distinctive name became a regular part of my childhood from his appearances as Major Winchester in the series "MASH". But it was his regular appearances in the 1980s revival of "Perry Mason", where he played the Prosecuting Counsel, that lit up my gaydar.
Playing Perry Mason, as he did in the original 1960s series, butch gay Raymond Burr frequently reduced Stiers' witness to tears of confession with the booming "Isn't that right?" after detailing his deductions in court, to which you would always see Stiers' camp purse of the lips as if he was thinking "Ooh, you bitch!"
I was asked earlier this year why it is often easier to trace American ancestry. The answer's simple - they keep better records than we do. So in no time at all I traced David Ogden Stiers' ancestry back to medieval Nottinghamshire.
Three prominent families in his ancestry are the Willoughbys of Wollaton, the Nevilles of Rolleston and the Babingtons of Chilwell. Stiers has some Mayflower ancestry as well, but none originating in Nottinghamshire.Like myself Stiers inherits royal blood through Edward III, son of Nottingham Castle's favourite queen - Edward II. Similarly we both descend from the brother of the castle's only (so far) gay constable Sir William Neville.Among his notable LGBT relatives (apart from myself!) are Will Young, Claire Balding, Anthony Perkins, Francis Bacon (the artist) and Ellen Degeneres.
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage, click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
Playing Perry Mason, as he did in the original 1960s series, butch gay Raymond Burr frequently reduced Stiers' witness to tears of confession with the booming "Isn't that right?" after detailing his deductions in court, to which you would always see Stiers' camp purse of the lips as if he was thinking "Ooh, you bitch!"
I was asked earlier this year why it is often easier to trace American ancestry. The answer's simple - they keep better records than we do. So in no time at all I traced David Ogden Stiers' ancestry back to medieval Nottinghamshire.
Three prominent families in his ancestry are the Willoughbys of Wollaton, the Nevilles of Rolleston and the Babingtons of Chilwell. Stiers has some Mayflower ancestry as well, but none originating in Nottinghamshire.Like myself Stiers inherits royal blood through Edward III, son of Nottingham Castle's favourite queen - Edward II. Similarly we both descend from the brother of the castle's only (so far) gay constable Sir William Neville.Among his notable LGBT relatives (apart from myself!) are Will Young, Claire Balding, Anthony Perkins, Francis Bacon (the artist) and Ellen Degeneres.
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage, click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
Carry on Dick?
6th July is the 820th anniversary of the accession of King Richard the Lionheart. A lot of misconceptions have filled his life with a lot of contradictions. The Victorians idolised him and invented a lot of the symbolism associated with him (St. George's cross and the 3 lions). It's common knowledge that he hardly spent any time in England. He owned more of France than the French king, so why spend it in a country he is known to have hated?
A famous story of one trip to England is immortalised in the Robin Hood legend when he came to Sherwood Forest. There's some factual basis because Prince John used Nottingham Castle as a power base while Richard was imprisoned in Austria. As soon as Richard escaped he heard about John's misappropriation of the ransom money and headed straight for Nottingham for a show down. John, being a wimp, ran away leaving the castle to defend itself against what they were told was a foreign army. They soon realised the truth and surrendered. Richard then went around pardoning outlaws.
Richard is often included in lists of gay kings. It'll take too long to discuss the concept of homosexuality and the medieval ideas of same-sexual activity. It must be said that Richard's sexuality will confuse people for years, and I know 'm going against other peoples' opinions when I say that, to my mind, Richard the Lionheart was NOT gay or bisexual. Even gay professional historians can't agree.
It really started in 1948 when writer John Hervey claimed to have uncovered a "conspiracy of silence" about Richard "sleeping" with King Philippe of France. It was such a big conspiracy that, like others "conspiracies" in recent years, it was well known to historians and readers of school history books for centuries! Stories about Richard being gay originate long after his death, and none of them centred around Hervey's evidence.
Hervey claims Richard was gay because he was married but had no children (like Edward VIII, so was he gay too?), and that he spent the night (and more) with King Philippe. Hervey failed to investigate the political conventions of the time. Two political allies always had their beds on offer to each other. Practical reasons prevented most from taking up the offer, but Richard took up Philippe's offer.
