Parisian Pride

NOTE: The information below is accurate on the date of publication. Further research may reveal information which changes or replaces some of the details. Check later postings to keep up to date by selecting “Olympics” in the search box or the tag list.

With the Olympic opening ceremony tonight it is time to celebrate the achievements of our many lgbt+ athletes in their journeys to Paris 2024. As in previous years I have been collaborating with Outsports to compile list of lgbt+ athletes. My full all-time list of over 770 Olympians will be published after the games have ended and the newest results have been added.

From the day I dedicated myself to researching lgbt+ Olympians in 2010 I have also been researching those who had competed in qualification events, ranking lists, and national Olympic trials. I haven’t published this list before, and I was hoping to publish it today. Unfortunately, I’ve had health issues which have been slowing me down and there’s no way it would have been ready today.

Instead, I’ll present some research I did while researching the Paris 2024 qualification competitions.

For the past 6 Olympics (since Sydney 2000) the sport with the most lgbt+ competitors has been women’s football. This year is no different, and it has provided a remarkable new statistic.

In previous years qualification to the Olympics for European women’s football teams has been based on their results in the most recent Women’s World Cup finals. This year the IOC decided to use the 2024 UEFA Women’s Nations League as the qualification event for Paris 2024 instead.

With 51 national women’s teams in UEFA the IOC decided to restrict qualification to teams in the top division only, League A. This year League A contained 16 national teams, and 51 matches (including the Nations League Finals) were played. Every match had at least 1 openly lgbt+ player in one or both teams. I don’t think there has been a team qualification tournament in any other sport that has had 100% lgbt+ representation in every match. I’ll keep checking, but I’m fairly confident that this is the case.

The team with the most openly lgbt+ players was Sweden with 10. Sadly, they didn’t qualify for Paris 2024. If you combine the players on the English, Scottish and Welsh teams they came to 14. However, the IOC does not recognise these three teams as eligible for the Olympics, only if they play as one team, Team GB. None of those three teams reached the required final placing to qualify for Paris 2024. If one of them had, then the IOC would have accepted that Team GB had qualified.

In fact, a smaller-scale version of this will occur in pool stages of the women’s football, because all 4 teams in Pool A – France, Canada, Colombia, and New Zealand – all have at least 1 lgbt+ player.

While on the subject of female footballers, there are many sites on the internet which publish lists of footballers they claim are openly lgbt+. Most of these sites are fan sites, and often gossip machines, and rarely provide definitive proof of any players’ sexuality. The only reliable site for listing female lgbt+ footballers is Oustports.com who actually obtain evidence of each players’ sexual and gender identity. And I’m not saying that because I collaborate with them. Even Wikipedia invariably offers nothing more than a gossip fan site as a source. The Wikipedia lists of lgbt+ Olympians is similarly untrustworthy and not to be taken as fact. I have written in the past of at least two people on their list who should not be there, interestingly both of them competed in the previous 2 Paris Olympics (Robert Graves and Count Robert de Montesquiou).

Let’s finish with some of my most recent research into past Olympics. In September last year I mentioned that Leonard Chalmers and Léon Curia was the first Olympians to transition gender. It seems I was wrong, and that there was one before that.

In the 1936 Berlin Olympics there was a Czech javelin thrower competing as Stefánie Pekarová (b.1913). In 1938 the Czech press printed news that Stefánie had undergone gender reassignment surgery and was referred to as Stefan Pekar. In the few online references to him it seems that he may have been born intersex and assigned female at birth. Those references also day that all of Stefan’s sporting results in female competition were annulled. This wouldn’t happen today, though there were a few calls for Caitlin Jenner’s Olympic results to be removed and his medals returned.

It also appears that Stefan’s attendance at the Berlin Olympics may have been nominal. He did not compete in the events into which he was registered. This was not unusual in those days. I suppose we could consider him as the equivalent of a modern alternate athlete (until 1992 the IOC permitted alternates the right to call themselves Olympian and share in any medal their team won – the IOC don’t now, but I still do).

However, we do know that Stefan competed in the Women’s World Games, the games created in 1921 by female athletes who were refused the right to compete in the Olympics at that time. At the 1934 Women’s World Games in London Stefan won bronze medals in the shot put and triathlon (javelin, high jump and 100m sprint).

Sadly, there is no record of Stefan Pekar after his transition was reported in 1938. No-one has yet discovered his date of death, so he will remain an enigma.

International Olympic historians like myself are always unearthing new information about those early Olympians. Not all Olympians were mentioned by name in the very early days, especially if they were part of a team event in which only the team name was recorded. There are historians who specialise in identifying these anonymous Olympians, and I hope that I am playing my own part in this research by recognising the Olympians within the lgbt+ community.

