TUESDAY 16 FEBRUARY
7:30pm

The grinning shadow that sat at the feast:
In commemoration of
Hector Munro - 'Saki'
A talk by Professor Tim Connell

Upstairs at: The Wheatsheaf
25 Rathbone Place, North Soho
(off Oxford Street, nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road)

Admission: £3

• Quentin & Philip: Andrew Barrow gave a talk based on his book about his friendship with Quentin Crisp and Philip O'Connor.

• Tinsel & Tumbleweed: Literary event deviser and curator (for Barbican Film), magazine writer and Associate Literary Editor of Nude magazine Jay Clifton interviewed American writer Susan Compo about the whole spectrum of her career - including Susan's days as the editor of the early 80s LA punk fanzine Blank Generation, her short story collections Life After Death and Other Stories (published in the USA in 1990 by Faber and Faber, and praised by such diverse figures as Henry Rollins, Alex Cox, the late Hubert Selby Jr. and Pamela Des Barres) and Malingering, her novel Pretty Things, and her most recent book on the late film actor Warren Oates.

• The Frock-Coated Communist - The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels: In addition to being an early and key propagator of socialism and feminism, a close friend and financial supporter of Karl Marx and a Manchester factory owner, Friedrich Engels was also a fox-hunting bohemian. Historian Tristram Hunt's talk provided a comprehensive account of Engels’ life and work, including his important contribution to the emergence of Marxism, from his collaboration with Marx in The Communist Manifesto of 1848 to his contributions to Capital (including the laborious tasks of editing and publishing Volumes 2 and 3 after Marx’s death) and his continuing defence of Marxism against both bourgeois critics and radical vulgarisers up to his death in 1895.

• In the City - A Celebration of London Music: Paul du Noyer explored London's native talent, from Noel Coward and David Bowie to the Sex Pistols and Amy Winehouse and covered too the London visits of international artists such as Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, who also felt the city's influence. In his talk, de Noyer charted the rich musical inheritance of London and the many styles and characters that have helped to define the city's music over the years.

• Moscow Rules: Benedict Newbery hosted a A literary journey in Hampstead following in the footsteps of Le Carré’s George Smiley, brought out of retirement to investigate a grisly murder on the Heath. The walk traced the action in the novel Smiley’s People, introducing key landmarks from the book on, and around, Hampstead Heath.

• The Big World of Anthony Newley: Paul Goodhead gave an overview of Newley's life and career with particular interest to his main output to the theatre (Stop the World, Roar, Gobod, Once Upon a Song, Chaplin and the never to be Richard III) along with background to some of his songwriting methods and stories behind the songs.

• The Thoroughly Disgraceful Life & Times of William Donaldson: Terence Blacker spoke about his biography of Willie Donaldson. Willie Donalson was found dead in his flat in Fulham in June 2005. His computer was still running, logged on to a lesbian porn site.

• The Devil's Paintbrush: The writer Jake Arnott - author of the much celebrated The Long Firm - spoke about his new, fifth, novel, The Devil's Paintbrush. Set in Paris in 1903, it focuses on an encounter between disgraced former British Army officer Sir Hector MacDonald and the occultist Aleister Crowley.

• Old Gay Soho: A talk by David Thompson. A historical journey through the streets of Soho that have witnessed the secrets, trials and triumphs of gay life for nearly a thousand years. Everything from the 17th century Molly trials, to the haunts of Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Virginia Woolf, Radclyffe Hall and Derek Jarman. From the clandestine club life of the 30s and 40s to the underground world of the 50s.

• Pop! Goes the Easel: The life of '60s art Impressario 'Groovy Bob' Fraser. Groovy Bob's biographer Harriet Vyner talked to Cathi Unsworth about the conceptual art that was flying off the walls of Groovy Bob's cutting edge Mayfair gallery.

• A Tale of Two Mavericks: Steve Marriot and Robyn Friday: In this double-header, author Paulo Hewitt talked about his biographies of Steve Marriot - co-founder and lead singer of the seminal 60s band, the Small Faces - and the eccentric, junkie footballer, the equally late Robyn Friday.

• A Taste of Honey and .... Murray Melvin: A talk by Murray Melvin - best known for having created the role of Geoffrey in the Shelagh Delaney play A Taste of Honey, a role which he recreated opposite Rita Tushingham in the 1961 film of the same name. In 1962 he won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance.

• Richard Strange: "An Accent Waiting To Happen": A rare London performance of his live one-man show, with a guest or two.

• Billy Hill: Godfather of London: Billy Hill was Britain’s first celebrity gangster. A charming character with a deadly edge, Hill elevated himself to the very top of the pantheon of organised crime. By the early 1950’s he had control of the city’s gambling rackets and masterminded a heist that set the template for the Great Train Robbery. Hill held court (and seduced female aristocrats) at the Soho address that now houses the Groucho Club.