King Henry II was losing control of his kingdom and his family. He offended both his son Richard and King Philippe by marrying Richard's fiance (the French king's sister) to younger son John - after fathering a son by her himself! Richard went to France to show publicly whose side he was on, and it wasn't his father's. Richard and Philippe showed great "love" for each other. Wouldn't anyone in this situation - give support to an ally? It did the trick - King Henry felt dejected by his favourite son's betrayal and died a year later.That's how much things have changed. Today politics isn't about displays of emotion but words, words and words. Politicians are seen shaking hands, but if the Victorians hadn't demonised the sharing of beds we may have seen sights like Gordon Brown and Barack Obama sitting up in bed together giving a press conference (I hope for everyone's sake that Gordon Brown wears pyjamas!).
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage, click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
A famous story of one trip to England is immortalised in the Robin Hood legend when he came to Sherwood Forest. There's some factual basis because Prince John used Nottingham Castle as a power base while Richard was imprisoned in Austria. As soon as Richard escaped he heard about John's misappropriation of the ransom money and headed straight for Nottingham for a show down. John, being a wimp, ran away leaving the castle to defend itself against what they were told was a foreign army. They soon realised the truth and surrendered. Richard then went around pardoning outlaws.
Richard is often included in lists of gay kings. It'll take too long to discuss the concept of homosexuality and the medieval ideas of same-sexual activity. It must be said that Richard's sexuality will confuse people for years, and I know 'm going against other peoples' opinions when I say that, to my mind, Richard the Lionheart was NOT gay or bisexual. Even gay professional historians can't agree.
It really started in 1948 when writer John Hervey claimed to have uncovered a "conspiracy of silence" about Richard "sleeping" with King Philippe of France. It was such a big conspiracy that, like others "conspiracies" in recent years, it was well known to historians and readers of school history books for centuries! Stories about Richard being gay originate long after his death, and none of them centred around Hervey's evidence.
Hervey claims Richard was gay because he was married but had no children (like Edward VIII, so was he gay too?), and that he spent the night (and more) with King Philippe. Hervey failed to investigate the political conventions of the time. Two political allies always had their beds on offer to each other. Practical reasons prevented most from taking up the offer, but Richard took up Philippe's offer.
King Henry II was losing control of his kingdom and his family. He offended both his son Richard and King Philippe by marrying Richard's fiance (the French king's sister) to younger son John - after fathering a son by her himself! Richard went to France to show publicly whose side he was on, and it wasn't his father's. Richard and Philippe showed great "love" for each other. Wouldn't anyone in this situation - give support to an ally? It did the trick - King Henry felt dejected by his favourite son's betrayal and died a year later.That's how much things have changed. Today politics isn't about displays of emotion but words, words and words. Politicians are seen shaking hands, but if the Victorians hadn't demonised the sharing of beds we may have seen sights like Gordon Brown and Barack Obama sitting up in bed together giving a press conference (I hope for everyone's sake that Gordon Brown wears pyjamas!).
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage, click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Notts Prof. inspires LGBT Fellowship
Think of "gay music" and whose name spring to mind? Elton John?Cole Porter? Tchaikovsky? Philip Brett? Who?!
In the world of musicology (the scientific study of music) one of the most influential and controversial scholars was Philip Brett, a miner's son from Edwinstowe and Southwell Minster chorister who became "top tune tutor" (Professor of Musicology) at the University of California. He was even nominated for a Grammy Award.
In 1976 he shocked the American Musicological Society (AMS) bysaying that Benjamin Britten's sexuality influenced his composition. Some professors walked out saying his lecture was "pornography". But today, Brett's work has led hundreds of scholars to research theLGBT links and influences in music. Today it seems unnatural not to think of the influence of, say, Elton John's or k d lang's sexuality and their music. The AMS even asked Brett to co-found their Gay and Lesbian Study Group in 1989.
In this 40th anniversary month of the Stonewall riots it is appropriate to point to this event as pivotal in Brett's life and career. The riots sparked a blinding revelation, ignited by the sight of the degradation the Stonewall men received. Brett wanted to do something. Society as a whole owes a great deal to the creative input from the LGBTcommunity, so Brett, member of the music faculty at the Uni ofCalifornia at the time, and disenchanted with the state of musicology, decided to do 2 things:
1) come out, and
2) research LGBT influences on music.
Brett died of cancer aged 65 in 2002, leaving his partner of 28 years, George Hagerty, Prof. of English at the Uni of California. They were always open about their relationship and were members of the uni's LGBT group LavenderCal.
