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Book synopsis

In Closet Queens, the masterful biographer Michael Bloch turns his attention to the men of British politics who were forced to lead double lives. Outwardly conforming to the requirements of heterosexual middle class society, many twentieth-century British politicians had illicit, clandestine and often thrilling queer sex lives. Some sought relationships with men of their own class, others with 'rough trade' and some confined themselves to fleeting, anonymous encounters in public places. The phenomenon of gay men marrying lesbians was not uncommon amongst the establishment of the early twentieth century. Such unions offered protection from discovery. Many closet queens lived under the constant threat of blackmail but wealth and social position could help considerably. After the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 decriminalised sexual acts in private between consenting males, the great fear of closet queens was not of prosecution in the courts but exposure in the press, leading some men to continue to repress their sexuality in order to realise their ambitions. Opening doors into the private, hidden worlds of key political figures in Britain, Closet Queens will be an astonishing work that will be one of the talking points of 2015.

Book details

Book category Books in English Humanities History Regional & national history

• Full title: Closet Queens
• Subtitle: Some 20th Century British Politicians
• Author: Michael Bloch
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardback
• Number of pages: 272
• EAN: 9781408704127
• ISBN: 1408704129
• ID: 02785868
• Publisher: Little, Brown
• Weight: 741 g
• Dimensions: 216 × 135 × 33 mm
• Date of publishing: 07. May 2015

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