Schedule for the Rest of the Year

Here is a provisional list of articles I intend to publish for the rest of the year. The schedule may alter. I decided to not publish anything in the rest of June and most of July because I am concentrating on preparing a new Olympic list.

24 July 2024 – Olympic preview, and a new list of lgbt+ athletes to add to the Olympians.

13 August 2024 – Olympic review and updated lgbt+ Olympian list.

1 September 2024 – 80 Gays Around the World 6.

19 September 2024 – (Talk Like a Pirate Day) Extraordinary Life.

1 October 2024 (International Vexillology Day) Designs for a Nation.

15 October 2024 – Buried Alive?

31 October 2024 – (Hallowe’en) The Transgender Bogeyman Is Coming To Get You.

14 November 2024 – Game of Gay Thrones 9.

1 December 2024 – (Advent Sunday 1).

8 December 2024 – (Advent Sunday 2).

15 December 2024 – (Advent Sunday 3).

22 December 2024 – (Advent Sunday 4).

Heraldic Alphabet 2024

Welcome to my 2024 Heraldic Alphabet with coats of arms in the lgbt+ community, celebrating the annual International Heraldry Day

Continuing elements I introduced last year, two letters have double entries because there are more people whose names begin with those letters who have coats of arms. Also continued is a black background to the arms of people who died in the past 18 months.

Some nations (e.g. England) don’t let women display their arms on a shield, only ovals or lozenges. For the sake of visual uniformity I use shields throughout. To indicate which individuals would officially use a lozenge, I place a diamond around their letter in the illustrations.

I show just the shields and not the helmet, crest, motto, supporters, or insignia to which a person may also be entitled. Individuals are listed according to the name by which they are most popularly known. Aristocrats are listed under their title unless they are popularly known by another name.

Some Quick Basic definitions

Arms of Office – arms of an institution or office of which the person is the nominal head and who may use the arms of the institution (in performance of official duties only). I extend this practice to similar institutions of any nation.

Assumed – arms adopted by an individual or family in a country where no state heraldic authority exists, or are not registered by such an authority that does exist.

Attributed – arms assigned to an individual, whether historical or legendary, after that individual’s life time.

Cadency mark – a specific symbol added to a family coat of arms to indicate the place in order of birth of the individual (i.e. 1st son/daughter, 2nd son/daughter, etc.).

Family – arms officially borne by the family’s senior bloodline member. Other family members may be required to add cadency marks. Some nations allow all family members to use the arms unaltered.

Marital – In some countries spouses and same-sex couples can place their arms side by side on one shield. Spouses who are have no coat of arms can use those of their spouse’s or place a small blank shield (if male) or lozenge (in England if female) upon it.

Personal – Arms granted to an individual by an official heraldic authority. Also inherited family arms specific to the individual.

Quarters – 4 or more divisions of a shield showing 2 or more different coat of arms. Some individuals bear many quarters.

Without further ado, here is 2024’s Heraldic Alphabet:

A) St. AELRED of Rievaulx (1110-1167). Cistercian abbot, “patron saint” of male couples. Attributed arms of office. These are the arms of Rievaulx Abbey of which Aelred was abbot. They are first recorded in 1530. They are the arms of the Roos family, the abbey’s then patrons, surmounted by an abbot’s staff.

B) Jacques Gordat, 6th Marquess of BELBEUF (1850-1906). French aristocrat. Personal arms. The arms of the Gordat family. They depict spurs worn by medieval knights. His wife was the artist Mathilde de Morny (see D below). In France married couples display their arms on separate shields side by side rather than together on one shield.

C1) Marina CICOGNA (1934-2023). Italian film director (Countess Marina Cicogna Mozzoni Volpi di Misurata). Inherited family arms. Cicogna is Italian for “stork”, which the family adopted as their coat of arms. In heraldry a stork is often shown standing on one leg holding a rock in the other because legend says this is how storks sleep – if they drop the rock they wake up. In 1580 the Count Cicogna married the heiress of Count Mozzoni, bringing her arms of three eagles into the family.

C2) Margaret CUTHBERT (1887-1968). Pioneering Canadian/US media executive. Inherited family arms. The original Cuthbert arms was the serpent. Legend says that in 1411 an ancestor captured the battle standard of a Scottish Lord and the King granted him the right to add a bar across his shield. The flowers had been added by the time the Cuthberts moved to Canada in 1778, and were registered with the Court of Lord Lyon in Scotland by Hon. James Cuthbert (Margaret’s 2 times great-grandfather) on 24th January 1778. They were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority of the Governor General’s Office on 15 August 2012.

