PeterRS

That is one of Hockney's A Bigger Splash series featuring memories of his then boyfriend Peter Schlesinger. 400 boys may seem so few today when it's easy to have sex several times a night (for those who are up to it!) But Christopher was only in Berlin for 4 years before he met Heinz. I imagine sex was thereafter between the lovers - at least mostly. Even so, 100 a year must have seemed like nirvana to gays everywhere in those days. This ia arguably the most famous of his Isherwood/Bachardy paintings. In their home in California, they had so many Hockney paintings they named one room Hockney Hall.

Take the last six months. Thailand or parts of it has been on the point of opening, or opening Phuket, or not opening at all, or opening Phuket so that those who have quarantined there successfully can then travel to other parts of the country, then Phuket will not be opened, then quarantine will be reduced, then bars will be open, but then bars will be closed . . .Anyone who believes what the TAT and other authorities, even government departments, say is in some kind of cloud cuckoo land - that same part of the world where those making such predictions hang out.

"Good authors too who once knew better words Now only use four-letter words Writing prose. Anything goes." These lyrics from the opening of Cole Porter's gorgeous 1934 musical "Anything Goes" could well have been written with the writer and novelist Christopher Isherwood in mind. Although Porter and Isherwood may never have met, both were gay. While Porter married in part to mask his sexuality (the fact that his wife was rich no doubt also helped!) the English-born Isherwood was one of the 20th century's most openly gay men. Exposed to homosexuality at his boarding school in England, he had already met and become best friends with another famously gay Englishman, the poet W. H. Auden, with whom he occasionally shared his bed. When Auden moved to Berlin in 1928, Isherwood followed a few months later. The capital of the Weimar Republic had earned a thoroughly deserved reputation for sexual freedom and debauchery. The words of Cole Porter were never more true: sexually, in Berlin “anything goes”! As his lover of many decades, Don Bachardy, later made clear, "To Christopher, Berlin was boys!" (Isherwood did not meet Bachardy until 1953 on a beach in California when he was 49 and Bachardy 18 - they remained together until his death in 1986). Christopher revelled in Berlin's thriving gay scene. He was later to say he had had sex with at least 400 boys. In staid old England and indeed the United States to which he would emigrate in 1939, 400 must have seemed an outrageous number. Then in 1932 he met his first real love, a handsome 17-year old German named Heinz Neddermayer. But storm clouds in the form of the Nazi Party were on the horizon. In 1933 the pair escaped to England, but Neddermeyer could not obtain a long-term visa. After a second visit in 1934, they gave up trying and started four-years of wandering around Europe. The relationship had to end when Heinz was captured by the Gestapo in 1937 and interned in a concentration camp. Ever the wanderer, Christopher joined his old pal Auden on a trip to the Paris of the Orient, the very permissive Shanghai. They had a commission to write a book on Asia but it was Shanghai that fascinated Christopher the most. He wrote – “The tired or lustful businessman will find here everything to gratify his desires . . . if you want girls, or boys, you can have them, at all prices, in the bath houses and the brothels. If you want opium you can smoke it in the best company, served on a tray like afternoon tea.” When war broke out in Europe, Christopher moved to California. Here he wrote and worked on various movie scripts. He soon became one of the celebrated European émigré set, mixing regularly with the likes of Thomas Mann, Igor Stravinsky, Charlie Chaplin, Bertolt Brecht and Greta Garbo. As he left for the USA he had written a novel based partly on his experiences, "Goodbye to Berlin". In 1951 one of his friends persuaded the playwright John Van Druten to adapt the novel into a Broadway play, "I am a Camera". Eventually it was fashioned into the musical "Cabaret". With its haunting music, provocative story and lyrics, all set against the backdrop of emerging Nazi Germany, "Cabaret" became a huge Broadway hit. Soon the movie version was to make it into an even bigger worldwide sensation. Liza Minnelli instantly became one of the world's top stars (and a gay icon in her own right) and the first person ever to appear on the cover of TIME and Newsweek magazines in the same week (when Newsweek was still a print publication). In one scene, Minelli as Sally Bowles is confronted by her erstwhile very proper English lover about another man she has been seeing - Brian: "Oh! Fuck Maximilian!" Sally: "I already did!" Brian (sheepishly): "So did I!" Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey sing “Money” from the movie “Cabaret” Even for 1972 that exchange was close to pushing the limits of public acceptability! Isherwood continued to write and Bachardy became a noted painter. Their partnership had its ups and downs, especially when Bachardy started on a series of affairs. Yet the relationship survived. A frequent visitor to their home was the gay artist David Hockney and the couple feature in several of his paintings. In recent years Bachardy has overseen the publication of Christopher's voluminous diaries and the republication of his novels. Even if only his Berlin stories and "Cabaret" are to survive into the future, they will surely be a fitting tribute to Christopher Isherwood, one of the true gay icons of the last century.

