80 More Gays Around the World: Part 6) Under Southern Rainbow Skies

Last time on “80 More Gays”: 12) Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942) built a villa on the site of an ancient temple, as did 13) Robert Kitson (1873-1947) on the site of a temple to 14) Zeus-Serapis, both in Taormina, a Sicilian town with mythological connections to the constellation Taurus, the location of a star cluster which gives its name to an initiative chaired by 15) Lisa Harvey-Smith (b.1979).

15) Dr. Lisa Harvey-Smith was Chair of the Women in Astronomy chapter of the Astronomical Society of Australia. In 2014 they launched the Pleiades Awards which aims to promote and encourage female inclusion, involvement and recognition in astronomical sciences. The awards are named after the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus.

Lisa Harvey-Smith is at the forefront of popular science education and is well-known in Australia, appearing in many programmes, documentaries and news reports. Among her many public appearances was a question-and-answer session at Sydney Observatory during Sydney Mardi Gras 2015. This led to Lisa developing a touring lecture show called “Star-gayzing”.

Lisa’s main work in the field was in a major role in the development of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). As its name suggests, this is an array of linked antennae that covers an area of a square kilometre. It is located near the Murchison Radio-Astronomy Observatory in the homeland of the Yamatji people of Western Australia.

From the start the Murchison scientists included the indigenous community when planning the SKA, showing local elders where the antennae might be placed and learning about the significance of the locations in Yamatji heritage. This produced an increased awareness of the rich heritage of the traditional indigenous view of the night sky and inspired an exhibition by Yamatji artists on the subject which toured several countries. Lisa Harvey-Smith co-authored a paper called “Engaging Indigenous Students in the Australian SKA Project” which detailed other ways in which scientists and the Yamatji had worked together.

There are a variety of different stories of the night sky among the indigenous nations in Australia. One of these is that the Milky Way represents the creator god common to the indigenous nations, the Rainbow Serpent, which has many local names but all of them refer essentially to the same deity. The most significant stories of the Rainbow Serpent occur in the Dreaming, the time when the universe was formed and the land created.

To the Yamatji the Rainbow Serpent is called 16) Bimarri. Bimarri is believed to live below a cliff at Ellendale, some 364 kilometres from the Murchison Observatory. One story about Bimarri recounts its battle with a sea snake after which it moved inland, creating the rivers, streams and landscape as it went. The Rainbow Serpent has no set gender or sexuality. Most stories seem to prefer to identify the Bimarri as male. Stories of other representations of the Rainbow Serpent prefer a female or androgynous identification.

Sculpture depicting Bimarri, the Rainbow Serpent of the Yamatji, at Ellendale. Photo by Richard McLellan.

Australia produced many exhibitions and performances which showcased their cultures. The first was the “Festival of the Dreaming” in 1997, an arts festivals held to celebrate the forthcoming 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Many of the productions featured all-Aboriginal casts, including a production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Nights Dream” directed by 17) Noel Tovey (b.1934), an indigenous actor and choreographer, and was a landmark in Shakespearean theatre as the first all-indigenous cast. Noel took the idea of dreaming and wove the Rainbow Serpent into the design of set and costumes. The Rainbow Serpent is very much a living part of indigenous culture and is a frequent inspiration for art. Noel was later called upon to be artistic director of the indigenous welcoming ceremony for members of the International Olympic Committee to the Sydney 2000 games.

The Sydney Olympics have, retrospectively, become the most diverse in Olympic history. To date, 66 lgbt Olympians have been identified, of which 12 were openly gay, lesbian or bisexual. In addition there were 2 Olympians who would today be identified as intersex. There were also 3 athletes who have since become transgender. The most recent of these is 18) Sandra Forgues (b.1969).

Sandra Forgues competed for France in the men’s doubles slalom canoe at three Olympics. She won a bronze medal in Barcelona 1992 and a gold in Atlanta 1996. Sydney was her final Olympic appearance. She was also three times world champion, and won two gold medals at World Cup events in 1992 and 1994 held here in Nottingham.