Last week, Davitt Moroney, one of Brett's students (now a music Profat the same uni himself), succeeded in gathering enough funds fromLavenderCal and other supporters to persuade the uni to set up a new research fellowship into LGBT studies and the sciences. The fund is named the Philip Brett Fund, but it'll be a couple of years before thefirst fellowship is awarded. The US is taking LGBT studies seriously at last - two weeks ago Harvard announced it will set up a Chair in LGBTStudies.Even though Philip Brett's reputation isn't wide-spread, it still exerts an important influence on the development of research into how LGBT factors affect the sciences. Davitt Moroney says there's no reason why there shouldn't be LGBT research into other sciences such as chemistry, physics or mathematics (ironically, there's anotherEdwinstowe connection here, because the father of mathematician and code-breaker Alan Turing was born there).
"Gay music" is big business these days. I wonder if it would be the same if no-one had thought about sexuality's importance on today'smusic scene? I was always overwhelmed by the blatant gay overtones in George Michael's music that it didn't surprise me when he got caught in that toilet - I don't think anyone was (apart from his straight fans). If that's not an example to prove Brett's theory, I don't know what is!
In 1999 the AMS Gay and Lesbian Study Group instituted the Philip Brett Award for exceptional musicological work in the field of LGBT studies.
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage, click on http://www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk/
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Evil Sheriff? No way!
Congratulations to Leon Unczer. He has just been appointed the new Sheriff of Nottingham. I know that the title will always be associated with the villain of the Robin Hood legend, but Leon is the total opposite (as I'm sure all the recent ones have also been). I've known Leon for about ten years in one way or another. As Chair of the Leisure and Community Services Department he was my "boss's boss" while I worked at Nottingham Castle. I've known him on a more personal level outside work, and I was pleased he accepted our invitation from NRH to be guest at our launch event in February 2008.
As a historian I am very pleased that Leon is heading a "Sheriff's Commission" to bring Robin Hood back into official recognition after years of being side-lined in favour of bigots like Brian Clough. It seems that at last we have a Sheriff of Nottingham who actually welcomes Robin Hood into the city (unlike the present council leader who really put the "No" into Nottingham by supporting the abolition of the Robin Hood logo in favour of the pathetic slanty N - or dozy Z - that blights the city).
Also as a historian, of course I should remind people that the Sheriff of Nottingham has nothing to do with Robin Hood. The Sheriff is a political appointment originating in 1449, a good 72 years after Robin Hood's first appearance in a ballad. The character which DOES appear is the High Sheriff of the county, a crown appointment (currently held by the suitably medieval sounding Roger Merryweather).
Let's hope that Leon will push for the re-opening of The Tales of Robin Hood. The city council showed its total disregard for world opinion and Nottingham as a tourist site by not lifting a finger to save it. Nottingham will NEVER become a leader in the contemporary arts world, so let's bulldoze that eyesore near the station and give the city what the world wants and not what the politicians want. Stop wasting council worker's salaries creating things we don't have and use it to preserve things we do.
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage, click on http://www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk/
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
A Deadly Tour
I recently conducted another tour of gay Nottingham. I like to have a theme for my tours as it gives me a chance to do extra research as I explore different themes. My latest tour was for a local Christian group and I used a theme that I thought was appropriate - the Seven Deadly Sins. I'm pleased to say the theme worked surprisingly well, considering the Sins are all negative (though predominantly enjoyable) traits. It was fun trying to find the right story for each sin.
LUST was no problem! Lots of sex to talk about.
I avoided the obvious choice for the sin of PRIDE - the word means different things these days, so I used the more accurate VANITY instead (I'm sure we all know someone who spends more time looking in the mirror than anything else!). Lord Byron was perfect for this.
GLUTTONY I interpreted as over-indulgence - sex, drugs and drink, etc. Again Byron was perfect.
The sin of GREED or Covetousness was illustrated with one of my favourite stories. Mapperley-born Douglas Byng, the greatest panto dame of the early 20th century, made a costume out of bathroom loofahs, imitating the fashion for fox-tail capes. Then World War 2 broke out and loofahs became impossible to buy. Byng had to lock his costume in the safe at every theatre he performed because people would do anything to get their hands on a loofah (ooh-er, Missus!) - they were like gold dust on the black market.
ANGER is the sin that develops out of hate, and homophobia was my choice of subject for this.
ENVY also leads to ore violent emotions, and the envy of the English barons against Piers Gaveston in the 1300s was used to show how it led to his murder.
That leaves SLOTH. It was too much like hard work to do this one, so I couldn't be bothered.
What really appealed to me in my research was that all the sins have their own colour, and those I used on my tour have colours in the rainbow flag. So I thought I'd end with my design for a Deadly Gay Sins flag. I will wave it with Pride!
To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage click on http://www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk/
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