• The Suarez Seance - Revisiting the Dark World of Derek Raymond: To celebrate the re-release of the classic 1993 album 'Dora Suarez' by Derek Raymond, James Johnston and Terry Edwards on Sartorial Records and the reprint of the original novel I Was Dora Suarez by Serpent's Tail, the Sohemian Society presents a night of music, film and conversation saluting the godfather of British Noir.

• Through a Glass Darkly - The Life & Writing of Patrick Hamilton: Nigel Jones introduced his biography of Patrick Hamilton, plus readings by actors from his novels.

• Danger & Madness in Earls Court - The Sinister World of Patrick Hamilton: A two hour guided walk in deepest Hangover Square territory, concluding at the King's Head, 17 Hogarth Place (off Earls Court Road). See the
  flyer here.

• Letters from Sohemia: An introduction by Julian Maclaren-Ross's biographer, Paul Willetts, and readings from the recently published Selected Letters: Julian Maclaren-Ross (Black Spring Press).

• West End Nights and Sunday Mornings: Tagged an Angry Young Man by the media, the author of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner, Alan Sillitoe, will discuss his life's work and take questions. He will also read from his recently re-published novel, A Start in Life. This is the story of Michael Cullen, womaniser, chancer, liar and rogue, who when his home town of Nottingham becomes too hot for him hits the road and heads down to Swinging 60s London.

• Growing up in a Surrealist Household: Antony Penrose talks about his biography of Lee Miller - the couture model, surrealist photographer and WW2 combat photojournalist - and Roland Penrose - surrealist artist, biographer of Picasso, Miró, Man Ray and Tàpies.

• Soho Noir: Lost London Fiction - Writer and film-maker Iain Sinclair talked about two classic, newly reissued 1930s London novels, NIGHT AND THE CITY (by Gerald Kersh) and THE GILT KID (by James Curtis), and spoke alongside fellow literary chroniclers of the capital's neglected past Cathi Unsworth and Paul Willetts. James Curtis's daughter also discussed her late father's tragic, bohemian life which carried him from literary stardom to an impoverished death in 1970s Kilburn.

• DJ Taylor: Bright Young People - The Bright Young People were one of the most extraordinary youth cults in British history. A pleasure-seeking band of bohemian party-givers and blue-blooded socialites, they romped through the 1920s gossip columns. Their dealings with the media foreshadowed our modern celebrity culture and, even today, we can detect their influence in our cultural life. But the quest for pleasure came at a price. Drawing on the writings and reminiscences of the Bright Young People themselves, D.J. Taylor has produced an enthralling social and cultural history, a definitive portrait of a vanished age.

• The John Minton Experience - A guided walk back in time to post-war London bohemia presented by Marc Glendening. Special guest stars, author and journalist Virginia Ironside and actor Tony Austin.

• Patrick Hamilton's Sinister Brighton - a guided walk led by Marc Glendening and Nigel Jones (author of the Hamilton biography Through a Glass Darkly) and will include readings from The West Pier by actor Callum Coates. View the flyer here.

• Through a Glass Darkly - a Patrick Hamilton evening with Hamilton's biographer Nigel Jones and readings from Hamilton's fiction by Callum Coates and Tony Austin.

• North Soho 999 - a true story of Gangs & Gun-Crime in 1940s London: dramatised reading by actors from the Old Vic and Globe Theatres. "A brilliant snapshot of '40s London" ~ John King, author of The Football Factory.
  

• Israel Zangwill (1864 - 1926) 'The Jewish Charles Dickens' - A talk by Carol Seigel, curator of the Hampstead Museum, about the life of Israel Zangwill - fiction writer, dramatist, essayist, political activist, and the father of modern British-Jewish literature.

• The unveiling of Julian Maclaren-Ross' gravestone
  Virginia Ironside, who raised the money for the gravestone and campaigned for the right to put it up, and JMR's biographer, Paul Willetts, will both say a few words. Julian Maclaren-Ross is President-in-death of the Sohemian Society.

• The Mother of Oscar
  A talk by biographer Joy Melville about the life of Jane Francesca Wilde. Lady Wilde was the linchpin of the Wilde family. Courageous and strong-minded, as a young woman she defied her Protestant family's pro-Union politics and, during the terrible days of the Great Famine, writing under the name of Speranza, she electrified Ireland with her passionate tirades in verse and prose against the English. In Mother of Oscar the complex relationship between Willie, Oscar and their mother is fully explained for the first time. Since her sons revered her as they did, Lady Wilde's influence over them was strong and they inherited both strengths and weaknesses from her. Witty, often outrageous, with very strong feminist views, she was a most memorable woman.

• Soho Sounds
  The Jazz and R&B Soho club scene during the late 50s and early 60s. A talk with music and slides by musician Mark Norton. Mark plays saxophone and flute for London's leading Hammond'n'Horns mod-jazz-soul combo The Gene Drayton Unit.

