Paul Baker

The following things have seemed impossibly camp to me at one point or another: a doll whose body acts as a cover for a toilet roll, a peacock chair, a wig being pulled off and flushed down the toilet, a tantrum over wire coat hangers, a toppled-over Christmas tree, a 1950s muscle magazine featuring a photo of a young man...

A Book of the Year 2019 – Times Literary Supplement Polari is a language that was used chiefly by gay men in the first half of the 20th century. At a time when being gay could result in criminal prosecution – or worse – Polari offered its speakers a degree of public camouflage, a way of expressing humour, and a...

‘My dear, she's on fire!’ DAMIAN BARR ‘A snappy guide to an all-conquering aesthetic’ Financial Times ‘The following things have seemed impossibly camp to me at one point or another: a doll whose body acts as a cover for a toilet roll, a tantrum over wire coat hangers, a 1950s muscle magazine featuring a photo of a young man dressed...

On 23 May 1988, Paul Baker sat down with his family to eat cake on his sixteenth birthday while The Six O'Clock News played in the background. But something was not quite right. There was muffled shouting - 'Stop Section 28!' - and a scuffle. The morning papers would announce: 'Beeb Man Sits on Lesbian'. The next day Section 28...

On 23 May 1988, Paul Baker sat down with his family to eat cake on his sixteenth birthday while The Six O'Clock News played in the background. But something was not quite right. There was muffled shouting—'Stop Section 28!'—and a scuffle. The morning papers would announce: 'Beeb Man Sits on Lesbian'. The next day Section 28 passed into law, forbidding...