Half a dozen years ago, I wrote a series of articles for an Australian gay blogsite featuring icons from gay history. Although they were all a great deal longer than the average post here, I thought it might be interesting in these times of enforced stay at home when we have lots of time to read to repeat some of them here. This morning I was flipping through youtube when I came across a 1970 Dick Cavett show with Noel Coward and his long-time best friends, the actors Lynne Fontaine and her husband Alfred Lunt. Although the programme takes a little time to warm up and Cavett appears overly in awe of Coward, it is a highly amusing episode with Coward showing his usual cutting and often self-deprecating wit. As time passes, many will either have forgotten about Coward and his achievements or not even be aware of them. Many gay men will not even be aware of his long gay affair with one of the most senior members of British aristocracy. So I thought I would start with Coward. In a 1999 article marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Noël Coward, TIME magazine noted that “no other 20th century figure approached Coward’s creative breadth: playwright, actor, composer, lyricist, novelist, stage director, film producer, Vegas “entertainer”. Audiences adored Coward’s plays, his stage musicals, his wit and his often-cutting repartee. Between the two World Wars, Coward dominated the theatrical profession on both sides of the Atlantic as no one else has done before or since. As TIME added, he did so with “a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise.” Some of his plays have stood the test of time but few are programmed today. Coward claims his favourite song was "Mad About the Boy" which he wrote for a 1932 revue. Although sung by a girl about her favourite film star, Coward wrote a second unpublished version to be sung by a boy with clear homosexual overtones. Perhaps, though, he is now best known for just one song: “Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the Midday Sun.” It was first performed in New York in 1931. A frequent visitor to Asia, according to his biographer Sheridan Morley, Coward wrote the song whilst driving from Hanoi to Saigon “without pen, paper or piano!” Yet behind his assured, high society mask, for much of his life Coward was a deeply unhappy man. TIME mentions that Coward was gay. He was also from a very middle-class background. Born in the suburbs of London, at 14 he became the protégé and almost certainly the lover of a society painter, Philip Streatfield. Although Streatfiled was to die a year later, Coward had by then been introduced widely into the high society of the times and quickly adopted its accent and manners. Entering his teens, Coward started work as a child actor. He had always been interested in the theatre and by age 20 he was writing his own plays. Soon he was to be a huge success in virtually all areas of society entertainment. It was at a performance of his musical revue “London Calling” in 1923 that he met one of his early and longest-lasting lovers. Prince George, Duke of Kent, was the fourth son of Britain’s King George V (and thus uncle to the present Queen). They began a clandestine affair. During the Roaring Twenties, the scandals surrounding the very bisexual, drug-taking Prince George were legendary. Even after his marriage, one commentator at the time noted, “He is not safe in a taxi with either sex.” The British Security Service once reported that George and Coward had been seen cavorting through the streets of London “dressed and made up as women!” Their on-going relationship was to last for two decades. Only death parted George from “dearest, darling Noël”. In 1942 George was killed in an air crash in Scotland. Coward wrote in his diary, “The thought that I shall never see him again is terribly painful.” In public Coward was a master of the one-line quip, often cutting and always trotted out spontaneously. One evening walking across London’s Leicester Square, a friend drew his attention to the huge advertising hoarding above the Odeon Cinema – Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde in The Sea Shall Not Have Them Bemused, Coward turned to his friend and exclaimed, “I can’t think why ever not, dear boy. Everyone else has!” In the movie business, Redgrave was known to be bisexual and Bogarde homosexual, although neither came out during their lives. In another famous Coward quip. he was standing on a balcony overlooking the procession of carriages passing en route to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Beside him was his young nephew. In one carriage was a monstrously overweight woman. Noël’s nephew was curious. “Uncle Noël! Who is in that carriage?” “That, dear boy, is Queen Sālote of Tonga.” Pointing to her tiny slim Prime Minster sitting opposite, the nephew was equally curious. “And who is the little man with her?” “That, dear boy, is her lunch!” Given his enormous success in the years between the World Wars and the patriotic film he wrote as part of the national war effort “In Which We Serve”, it was assumed that Coward would be awarded a knighthood. He was not. Prime Minister Churchill and other top members of the government were aware of the relationship with Prince George and were anxious that it be totally covered up, to the extent that George’s letters to Coward were stolen from his London home – with Churchill’s approval. Apart from the scandal if the public were to hear of the affair, homosexual relations between two men were strictly illegal, and would remain so in England until 1967. Coward would finally be given a knighthood in 1970. Perhaps somewhat extraordinarily, George’s sister-in-law, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, remained a lifelong friend. After the war, Coward started a relationship with a young actor, Graham Payne, who was to remain with him for the rest of his life. Soon Coward and Payne took a long lease on a house in Jamaica named Goldeneye, owned by Ian Fleming the creator of the James Bond novels. Later they built their own house on the island and it was here that Coward died in 1973. Thereafter Payne was frequently questioned about a relationship with Prince George. He refused to confirm any had taken place. Indeed throughout his life Coward had never openly revealed his sexuality. Coward’s contribution to his country is marked by a memorial stone in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey and the re-naming in 2006 of one of London’s theatres as the Noël Coward Theatre.