• Bitten by the Tarantula
  Readings from the work of Julian Maclaren-Ross by Callum Coates and Tony Austin, with an introduction from the writer's biographer, Paul Willetts

• Olaudah Equiano and the St Giles Blackbirds
  Brycchan Carey spoke about Olaudah Equiano, the first leader of Britain's Black Community. His autobiograpy Interesting Narrative was referred to in the House of Commons by William Wilberforce during his campaign to abolish slavery. In 2000, Westminster Council unveiled a plaque to Olaudah's residence at 73 Riding House Street. The St Giles Blackbirds were freed slaves who had fought for the British during the American War of Independence. On arriving in London they became part of the dispossessed and poor around the St Giles-in-the-Fields area of London.

• Gerald Kersh: Night and the City
  Gerald Kersh was Britain's best-selling mystery author of the 1930s & 40s. His classic Soho-set Night and the City was turned into the 1950 film noir of the same name, starring Richard Widmark, Herbert Lom, Gene Tierney & Googie Withers. Paul Duncan revealed the results of his investigations in the life & times of Gerald Kersh
  
  Click here to view the flyer (pdf)

• Dylan: The Soho Years
  Andrew Lycett, author of the biography, 'Dylan Thomas: A New Life' discussed the poet's exploits in Soho.

• Nobs, Snobs & Toms
  John Branston, friend of notorious postwar black-marketeer and Soho 'pay-to-see' strip-joint and drinking club owner, the late Michael Nelson, related the choicest escapades from Mickey's kiss-and-tell 'Captain Blossom' memoirs.
  

• John Gawsworth: The King of Redonda
  Join The Sohemians to hear Roger Dobson celebrate Gawsworth's extraordinary life as poet, boozer, bohemian and King of Redonda.
  
  Click here to view the flyer (pdf)

• Joan Wyndham: Born in Bohemia
  The writer Joan Wyndham chronicled the different stages of Bohemianism in Britain from the unique perspective of her own extraordinary life.
  
  Click here to view the flyer (pdf)
  
  

• Wyndham Lewis: Vorticist
  Richard Humphreys - curator, Programme Research at the Tate - talked about and showed slides featuring the work of the high priest of the Vorticist movement. Wyndham Lewis, both an artist and a writer, was the driving force of modernism in Britain in the early 20th century. Richard Humphreys examines the legacy of this politically and culturally controversial figure. Click here to see some of his work.

  Click here to view the flyer (pdf)

• Our Man In Soho: A celebration of the work of Julian MacLaren-Ross
  Jonathan Meades, DJ Taylor (author of recent biography of George Orwell) and Virginia Ironside gave readings from the work of '40s Soho writer and hellraiser, Julian Maclaren-Ross. His biographer, Paul Willetts, introduced the event.
  
  Click here to view the flyer (pdf)
  Click here to read a media report of the event (Independent on Sunday, 21 November 2004) (pdf)

• Sax Rohmer's Sinister London
  Antony Clayton talked about Sax Rohmer - author of the very non-PC Fu Manchu mysteries based in Chinatown as well as numerous other books dealing with murder and the occult set in the West End.

• Sex, Violence and Dirt: Francis Bacon and some Sohemian themes
  Andrew Brighton has written a new biography of Francis Bacon. He will illustrate his talk with slides. As well as being an author, he is a former curator at The Tate and an international art critic.
  
  Click here to view the flyer (pdf)

• Montague Summers - Theatrical demonologist
  Tim D'arch Smith talks about Montague Summers, author of classic works such as 'History of Demonology and Witchcraft' (1926), 'The Vampire: His Kith and Kin' (1928), 'The Vampire in Europe' (1929) and 'The Gothic Quest: a History of the Gothic Novel' (1938). He also claimed to be an ordained Catholic priest, though this was disputed. Summers was also an expert on English Restoration drama and helped to stage many plays from this tradition.

• An evening with George Melly / Love is the Devil double bill
  George Melly talks about his memories of Soho: the jazz scene, the clubs, the sleaze and the characters. Followed by a showing of John Maybury's acclaimed Soho film 'Love is the Devil'.
  
  Click here to view photos of the evening
  Click here to view the flyer (pdf)
  Click here to read a media report of the event (The Times)

• Tom Driberg: The Soul of Indiscretion
  Author and journalist Francis Wheen speaks about Tom Driberg
  
  Click here to view the poster (pdf)
  Click here to read a media report of the event (West End Extra)
  Click here to read an article about Tom Driberg in Tribune

• Soho - a History of London's Most Colourful Neighbourhood
  An evening with Soho historian and author Judith Summers
  
  Click here to view the flyer (pdf)

• Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia
  Paul Willets speaks about Julian Maclaren-Ross
  
  Click here to view the flyer (pdf)
  Click here to view the poster (pdf)
  Click here to read a media report of the event (West End Extra)
  Click here to read an article about Julian M-R in Tribune