D) Mathilde DE MORNY (1863-1944). French artist. Inherited family arms. Mathilde’s father was an illegitimate half-brother of Emperor Napoleon III of France who created him a duke in 1863, granting him a border of dolphins (a French royal emblem) and eagles (a Bonaparte emblem). The black merlettes (birds with no beak or feet) are from the arms of the Duke’s father, the Count of Flahaut. Mathilde married the Marquess of Belbeuf (B above).

E) Miquel ENESENYAT RUITORT (b.1969), Mayor of Esporles, Majorca, 2005-15. Arms of office, being the arms of Esporles. They incorporate the red and yellow stripes common in Spanish (particularly Catalan) heraldry. On light blue are the cross keys and papal tiara of the Vatican.

F) St. FRANCIS of Assisi (c.1181-1226). Founder of the Franciscan Order of Friars. One of several attributed arms. The design symbolises Christ crucified with the five stigmata, the wounds he received on the cross. St. Francis is said to have borne temporary marks of the stigmata in 1224. Brown is the colour of the habit worn by Franciscans.

G) GIVENCHY (1927-2018). French fashion designer (Count Hubert Taffin de Givenchy). Inherited family arms. The Marquess de Givenchy is the title given to his ancestor in 1713. The family name is Taffin, and these are the family’s arms used since medieval times.

H) Juliet HARDINGE (1877-1970). Bisexual British actor, stage name of Mrs. Janette Thesiger (née Ranken). Marital arms, being those of her husband Ernest Thesiger (featured last year). She may have had a family coat of arms, but I have been unable to identify it, so I adopt the modern practice of placing a lozenge at the top of her husband’s shield.

J) Melvyn Gwynne JEREMIAH (1939-2023). British civil servant, Secretary of The Heraldry Society 2003-9. Personal arms granted by the College of Arms on 29 October 1994. The blue and white pattern is called vair - pieces of squirrel fur (“varus” is Latin for squirrel) sewn to form the lining of a medieval cloak (blue is back fur, white is belly fur). The Welsh dragon represents Melvyn’s nationality.

K) Mary KENDALL (1677-1710). Partner of Lady Caroline Jones (see 2023). Inherited family arms. The Kendall arms show 3 heraldic dolphins. In the other quarters are the arms of her mother, heiress of the Hallet family. Mary’s arms are shown on her memorial in Westminster Abbey.

L) Cam LYMAN (1932-c.1987). US transgender dog-breeder (whose murder is featured here). Assumed family arms. Assumed by descendants of the 17th century immigrant Richard Lyman, of which Cam was one. However, research in the 1950s proved that immigrant Richard Lyman was a different man to the one whose arms the family assumed and still use today. The 1st and 4th quarters are the Lyman arms, the 2nd quarter are the arms of Richard’s heiress wife Sarah Osbourne, the 3rd are the arms of his heiress ancestor Elizabeth Lambert. All recorded arms of the Osbornes have blue corners instead of red. I retain the colour assumed by the US Lymans.

M1 and M2) Barnaby MILN (b.1947). Magistrate, and member of the General Synod of the Church of England. In 2018 I did a full examination these coats of arms (see here). Basically, the blue arms were granted to an ancestor, and the green arms were granted to his father.

N) Florence NIGHTINGALE (1820-1910). Pioneer of nurse training, opponent of Votes for Women. As Florence features in many lgbt+ lists I’ve included her here, even though there’s no definitive evidence of her sexuality. Her father, William Shore, was heir to his grandmother’s family, the Nightingales. He adopted their name in 1815 and their arms shown here in 1874.

) Diego ORTIZ GONZALEZ (b.1982). Mayor of Pinto, Madrid, Spain, 2019-23. Arms of office, being those of the town of Pinto. The arms have been in use since before 1756 but were only officially registered on 17 September 2007. Red and yellow are the national colours of Spain. The dot on the map represents Pinto’s location at the exact centre of Spain.

P) Richard PARES (1902-1958). British historian. Inherited family arms. Richard descends from John Pares of Leicester (1635-1712) whose arms are the black and white design. The lion is the arms of the Lightbody family whose co-heiress married into the Pares family.

R) Eleanor RATHBONE (1872-1946). British politician and family rights campaigner. Inherited family arms. The arms were granted to Eleanor’s grandfather, William, by the College of Arms in 1841. The symbolism is unclear, though the fasces (bundle of sticks around an axe) is a Roman symbol of authority, and William was a magistrate.

S) Prince Janusz SANGUSZKO (1712-1775), Polish prince and bloodline heir to King Harold II of England. Inherited family arms. Basically, the arms of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania used since 1366, readopted by the republic of Lithuania in 1991. The Sanguszko family, like others who descend from the Grand Dukes, added the castle at some unknown date.