Steven Soderbergh, who produced this year's Oscar TV show, has confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the order of Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Picture was changed for two reasons. The anticipation that Chadwick Boseman would posthumously win Best Actor and that his widow's speech would make a perfect emotional ending. Second, speeches in previous years by Best Male and Female Actors were generally far more interesting that those of the producers of the Best Picture. Anthony Hopkins was in Wales and prepared to be present on video link despite its being around 4 am, but Soderbergh would not allow video links. Then Hopkins asked Olivia Coleman to accept the award in the London bubble should he win. That was also nixed by Soderbergh. Hence the totally dud ending like a fireworks show where none of the fireworks worked. I would have liked to hear Hopkins as he would have been vastly more interesting than the no acceptance speech given by Joaquin Phoenix and no winding up by the no host policy. It can be no surprise to Academy members that viewing figures in the USA were 58% down on last year. RIP Oscars. The Grim Reaper is on the horizon. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-05-04/steven-soderbergh-oscars-ending-chadwick-boseman-anthony-hopkins

Lady Persephone loves to be tested, but as you will know from the books and the tv series Lady Persephone is always right!

Oh goodee! The bitching has started. Long may it continue. Bring it on ladies! Let's have fun. And talking of bitchiness, dear Lord Ozzy really ought to know that it is Bridgerton (as one which crosses a river - of filth, perhaps?) and not Brigerton.

With the UK having promised to take in up to 5.4 million British National Overseas passport holders from Hong Kong (a relic from 1997) with the offer of citizenship after about 5 years residency, good luck to any Thai wanting to relocate there! But that poll is surely more an expression of utter dissatisfaction over the way the pandemic has been handled and the general governance of the country. The elites will find a way of staying in power whatever happens. And they will still fail to find the Red Bull heir who murdered the traffic cop. If Interpol can find Carlos the Jackal and the Lord knows how many other from its "most wanted" list, its failure to find Vorayuth Yoovidhya is clearly a result of the Thai government deliberately not providing the information Interpol requires. It sucks, but TIT.

I wonder who is leaving who and for what reason? The worrying point raised in at least one newspaper today is that Bill Gates has still not contributed most of what he promised to the Foundation. How much of that will end up in the divorce settlement?

If I was Chinese and saw that lot, I'd head for Singapore or Taiwan

Lady Persephone Campariton of Nakedness (I didn't wear shoes today!)

Not too negative at all. I agree with 10tazione. But my friend is quite new to Thailand and he is quite desperate to find a boyfriend. He is slowly learning by experience.

Is anyone else concerned about mobile banking on their phones? I'm sure I'm too old fashioned but I want nothing to do with it.

I'm not sure I like those rooms compared to other similar class hotels. But as for opening another 5 star hotel, It already has very strong competition. In a couple of years or so it will have a lot more as the huge The One development on Rama 4 is scheduled to have five 5-star hotels.

One tip which I heard from a friend who has recently located to Thailand and uses the apps quite a lot. He likes the hook ups but really hopes to find a boyfriend. He chatted last week to a very nice looking 22 yo boy next door type allegedly from Udon who had moved to study in Bangkok. Soon they switched from the app to Line. After they chatted for one evening and then about 2 hours on the next day, the boy asked for money as he needed to pay for his studies at Ramkhamhaeng University and pay rent on his room. He asked nicely for 5,500 baht. My friend thought the amount not unreasonable but was not prepared to pay it. So he said he would give him 2,000 if they could meet first for coffee. The guy said he had to go home to Udon for 2 weeks and he needed the money before he left. He would happily meet with him on his return. He added he did not speak good English. The photos he posted (naked from just below the waist up and also of family gatherings) seemed genuine. He also sent a photo of his bankbook details page and gave his phone number. To my friend, all seemed genuine. He ended up sending the guy 4,000 in two installments. Then the boy said he could come back from Udon a couple of days early. Could he stay with my friend? My friend said no since they had still not met, whereupon the Line account was blocked. When my fried told me this tale and showed me the correspondence, I said the clues should have been his pics - near pure white skin. How many Udon boys are anything but reasonably dark? Then each time money was transferred, he wanted not just the sms message but also a photo of the transmission slip. With some banks (all?) these slips also show the balance left in the account. So had my friend not just thrown them away, the boy would have had a clue as to his financial status and whether it was worth milking him for more. Having a second account with a minimal balance always helps when it comes to in country transfers. My friend still thinks there is a chance he is genuine. I just told him never to send money to anyone until you have actually met and had a chance to size the guy up.

Agree on both counts. But overall I agree with the comment in a newspaper I normally do not read. Britain's Daily Telegraph described the show as "a broadcast that was at once bombastic and underwhelming, and which swung between unbearable grandiosity and giggling amateurishness."

I have heard of it but living in Asia at the time of its release, it was never going to get a showing. I particularly love the work of the actors Tilda Swinton and Robbie Coltraine and will look out for the DVD or on streaming. Jarman was a fascinating, outrageous character. I only saw productions with his designs. Ken Russell's TV The Devils about a sexually repressed nun with Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave allied to Ken Russell's direction I thought stunning. Unfortunately I also saw what I considered a dreadful design of Mozart's Don Giovanni at London's Coliseum Opera House. The great actor John Gielgud directed it - abysmally, I thought!!

Having spent a week in Hua Hin at the end of November last year, the city desperately needs tourists. But then, so does the entire country. Hua Hin was dead. Even in our large chain hotel, it felt dead, the only other visitors being Thai families. I wished we had opted instead for a small guest house on or close to the beach.

I have seen quite a few. Although I love much in the larger paintings,I think my favourites are The Fortune Teller in the Louvre and The Lute Player in The Hermitage.

I thought moving the Best Actress and Best Actor above Best Picture was crazy. Besides, I don't recall seeing Joaquin Phoenix accepting Anthony Hopkins Award. Was I asleep at that point? I heard that Olivia Coleman was supposed to accept the award but that for some reason (technical?) she could not appear. Hopkins himself has been in isolation in Wales for some time and so his absence must have been expected. I thought the whole thing was a near disaster.

