Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1945-1959

**A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR** 
 
Quite simply, this book is a work of genius - Matthew Parris, The Spectator 
 
An essential study of post-war gay London life... one of the best anthologies I have ever read - John Self, The Observer 
 
With it’s wide-ranging selection, generous biographical notes and provocative bibliography, Some Men in London is a serious and important contribution to our understanding of Britain up to today - Fiona Sampson, The Tablet 
 
An absolutely extraordinary book … about actually what life was like for homosexual men in London in the 1940s and the 1950s… It’s amazing - Dominic Sandbrook 
 
 
The first part of a major new anthology which uncovers the rich reality of life for queer men in London 
 
In the 1940s, it was believed that homosexuality had been becoming more widespread in the aftermath of war. A moral panic ensued, centred around London as the place to which gay men gravitated. 
In a major new anthology, Peter Parker explores what it was actually like for queer men in London in this period, whether they were well-known figures such as John Gielgud, ‘Chips’ Channon and E.M. Forster, or living lives of quiet – or occasionally rowdy – anonymity in pubs, clubs, more public places of assignation, or at home. It is rich with letters, diaries, psychological textbooks, novels, films, plays and police records, covering a wide range of viewpoints, from those who deplored homosexuality to those who campaigned for its decriminalisation. 
 
This first volume, from 1945 to 1959, details a community forced to live at constant risk of blackmail or prison. Yet it also shows a thriving and joyous subculture, one that enriched a mainstream culture often ignorant of its debt to gay creators. Some Men In London is a testament to queer life, which was always much more complex than newspapers, governments and the Metropolitan Police Force imagined.

Quite simply, this book is a work of genius

A monumental achievement... an irresistibly immersive history.... no brief description can capture the richness and variety of this fabulous project... Brilliantly compiled and wryly edited, it's often a darkly funny book, infused with all the joy, tragedy, strangeness and frailty of human life. I loved it.

These beautifully written letters, diary entries and extracts from novels, skilfully edited by Peter Parker, add up to an essential study of postwar gay London life… Some Men in London's second volume, which takes us up to 1967, will be published in September. I'll be counting the days - this is one of the best anthologies I have ever read

This is an anthology with an immense amount to tell us about its period, scrupulously sieved, and just as much about our lives now... Peter Parker has assembled a fascinating amount of written material about the existence of homosexual men from 1945 until 1967... A wonderful range of extracts from outrageous pulp fiction makes this substantial anthology unmissable

Some Men in London animates mid-century gay life with panoramic, surround-sound effect, while its collage-like form makes for easily digestible reading. If you think you already know this period, think again.... a magnificent history of postwar gay life and moral panic... The rich cultural, political and social montage that emerges is the combined result of Parker’s comprehensive grasp of the period and a process of meticulous curation

Some Men in London has the democratic, unpolemical quality of a social realist novel. In its sheer range of viewpoints and incidents it shares something with the roving perspective and multitudinous voices of Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor (1851). It is a testament to Peter Parker’s skill as a compiler – his ear for the peculiar and the archetypal alike – that gay life in these years, far from being a niche or rarefied thing, comes to feel like its own epicentre, the beating heart of the city. At times it feels more urgent and vibrant by far than life in the present

I’d heartily recommend Peter Parker’s Some Men of London compendium of writings about homosexuality between the end of World War II and legalisation beginning in 1967... It makes for riveting, startling, often horrifyingly comprehensive reading

With it’s wide-ranging selection, generous biographical notes and provocative bibliography, Some Men in London is a serious and important contribution to our understanding of Britain up to today

An intriguing collage of the era&rsquo;s mood

As lively as a novel... a truly vital thing in a world where so many stories have been erased or criminalised

[A] comprehensive two-volume anthology [...] Peter Parker, distinguished author of several related biographies and historical studies, has assembled a remarkable range of materials covering all aspects of this phenomenon, spanning VE Day and the passing of the Sexual Offences Act in 1967 [...] Parker adds drily witty commentary throughout

Exhaustively researched, meticulously compiled... Parker is to be congratulated for producing such an indispensable pair of books at a time when, given ongoing debates about gender and sexual identities, all queer voices of the past need to be heard, heeded and held in mind.

The non-fiction event of the year... the editing is masterful and mordant

Peter Parker is the author of biographies of J. R. Ackerley and Christopher Isherwood, The Old Lie, The Last Veteran, Housman Country and A Little Book of Latin for Gardeners. He edited A Reader's Guide to the Twentieth-Century Novel and Twentieth-Century Writers, is an advisory editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and contributed essays to Britten's Century and Fifty Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read. He has written about people, books, art, architecture and gardening for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, and lives in London's East End.