T) Hallam TENNYSON (1920-2005). BBC radio producer, murdered (unsolved). Inherited family arms. Hallam was great-grandson of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (who may or may not have been queer). This is a modified version of the arms of Archbishop Tenison of Canterbury (1636-1715) to whom the Tennysons may be related. In turn, the Archbishop’s arms were modified from those of Bishop Cantilupe of Hereford (d.1282). The laurel wreath was granted to Lord Tennyson by the College of Arms on 2 February 1883. The crescent signifies Hallam’s descent from Lord Tennyson’s 2nd son.

V1) Dries VAN NOTEN (b.1958). Belgian fashion designer. Personal arms granted by the Belgian Crown when he was created a baron in 2017. The nut tree alludes to his surname (Noten is Dutch for “nut”), as well as representing the Tree of Life. The two hands are taken from the arms of Antwerp, where Dries was born.

V2) Sarah VEATCH. Associate Professor of Biophysics, University of Michigan. Inherited family arms. Prof. Veatch is a distant cousin of Olympian Dan Veatch (see here). Both descend from the Veiches of Scotland. Although Sarah’s and Dan’s line of descent has been questioned by some, DNA has proven they and the Scottish Veiches are the same family.

W) Lana (b.1965) and Lilly (b.1967) WACHOWSKI. Transgender US film directors (“The Matrix” films). Inherited family arms. Their great-grandfather arrived in the US from Poland in 1905. The Wachowski family is one of many connected to the Szeliga “clan” and can use their arms. The design dates from the 1300s, being used by Archbishop Bodzanta of Gniezno, Governor of Krakow, in 1366.

Z) Brother Thomas ZERAFA (1951-2023). Franciscan friar. Inherited family arms. Brother Thomas’s father was born on Malta with an old and distinguished ancestry. The arms are probably of medieval origin.

Licence to Continue to Sing

In March I took a look at some of the early James Bond theme songs and music, whether used or rejected, that were created by lgbt+ artists. Today I finish off with the music from Daniel Craig’s term as 007.

Casino Royale (2006) – This “official” film version, as opposed to the 1967 cult spoof version I mentioned last time, was Daniel’s first appearance as James Bond. The music and theme song were not written or performed by an lgbt+ artist, but one of the “rejected” songs (which was never actually written!) was.

In 2006, when talk of the new James Bond was filling the internet rumour machines, news that the British electro-band Goldfrapp had been asked to write and perform the “Casino Royale” theme song.

Goldfrapp consists of Alison Goldfrapp (b.1966) and Will Gregory (b.1959). Alison has been reported to have been in relationships with both men and women (not at the same time). In an interview in 2010 she said that her then current relationship was with a woman, and that she was not a big fan of labels. This was reiterated in another interview given last year, when she was in a relationship with a man. In that interview she described her sexuality as “straight-ish”.

Back in 2006 the British tabloid press was full of news “confirming” that Goldfrapp had been asked to write the theme song. This was followed up with later reports that they had been dropped because the producers had decided on a more hard-edged Bond and needed a hard-edged theme to go with it, which they thought Goldfrapp could not supply. As with the Pet Shop Boys and “The Living Daylights” (see part 1) the truth wasn’t quite the same.

Both Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory knew David Arnold, the main Bond composer since “Tomorrow Never Dies” in 1997. Will’s impression was that Goldfrapp was just one of several bands whose name was thrown around as possible Bond theme writers. There was never an actual official approach from the producers, despite the tabloid press “confirming” it. So Goldfrapp never even started to write a Bond theme.

We have to move on almost a decade before another lgbt+ artist had an impact on Bond music, and a very divisive and controversial impact it has had. I have to admit that I have never been a fan of this artist who, in my opinion, can’t sing, and who has consistently proven to be a laughing-stock to the majority of the UK lgbt+ community.

Opinion is divided over Sam Smith’s (b.1992) song “Writing’s On The Wall” for 2015’s Bond film “Spectre”. Writing with Jimmy Napes, it is said that the song took just 30 minutes to write, and it shows in its poor quality and blandness. For many aficionados of Bond music, like myself, who have a best and least favourite, the best Bond song varies considerably among us. The least favourite (or worst) is usually “Writing’s On The Wall”, often vying for bottom position with Madonna’s “Die Another Day”.

The fact that Sam’s song won an Oscar for Best Original Song is not the honour it used to be. An analogy can be a barrel of rotting apples – how do you chose the least rotten? I’m not saying that Sam’s song or all recent Oscar winning songs are rotten, just that they’re not as good as they used to be. Relatively few songs are written for films these days, and their quality has suffered.