People can argue - successfully - that the world has much more important things to attend to than hundreds of millions visiting a cinema act year. But they do. Masses could do more important things than watching mlndless television shows round the world. But they do. It is, like it or not, a part of 21st century living. I see no problem with an Academy Awards Ceremony as such. You could say - again successfully - that movies bring a touch of joy, magic, glitz, glamour, call it what you will, to the lives of vast numbers. And if the Academy Awards are to continue, they really have to mirror that sense of joy and magic. From the little I watched this morning, the show has descended to new lows of sheer boredom. Unless the Academy can get its act together, I would also get rid of it.

Since the South China Morning Post is owned by Jack Ma, former Chairman of the Alibaba Group, it is perhaps understandable that the article makes only a brief reference to Taiwan. Yet while Thailand and Vietnam have been taking baby steps on LGBT rights, Taiwan has marched forward at considerable speed. It's extraordinary to realise that until 1987 Taiwan had been under martial law for close to 40 years. Since then, it has become a rare beacon of true democracy in Asia. It has also become the regional leader in LGBT rights. I don't know enough about the history but I do think it is partly a result of a group of committed LGBT activists who decided they would not use aggressive tactics. Instead, they emphasised co-operation with local and national governments and aimed at winning over what was regarded as a very socially conservative population. The end result is that almost two years ago, Taiwan enacted laws permitting gay marriage, the first country in Asia. Discrimination within the island is virtually a thing of the past. I believe the annual Gay Pride Parade in Taiwan had more than a little to do with this. The first formal Parade was held in 2003. Instead of being financed by commercial gay venues and associated gay products and attended only by sex workers and lardyboys (as was the case in Bangkok around the turn of the millennium - one reason why that Parade died very quickly), Taipei was organised solely by individuals. They wanted the Parades to be fun for both participants and those watching from the pavements. Each Parade also promoted a social message. The emphasis was co-operation. Over the years the numbers attending increased. Originally it was only gay guys and gals from Taipei. Quickly they were joined by members of the LGBT community in other cities on the island. Within ten years, there were regular attenders from other Asian countries. By that time the attendance was 65,000. Now it is a truly international fun weekend with around 200,000 participants. So large has it become that the Parade route has had to be split into 3. All start and end close to City Hall where a number of gay singers and other stars entertain the crowd. Presently Taiwan is closed to foreigners. Hopefully this will change later in the year. The 2021 Parade is on Saturday 30 October.

I think it will be useful to explain for those who do not know Singapore about Pink Dot. For years the LGBT community in Singapore had been trying to organise a Gay Pride Parade. Several other cities in the region had been holding one for some years - Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and by far and away the largest and best organised of them all in Taipei. Close to 200,000 attended the 2019 Taipei Parade which was part of a week-end of parties and other events. Taipei is not the only city in Taiwan to hold a Gay Parade. Most of the major cities have their own Parades. By comparison, attendance in the other cities around Asia is usually only a few thousand, rarely more than 10,000. Singapore gays, like their counterparts in Malaysia, suffer from the notorious British colonial law, Section 377A. This punishes gay sex with terms in jail and sometimes a few lashes of the cane. The government of Singapore has consistently refused to remove this law (as Hong Kong did in 1990) because, it believes, it will upset the ethnic balance in a city with major Chinese, Malay Muslim and Indian communities. It also panders to the several large Christian evangelical churches that have sprung up in recent decades who are extremely vocal in condemning gay life and behaviour. Although the present Prime Minister has said he will not repeal Section 377A, he added it will not be enacted. So entrapment by cute young police officers will no longer take place. Gays can live their lives without harassment as long as they do not upset the apple cart, as it were. Without a Pride Parade, the local gay community (which by all accounts is quite large) decided to hold an annual gathering in a local park. They encouraged everyone to wear pink and called it Pink Dot. After a few years, this became extremely popular. As the Asian base for many international companies, an increasing number sponsored Pink Dot. These included J P Morgan, Godman Sachs, Google, Visa and General Electric. But this had become too much for the authorities. In 2017 they banned non-Singaporean companies from sponsorship. The organisers had very little time to replace it with sponsorship by local companies but they succeeded. For an even longer time, they have also banned foreigners from taking part. For the government, Pink Dot is just an embarrassment. Yet, if anyone is embarrassed it should be the Prime Minister. Not only is his nephew gay, he married his partner two years ago in South Africa. Months later the couple attended the Pink Dot event accompanied by the Prime Minister's brother and his wife. The happy couple with their parents at the 2019 Pink Dot. Photo: Singapore Pink Dot In the dark of the evening, all the attendees, many of whom come with family members and just people from the community who believe the law should be changed, light up the park with pink torches. These images go around the world and are a further embarrassment to the Singapore government. Photo: Singapore Pink Dot