Sandra was able to train full-time while she was employed by France Telecom. On leaving France Telecom she set up her own company in 2004 called Media Broadcast Technology (MBT). The company provides digital and software provision to broadcasters in Europe and Morocco. The biggest project so far was for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in 2015. BMT provided time logging and results used by the world’s media at the inaugural European Games.

A link between the EBU and Morocco comes in the form of the Eurovision Song Contest. Despite its aim to unite member broadcasters in music the Eurovision Song Contest has often been dogged by racist, political and homophobic conflict. In 2019 France attracted opposition to its choice of performer, a  French-born Moroccan inger called 19) Bilal Hassani (b.1999).

Next time on “80 More Gays”: We enter a fictional world of racist and ethnic conflict when life begins to imitate art, and we see how easily mistakes are made.

Romeo and Charlotte

It’s one of those quirky synchronistic facts that would be difficult to believe if it appeared in a work of fiction, but today we celebrate both the birthday and death of William Shakespeare. What makes it even more quirky is that he was born (as far as we can determine) and died on the national saint’s day of the country in which he lived, the feast day of St. George of England (the UK is still the only country in the world that doesn’t celebrate it’s national day with a public holiday).

On several occasions I’ve written about Shakespeare, particularly here where I explain why I don’t believe any theory that he might have been lgbt. Here I looked at the coat of arms of one of his lgbt namesakes and possible relatives. Today we look at a Shakespearean character and actor.

Many actors have made their names and reputations playing Shakespearean roles. Such great lgbt actors as Lord Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ian McKellen and Fiona Shaw have all received plaudits for their roles as leading Shakespearean characters. On a little quirky sideline here, the name Hamlet is forever associated with Shakespeare, but it is an actual name. One of my ancestors was called Hamlet Marshall who was 8 years old when Shakespeare died, and there were others in the family called Hamlet.

In my “Around the World in 80 Gays” series I wrote about Shakespeare’s first tragedy “Titus Andronicus” and how it influenced the modern genre of slasher films. While Titus Andronicus is still a relatively unknown character to most people another is very well known, Romeo.

Just like my “80 Gays” series I’m pulling several different elements together to connect “Romeo and Juliet” with Nottingham and an American actress.

Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) was one of the most celebrated actresses of her time. As you can see, this is her bicentenary year. In 1845 Charlotte began appearing in “Romeo and Juliet” in London and later went on a national tour, which included two nights in Nottingham in February 1847. Below is the actual bill that was posted up at the theatre. You may not notice it as first, but look who’s playing Romeo. It’s Charlotte Cushman herself. Playing Juliet was her younger sister Susan.

Women taking the leading male Shakespearean role isn’t new. Some recent female actors have played male leads, most notably Fiona Shaw as King Richard II. But even Charlotte wasn’t doing anything new. Sarah Siddons played Hamlet in the 1770s but it was well received. Charlotte Cushman, however, made a huge step forward by not playing a tragedic character. Audiences were more receptive to a woman in a romantic lead, even though Romeo dies in the end. A love story was more acceptable.

Charlotte’s vocal talents helped her to be convincing. She had a wide vocal range, and her “unfeminine appearance”, as one Shakespearean historian puts it, made her portrayal of Romeo very convincing and it was a smash hit. It is said that she brought the character out of its then portrayal as a young love-besotted sop into a more heroic and tragic young man. In a way Charlotte Cushman made it possible for Leonardo di Caprio to portray Romeo without dragging the character down to the level of a soppy drip of a teenager.

A few years later Charlotte followed Sarah Siddons’ lead and took on the role of Hamlet, and her final role was as Lady Macbeth, the role which made her famous in the 1830s. Throughout her life Charlotte sought female companionship, and her last partner, the sculptor Emma Stebbins, looked after her in her finals years of illness.

With celebrations around the UK to commemorate Shakespeare’s 400^th anniversary there seems to be no end to the popularity of England’s premier playwright, and even if most people never read a Shakespeare play his characters remain in our cultural consciousness and will continue to inspire artists, actors and film-makers for generations ahead.