Which leads us to the blunder that cemented Sam Smith’s place in history as a laughing-stock, which was to claim to be the first lgbt+ person to win an Oscar in front of the audience at the Oscar ceremony itself and millions of media viewers. Almost immediately, many people who knew what they were talking about (i.e. many previous lgbt+ Oscar winners) took to social media to show how ignorant Sam Smith is. Until Sam does anything to earn my respect, I am not obliged to give it.

The latest Bond film was 2021’s “No Time To Die”. The theme song was co-written (with her brother) and performed by Billie Eilish (b.2001). Again, opinion is divided over this song among aficionados. It’s considered to be a good song (winning an Oscar, but see the previous paragraph), but many feel it is too slow paced to reflect the atmosphere of the film.

Billie broke a Bond record when she recorded “No Time To Die”. She was the youngest performer to do so. Billie and her brother Finneas O’Connell (Billie’s real family name) had often made up songs which they thought would make good Bond themes, and little did they know that one day they would actually be doing it.

Their chance came after performing at the annual Electric Picnic arts and music festival at Stradbally Hall, Ireland, in 2020. This is one of Billie’s favourite festivals because it connects her to her Irish heritage. “I’m part Irish, dude… This is my home”, she is quoted as saying.

Barbara Broccoli, one of the Bond producers, saw Billie’s performance and contacted her to discuss the Bond film then in production, “No Time To Die”, and asked Billie and her brother if they’d like to write the title song. There was no hesitation in their reply.

It took three days for them to write the song. They met Hans Zimmer, the overall music director of the film, and together they developed the final version that appears in the film.

Now we’re up to date. What will the future hold for Bond theme songs? Will they continue to be a significant part of the franchise? Which lgbt+ artists and composers will be invited to contribute? Will “Writing’s On The Wall” ever be liked? Only time will tell.

There are quite a few “rejected” Bond songs out there. Most of them are available on YouTube, and if you want to hear some of them (including songs by Jonny Cash and Alice Cooper) see this video.

Sailing Towards an Olympic Centenary

NOTE: The information below is accurate on the date of publication. Further research may reveal information which changes or replaces some of the details. Check later postings to keep up to date by select “Olympics” in the search box or the tag list.

Ella Maillart

The Olympic flame is being lit today for its relay to Paris. So, why don’t we celebrate with a bit of lgbt history from the last time the Olympics were held in Paris a hundred years ago.

At the 1924 Paris games there was the first currently-known female lgbt Olympian, the Swiss sailor Ella Maillart (1903-1997). She was also the first female sailor in the Olympics, and the youngest sailor and only woman to compete in her event. She was the youngest of the 5 women in the 141-strong Swiss Olympic team, and at the time was also the captain of the Swiss national women’s hockey team (which was not an Olympic event in 1924). So, Ella Maillart was not just another competitor, she has several records to her name.

If these achievements weren’t enough, Ella was also an international skier, a journalist, a photographer, an adventurer, and an anthropologist who travelled extensively in Asia and Russia, writing several books. In the future I’ll write a proper “Extraordinary Lives” article about her adventures, but for today I want to concentrate on her Olympic career, and a connection to another sportswoman.

Despite her active adult life, Ella was a sickly child. She was born in Switzerland into a wealthy family. She was an avid reader and soaked up information from geography books and maps and became fascinated by adventure and travel writing.

Like most people brought up in a country with a lot of snow, Ella learnt to ski as a child. At the age of 10 the family moved to a village on the shores of Lake Geneva. It was the yachts and boats on the lake that attracted her the most, and she soon had the sailors and boatmen teaching her and a friend, Miette de Saussure, how to sail a small boat. In fact, in less than three years Ella and Miette had won their first sailing race.

The open sea then beckoned. In 1923 Ella and Miette sailed from Cannes to Greece. They had then planned a voyage to the South Pacific but Miette fell ill soon after they set sail and the whole voyage was abandoned. That was lucky for us, because Ella would have been too far away and in the wrong part of the world to take part in the 1924 Paris Olympics.

The 1924 Olympic regatta was smaller than the previous one. In 1920 in Antwerp there were races for 12 classes of boat. In Paris there was just 3 classes, and they would be the first to feature single-handed boats. Ella entered this single-handed class, which was for the Olympic Monotype dinghy (also called the French National Monotype or the Meulan class dinghy). The dinghies were supplied by the French sailing association. However, only 10 of these monotypes were available, and there were 17 registered entries from 17 nations in the competition.

A set of elimination races had to be held. These took place on the Seine near Paris, the course going from Meulan to Le Mureaux and back again. There were 2 rounds of 2 heats each, with the first 2 finishers in round 1 going straight to the final. The others went into round 2 and the first 2 finishers of those heats also went in to the final. In heat 2 of round 1 Ella finished 5th out of 8 sailors in a time that placed her in 7th place over both heats. But she needed to finish in the top 2 in the round 2 heats to qualify for the final.

In heat 2 of round 2 she finished in 3rd place, just 5 seconds behind the 2 qualifiers for the final. The official Olympic results don’t include any of the heat times or places of the non-finalists in the final results table. They are all listed as “also competed”.

Today, all the finishing times would be taken into account and there would be a full placing list for all 17 entries. So, where would Ella Maillart have been placed if the best time of the non-finalists was taken into account? Of the 3 sailors in all the heats who did not qualify for the final, only 3 finished in under 2 minutes. The 3rd of these was Ella in round 1 in a time that was just half a second short of those 2 minutes. This would have placed her in 11th position overall. As I mentioned earlier, Ella was the first woman to skipper a boat at the Olympics, and was the youngest in the competition, so any result is history-making.

The 1924 regatta is being recreated to celebrate its centenary in June at the original location. There is also a new biography of Ella that has just been published (in French), and there are 2 exhibitions specifically dedicated to her. One is in Geneva, which end this week, and the other is opening in June in Morges, just 10 kilometres from the “Olympic capital” Lausanne.

Before I leave, I must mention Ella’s connection to an alleged lgbt+ Olympian. During her many travels around the world Ella was accompanied by Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908-1942), a Swiss journalist and photographer like Ella herself. Annemarie was openly lesbian and had many affairs. When it comes to her relationship with Ella Maillart biographers differ. The consensus is that their relationship was deeply emotional, but not all biographers go so far as to define it as lesbian. After mulling over the different opinions I consider a lesbian relationship to have been very likely, even if it was not physical.

Annemarie’s mother was a famous equestrian rider, Renée Schwarzenbach-Wille (1883-1959). She was married with four children in addition to Annemarie. She was openly bisexual and had a long affair with an opera singer.

Many online references, including Wikipedia (no surprise), claim that Renée competed at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. She was certainly a champion horse rider, as her many recorded results testify. But as far as the Olympics is concerned there is no record of her. Her name does not appear in any of the official published Olympic reports or results books. She does not appear on any official Olympic website. There isn’t even any mention of her attending any Olympics in the biography of her written by her own great-grandson in 2004. In fact, everything suggests that she had stopped competing before 1936. So, no, she doesn’t go on my lgbt+ Olympian list.

That wraps it up for today. As I said, next year I’ll try to write a full account of Ella Maillart’s “Extraordinary Life”. Until then we have the 2024 Paris Olympics to look forward to, and new batch of lgbt+ athletes ready to enter the record books alongside Ella Maillart.

License to Sing

Among the many days that have traditional names ascribed to them (e.g. New Year’s Day, Shrove Tuesday, Mother’s Day) is Spy Wednesday, which is today. It’s the name given to the Wednesday before Easter Sunday and marks the day that Judas Iscariot decided to betray Jesus, as recorded in the Bible. Some Christian denominations still mark this day in their services.

So, as I did a few years ago I’ll mark Spy Wednesday by writing about the world’s most famous spy, James Bond. My intention was to write about the gay artist who designed many of the original book covers, but I had already done a bit about that last time. What I hadn’t done is write about the Bond themes and their lgbt+ connections. This is the first of two articles about the music of 007.

Music has always been a significant element of the Bond films, especially the title songs and the iconic Bond theme itself. I’m a fan of the Bond themes (except the bland Daniel Craig songs). Over the years a handful of lgbt+ singers and songwriters who have contributed to the Bond franchise. Some of the songs and music were rejected or used elsewhere, and these will also be covered.

Here is the chronological list of known lgbt+ singers and songwriters from the pre-Daniel Craig era.

“From Russia With Love” (1963) – The second Bond film and the first to include the film’s title in the theme song. He writer of the song was Lionel Bart (1930-1999), perhaps best known for writing the musical “Oliver!”

It may sound strange to some of you, but Lionel Bart is one of the many songwriters and musicians (like Elton John and Paul McCartney) who can’t read or write music, but could play an instrument (it’s like speaking without knowing how to read or write, as long as you make the right sound). Lionel would play the song on piano, perhaps record it, and a fellow musician would convert what he or she heard into musical notation. In the case of “From Russia With Love” it appears that John Barry, the main Bond composer of the 1960s, wrote down Lionel’s song and gave it the full orchestral arrangement for the film. That is why John Barry is often given a co-writing credit for the song.