The Oscars will be on television this weekend - and few of my friends even know about it. No doubt the lack of new movies and the closure of movie theatres during the pandemic have much to do with it. But viewership of the Oscars ceremony in the USA has been in a steep decline for years. From 45 million in 2014 to a paltry 24 million last year. I don't know the worldwide figures, but China and Hong Kong have banned the telecast this year, due to the nomination of a short documentary on the Hong Kong protests in 2019. Over the years I have watched various attempts to spice up the ceremony. None worked for me - apart from one brief moment when Ellen took a selfie with the pizza delivery man. So how would you change the format to make it more palatable for an increased viewing audience? I'll start the ball rolling with a few. 1. Reduce the length. It is far too long. 2. Get rid of some of the categories. How many are really interested in the two documentary sections (no matter how good they may be)? Do we really need to see the Awards for Best Song and Best Music? Whilst we're at it, jettison the Short Film (Animated) and Short Film (Live Action). I would also be tempted to jettison the technical categories but I know that these tend to be the few that include extremely popular movies (unlike the Best Picture and Best Director categories) and so I would give them a reprieve. 3. Why the need for two often incredibly boring Presenters for each Award? We know they are reading equally boring lines from a screen. They have not even had the courtesy to the audience to learn them by heart. One Presenter with a brief that their short introductions must be pertinent, descriptive and witty would be infinitely preferable. 4. Why have a slew of separate sections to show excerpts from the nominated best movies? This can surely be shortened and done as the Presenter announces the movies in that category. 5. What is the point of Best Foreign Film any more? Foreign films often appear in the other categories - Foreign films have even won Best Picture. The Oscars should be open to more than just western-made/western-financed movies. 6. Too many awardees make speeches that could have been written by 6-year olds. Either that or "Oh, my gosh! I never expected this and I don't know what to say!" Nominees should be 'instructed' at the time of nomination that they must prepare an acceptance speech of not more than 45 seconds or so. This can not thank husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, dead ancestors and others who have nothing to do with the movie. Thanks to agents and managers are also banned. Who watching worldwide will have any clue who they are? Thanks to a movie's producers and crew must be limited to a fixed number - say, six. Finally, their acceptance speech should either be witty, promote social change or both - and that's it! 7. The entertainment between the presentations is frequently just plain dull. it is surely not outwith the imagination of producers to take a tip or two from Broadway where stage ensemble numbers are often spell-binding. Even if there are no musical-type movies one year, there is absolutely nothing to prevent the producers going back in time to create exciting numbers from movies of earlier years. 8. And then the crux - the awful show hosts. Yes, I know that is an exaggeration but so many have verged on the awful. When you have a Presenter or Presenters for each category, why do you also need a host? Just to give a boring monologue with a host of usually lame 'in' jokes? The Oscar show has become the antithesis of the 'Magic of the Movies'. Movies ARE magic. Whatever format the Academy eventually adopts, it absolutely must get the magic back into the ceremony - or become totally insignificant.

Why would anyone in a time of extreme financial distress be so careless as to invite into his home or hotel room a total stranger just because he wants sex? How does he know what might happen? Even in a high end hotel, if he gets past security what is going to happen if he pulls out a gun or a knife and demands your cash and other valuables? Or drugs your drink when you are in the shower? In cheaper hotels there might be little or no security when he arrives. If he departs when you are in a drugged stupor, the chances are he will never be caught and you can say goodbye to what he has stolen.