Around the World in 80 Gays : Part 17 - A Spy

LAST TIME : 48) Keith Tomlinson (b.1980) climbed Mount Elbrus in Russia, one of the 7 highest continental mountains (the Seven Summits), a mountaineering challenge completed by 49) Cason Crane (b.1992). A parallel challenge of running a marathon on each continent has been completed by 50) Todd J. Henry, an astronomer who searched for extra-terrestrial intelligence, a subject speculated upon in the 16^th century by 51) Giordano Bruno (1548-1600).

51) Giordano Bruno was one of the leading mathematicians of his age, though his controversial views on the multiple existence of Christ on alien worlds put him in the black books of scientists and the Church alike and led to his execution for heresy.

In 1591 he applied for the vacant professorship of mathematics at Padua University. He was unsuccessful. Instead the position went to an up-and-coming mathematician by the name of Galileo. But then Galileo had influential patrons who campaigned on his behalf him to the university, though they denied it. These patrons were the Del Monte brothers, one of whom was 52) Cardinal Francesco del Monte (1549-1627).

Cardinal del Monte was also an amateur mathematician like his brothers, and it was his eldest brother, the Marchese del Monte, who influenced Galileo’s work on trajectories. The Cardinal is most famous (apart from being the first recorded owner of the Portland vase) as the patron of another rising young star of the Renaissance, the artist Caravaggio, under his patronage he painted “The Cardsharps”.

After failing to get the professorship at Padua Giordano Bruno found himself increasingly at odds with both the Church and the authorities over his views. Very shortly afterwards he became the subject of the heresy trial that led to his execution.

It is Bruno’s two-year stay in England that leads us on to the most intriguing (in more ways than one) period of his life. In 1583 he arrived in London as a guest of the French ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth I. The ambassador had made many friends in London, a few of them from the world of the theatre as well as politics. It was probably at one of his many dinners that the ambassador introduced Giordano Bruno to 53) Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593).

I cannot bring Marlowe into the story without mentioning two things about him. The first is his role as a spy, the other we’ll come to later. The French ambassador was no stranger to espionage himself. As ambassador he was able to place French Catholic spies at Elizabeth’s Protestant court and, no doubt, knew who some of Elizabeth’s spies were. Perhaps he knew that Christopher Marlowe was a spy.

Marlowe was just one of many in the pay of Elizabeth’s spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. He was employed for many years to spy on Catholic sympathisers and plotters. But the French ambassador probably didn’t know there was another spy living under his very nose.

When Giordano Bruno arrived there was a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, invade England from Spain, and put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne. Plans for this were rather carelessly revealed during the after-dinner chat at the French ambassador’s residence. Walsingham was informed and the plotter executed for treason. Walsingham had a double agent working in the ambassador’s house called Henry Fagot. It has been revealed in recent years that Fagot was actually 51) Giordano Bruno.

The other thing to mention about 53) Christopher Marlowe is his often alleged authorship of some (or all) of the works of Shakespeare. While this is a subject of constant discussion and speculation there is evidence that one of Marlowe’s works influenced one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays.

Another famous writer often alleged to have written Shakespeare’s plays, or at least the ones written after Marlowe’s death was Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626). He makes just a cameo appearance today because his brother, 54) Anthony Bacon (1558-1601), also worked in Walsingham’s spy ring. One intriguing theory put forward recently is that Christopher Marlowe faked his own death and that Anthony Bacon helped him to escape to France.

Back to Marlowe’s influence on Shakespeare. “Titus Andronicus” is one of the Bard’s early plays whose authorship has been questioned the most. It isn’t considered one of his best. T. S. Eliot called it “one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written”. In that respect it can be said to have inspired a genre of film that is popular purely because it is just that.