In the 1940s, it was believed that homosexuality had been becoming more widespread in the aftermath of war. A moral panic ensued, centred around London as the place to which gay men gravitated. 
 
In a major new anthology, Peter Parker explores what it was actually like for queer men in London in this period, whether they were well-known figures such as John Gielgud, &lsquo;Chips&rsquo; Channon and E.M. Forster, or living lives of quiet &ndash; or occasionally rowdy &ndash; anonymity in pubs, clubs, more public places of assignation, or at home. It is rich with letters, diaries, psychological textbooks, novels, films, plays and police records, covering a wide range of viewpoints, from those who deplored homosexuality to those who campaigned for its decriminalisation. 
 
This first volume, from 1945 to 1959, details a community forced to live at constant risk of blackmail or prison. Yet it also shows a thriving and joyous subculture, one that enriched a mainstream culture often ignorant of its debt to gay creators. Some Men In London is a testament to queer life, which was always much more complex than newspapers, governments and the Metropolitan Police Force imagined.

Peter Parker

Peter Parker has done a bona job across his two volumes of Some Men in London in chronicling queer life... [he creates] a collage of the gay experience – sleazy, earnest and everything in between... this latest volume almost has a bounce of optimism, of the possibility of change... can we have another volume?

[A] comprehensive two-volume anthology [...] Peter Parker, distinguished author of several related biographies and historical studies, has assembled a remarkable range of materials covering all aspects of this phenomenon, spanning VE Day and the passing of the Sexual Offences Act in 1967 [...] Parker adds drily witty commentary throughout

An intriguing collage of the era’s mood

Exhaustively researched, meticulously compiled... Parker is to be congratulated for producing such an indispensable pair of books at a time when, given ongoing debates about gender and sexual identities, all queer voices of the past need to be heard, heeded and held in mind

In the 1940s, it was believed that homosexuality had been becoming more widespread in the aftermath of war. A moral panic ensued, centred around London as the place to which gay men gravitated. 
 
Peter Parker's fascinating new compendium explores what it was actually like for queer men in London in this period, whether they were well-known figures such as Francis Bacon, Joe Orton and Kenneth Williams, or living lives of quiet &ndash; or occasionally rowdy &ndash; anonymity in pubs, clubs, more public places of assignation, or at home. It is rich with letters, diaries, psychological textbooks, novels, films, plays and police records, covering a wide range of viewpoints, from those who deplored homosexuality to those who campaigned for its decriminalisation. 
 
This second volume, from 1960 to 1967, shows how key elements in British society gradually changed their views on homosexuality, resulting in the landmark 1967 act by which it was no longer considered a crime if it took place between adults in private. This did not end violence, discrimination and prejudice, but it at least curbed official persecution. Some Men in London is a testament to queer life and its thriving, joyous subculture &ndash; a subculture without which the 1960s would have been immeasurably impoverished.

Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1960-1967

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Kate-Atkinson

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

Discover the Penguin books that shaped us

Peter Parker

Praise for Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1960-1967

A monumental achievement... an irresistibly immersive history.... no brief description can capture the richness and variety of this fabulous project... Brilliantly compiled and wryly edited, it' ...

This is an anthology with an immense amount to tell us about its period, scrupulously sieved, and just as much about our lives now... Peter Parker has assembled a fascinating amount of written mater ...

Peter Parker has done a bona job across his two volumes of Some Men in London in chronicling queer life... [he creates] a collage of the gay experience – sleazy, earnest and everything in between

A monumental achievement... an irresistibly immersive history.... no brief description can capture the richness and variety of this fabulous project... Brilliantly compiled and wryly edited, it' ...

This is an anthology with an immense amount to tell us about its period, scrupulously sieved, and just as much about our lives now... Peter Parker has assembled a fascinating amount of written mater ...

Peter Parker has done a bona job across his two volumes of Some Men in London in chronicling queer life... [he creates] a collage of the gay experience – sleazy, earnest and everything in between

A monumental achievement... an irresistibly immersive history.... no brief description can capture the richness and variety of this fabulous project... Brilliantly compiled and wryly edited, it' ...

This is an anthology with an immense amount to tell us about its period, scrupulously sieved, and just as much about our lives now... Peter Parker has assembled a fascinating amount of written mater ...

Peter Parker has done a bona job across his two volumes of Some Men in London in chronicling queer life... [he creates] a collage of the gay experience – sleazy, earnest and everything in between

Books by Peter Parker

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter