# Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1945-1959

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/peter-park/some-men-in-london-queer-life-1945-1959

![Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1945-1959](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin-classics/peter-parker/some-men-in-london-queer-life-1945-1959_978-02-4137-061-2.jpg?v=2026-04-24%2015%3A21%3A03)

- Authors: [Peter Park](https://www.bookquiver.com/peter-park)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2024-05-30

## Description

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.

## Editions

### Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1945-1959

- Publisher: penguin_classics
- ISBN: 978-02-4137-061-2
- Pages: 464
- Published: 2026-05-28
- Language: en_GB

### Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1945-1959

- Publisher: penguin_classics
- ISBN: 978-02-4137-060-5
- Pages: 464
- Published: 2024-05-30
- Language: en_GB

### Some Men In London: Queer Life, 1945-1959

- Publisher: Penguin
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-01-4198-949-5
- Published: 2024-05-30
- Language: en_GB