“Thunderball” (1965) – Several other artists recorded a theme song, including Johnny Cash, which were all rejected. Twelve years ago, some 47 years after the film was released, a rejected theme for “Thunderball” by the above-mentioned Lionel Bart was rediscovered by Bond music expert Jon Burlingame.

As well as the title song, Bart also composed several variations which were probably intended to be used as incidental music. These all may have been demo recordings and not submitted officially to the Bond producers.

“Casino Royale” (1967) – Although not a part of the official James Bond franchise, this spoof film has become something of a cult. The film score was composed by music legend Burt Bacharach who, with his lyricist Hal David, came up with what is regarded as the film’s signature song, “The Look of Love”. In fact, the song almost never made it into the film at all.

The sequence in which “The Look of Love” features was directed by James McGrath. He played the song “The Girl From Ipanema” on set many times. When he came to shoot the seduction sequence with Peter Sellers and Ursula Andress he felt “The Girl From Ipanema” fitted the scene. However, the producers thought this would be too “arty” and threatened to cut the scene out altogether. So, McGrath asked Bacharach and David to come up with a song that gave the same feeling. They came up with “The Look of Love”. Thank goodness McGrath decided to keep the scene against the producer’s wishes or we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of hearing one of the best Bond songs ever.

Credit for the success of the song must also be given to its singer, the lesbian icon Dusty Springfield (1949-1999). A favourite singer of Burt Bacharach, Dusty’s smoky voice emphasises the sensual nature of the scene. Bacharach always referred to “The Look of Love” as a sexual song, not a love song. Fortunately for all concerned, the song was a massive hit and was nominated for an Oscar (it lost to “Talk to the Animals” from “Doctor Doolittle”).

“The Living Daylights” (1987) – It would be another 20 years and 12 films later that any lgbt+ singer or songwriter is known to have written for Bond. However, this time the song never made the film. It also connects us quite neatly with Dusty Springfield, because the group whose song was rejected was the Pet Shop Boys, featuring openly gay Neil Tennant (b.1954). The Pet Shop Boys are often wrongly credited with bringing Dusty Springfield out of “retirement” in 1987, when in fact Richard Carpenter had done so several months beforehand with the song “Something In Your Eyes”, but that’s another story.

The Pet Shop Boys wrote their “The Living Daylights” theme song in 1986. The story goes that someone connected with the production of the film had remarked that the group may be approached to write the theme song. The identity of that production crew member is uncertain, as is the exact nature of the “approach”. Perhaps it was just a rumour, or a case of the Pet Shop Boys being one of many names mentioned informally as a possibly suitable commercial choice. In the end the Pet Shop Boys wrote their song and recorded it, only to find that the band A-ha had been chosen instead.

Not letting a good song go to waste, the Pet Shop Boys reworked the song into a track called “This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave”. It was featured on their 1990 album “Behaviour”. Recording the theme song for a Bond film only to have it rejected is not uncommon.

“Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997) – Moving on another ten years, we come to the film with one accepted and one rejected son featuring lgbt+ artists.

Not all Bond films have their signature song played over the opening credits. One or two are played over the closing credits. The most famous of these is “We have All the Time In the World” (“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”). One less well-known end credit song is overshadowed by the opening credit title song in “Tomorrow Never Dies”. The end credit song is sung by another lesbian icon, k. d. lang (b.1961).

Unlike many other Bond songs, the producers of this film let it be known that they would be willing to accept any prospective Bond theme from any artist and writer. This led to more possible Bond songs that before, 12 in all, officially. One of the songs was written and sung by Marc Almond (b.1957). Unfortunately, his song is one of several that has never been released commercially or has been reworked and recorded fro public release, so we may never hear it.

The story of how k. d. lang ended up singing the closing theme and not the opening one was different. In 1997 British film composer David Arnold (“Stargate”, “Independence Day”, and the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, amongst other projects) produced a Bond music tribute album called “Shaken and Stirred”, consisting of Bond songs covered by other artists. For “Diamonds Are Forever” Arnold chose gay singer-songwriter David McAlmont (b.1967). The Bond producers heard the album and offered Arnold the job of scoring the whole “Tomorrow Never Dies” film. However, the first thing Arnold did was to ask McAlmont to co-write the theme song. Basically, the melody is McAlmont’s, the arrangement is Arnold’s, and the lyrics are by Bond legend Don Black. McAlmont was the singer on the demo tape.

However, the Bond producer’s had decided that none of the artists who submitted songs would be commercial enough to use, so they chose a popular singer of that period, Cheryl Crow, to write and perform the eventual Bond opening song instead.

Not to be outdone, Arnold rescored his theme, now retitled “Surrender”, with k. d. lang as the singer. The producers agreed to put the song at the end of the film over the closing credits. It’s a typical Bond song, with blaring trumpets, strong bass chords, and soaring vocals. I wonder it wasn’t chosen for the opening titles precisely because it too stereotypically Bond.

There’s actually a video on YouTube in which someone has put k.d. lang’s “Surrender” over the opening credits of “Tomorrow Never Dies” (below). I think you’ll agree, you can’t get any more “Bondy” than that.

That’s about it for today. I’ll continue this look at 007’s queer music in May.

City Pride: Singapore

I haven’t done a “City Pride” for a long time. In fact, I think the last one I did was for Paris to celebrate the Gay Games in 2018. So, last year I decided it was time to highlight another city and its lgbt+ heritage. The question was, which city? Then I noticed I had a lot of readers in Singapore, and I realised that I knew hardly anything about its lgbt+ community, except for Pink Dot. So, after months of looking for appropriate points in Singapore’s queer history and culture I have selected the following. The main task was to find places that are grouped together which are as diverse as the community itself.

If you’re from Singapore I doubt any of these will be unknown to you, and I hope I have done my research correctly.

As before, the map is not intended to be used as the means for you to get from one location to another. It is intended purely as a rough guide to where the locations are situated. Many roads and streets are omitted, but I hope there is enough information for you to find them on proper maps.

1) Crocodile Rock, Scotts Road - The oldest and longest-running lesbian bar in Singapore, operating between 1992 and 2007. Alternatively known as Croc Rock.

2) KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Bukit Timah Road - More Singaporians have been born here than in any other hospital in Singapore, so naturally this would include a lot of lgbt+ people. However, the reason I put it on this list is because it was also the hospital which performed the first male-to-female sex-assignment surgery in the country in 1971.

3) Pelangi Pride Centre, Rowell Road - This is the original location of Singapore’s first lgbt+ centre. It was founded in 2003 by the city’s Action for AIDS (AfA) charity in the offices above their headquarters. Both the Pelangi Pride Centre and Action for AIDS have moved to other premises (see number 4).

4) Action for AIDS (AfA), Kelantan Lane - The charity’s present location. AfA was founded in 1988 by dermatologist Dr. Roy Chan (b.1955) who is still it’s President. Dr. Chan competed for Singapore in swimming at the 1972 Olympics.

5) The Substation, Armenian Street - The first independent contemporary arts centre in Singapore, founded in 1990 on the site of a former power station. It has organised many exhibitions of lgbt+ artists and interests. It was the venue of the monthly forum of People Like Us (PLU), 1993-4, an lgbt+ lobby group formed in 1993.

6) Suntec Singapore International Conference and Exhibition Centre - Venue of Singapore’s first National AIDS Conference on 12 December 1998. At this conference Paddy Chew became the first person in Singapore to come out publicly as having HIV. He died the following year. His life was the basis for the play “Completely With/Out Character” by Haresh Sharma. More recently, it was the venue for the wrestling competition at the very first Youth Olympic Games in 2010 (see number 8). Here, the oldest of the 9 lgbt+ athletes, 17-year-old Jenna Burkert, competed for the USA.

7) Rascals, Pan Pacific Hotel - Rascals was a club that organised a gay night at the Pan Pacific Hotel every Sunday. On 30 May 1993, Singapore police raided the club and interrogated its customers. It is regarded as Singapore’s “Stonewall”, an event which had a significant effect on the lgbt community and its future.

8) The Float, Marina Bay - With my specialist interest in the Olympics it comes as no surprise that I mention it several times. The very first Youth Olympic Games were held in Singapore in 2010. The opening ceremony was held at The Float, and is the first Olympic opening ceremony to be held on water, despite what Paris 2024 thinks. The Singapore Youth Olympics were also significant for currently having the most known lgbt+ athletes, 9, though none of them were publicly out at the time. Among them was British diver Tom Daley, the only one of the 9 who had competed in a previous Olympics (Beijing 2008, aged 14). If Tom makes it to Paris 2024 without injury, he will equal US equestrian rider Robert Dover’s record of competing at 6 Olympics. Only one lgbt+ Youth Olympian won a medal in Singapore 2010, a gold for Austrian sailor Lara Vadlau. She, like Tom Daley, has qualified for Paris 2024.

 9) Pink Dot, Speaker’s Corner, Hong Lim Park - Location of the annual Pink Dot Pride event. The first was held here on 16 May 2009, when it attracted the largest attendance for any gathering at Speaker’s Corner up to that date. The only years it was not held here were during the covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021 when they were held online. Pink Dot events have been held in other cities around the world, all following the same signature format of attendees wearing pink.

10) Boat Quay - Before this area was redeveloped in the 1990s, the streets around Boat Quay were popular cruising grounds for gay men.