“Titus Andronicus” was partly inspired by several Elizabethan revenge tragedies, one of which was called “Tambourline”, written by Christopher Marlowe. What marks “Titus” out is its violence and gore. It was very popular with Elizabethan audiences, and it still is. A recent production by The Globe even had people fainting in the audience because of the graphic nature of the modern stage effects of rape and mutilation. It’s all very reminiscent of the reports of audience reactions when “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was first released. And that’s the next connection in the chain (pardon the pun).

Modern slasher films and splatter movies are deliberately made to highlight the gore and horror and are not known for their strength of script or depth of character. Most characters are there purely to be disposed of in the most gruesome and entertaining manner possible. T. S. Eliot could have used his above-quoted remark to describe any slasher film. However, it is a genre with a distinguished history going back to “Titus Andronicus” and beyond and remains one of the greatest contributors to modern culture.

Even though there have been many lgbt characters in horror and slasher films over the years (the most famous being Norman Bates in “Psycho”), and there have been many lgbt horror writers, the genre didn’t really get a specifically gay slasher film until 2004 when “Hellbent” was released. The writer and director of that film was 55) Paul Etheredge.

When “80 Gays” returns in a couple of weeks we’ll discover what slasher films have in common with Wimbledon.

The Food of Love

"If music be the food of love, play on". So wrote Shakespeare as the opening line of "Twelfth Night". On this St. George's Day, the day on which Shakespeare is said to have been both born (450 years ago today) and to have died, I bring you this story of how the music of Shakespeare brought two women together in love.

 

Helen Archibald Clarke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1860. She came from a musical family. He father Hugh became a professor of music at the University of Pennsylvania in 1875 and was an organist, composer and conductor. His father, a Scot who emigrated to Canada, studied at Edinburgh University and became a Doctor of Music.

Before the University of Pennsylvania admitted female students officially Helen enrolled as a special student, and two years later in 1883 earned a certificate in proficiency in music. Helen's other great passion was Shakespeare, and she began to research his plays and study how he used music in his writing.

 

Meanwhile, also in Philadelphia, another young woman had just taken up the reigns as editor of a new periodical produced by the Shakespeare Society of New York called "Shakespeariana", That woman was called Charlotte Endymion Porter. Nearly 4 years older than Helen Clarke, Charlotte graduated from Wells College, New York, and studied Shakespeare and French drama at the Sorbonne.

 

Charlotte was only 26 when she became editor of "Shakespeariana". One of the first articles she chose for publication was one by the 23-year-old Helen Clarke. It was her finished article on music in Shakespeare, and it brought the two women together for the first time. They were to spend over forty years together.

 

Charlotte resigned from her editorial post in 1887 and two years later she and Helen founded a new periodical called "Poet Lore". This was devoted to the study of Shakespeare and another writer in which the two women had a keen interest, Robert Browning. Between them Charlotte and Helen wrote the majority of articles and commentaries for their new publication, either by themselves or in collaboration. American poetical and literary societies took to "Poet Lore" in a big way and it became a huge success. In fact, it was so successful that it is still published to this day.

 

Included in "Poet Lore" were works and studies of other, mainly non-American, poets and writers who were often first introduced to the general American public through its pages. These included Ibsen, and such lgbt Nobel laureates as Selma Lagerlof and Bjornstjerne Bjornson. Helen and Charlotte moved production of "Poet Lore" from Philadelphia to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1891 after they were offered free office space in return for advertising in their periodical.

 

The couple lived in Massachusetts for the rest of their lives. They also bought a summer house in Penobscot Bay in Maine. Over the next 27 years the couple continued to edit "Poet Lore", although having sold the periodical in 1903 they were also free to work on other joint and separate projects. They wrote books on Shakespeare and Browning, and Helen also excercised her musical talents by writing cantatas and operettas for children and producing a book of songs.

 

Helen and Charlotte exchanged rings in a commitment ceremony in Boston, and it was at their Boston home that Helen died in 1926 at the age of 65. Charlotte lived on for a further 16 years, spending most of her time at their summer house in Maine, and she died at the age of 85 in 1942.

 

They left behind a legacy which stretches into our own time. They were founders of the American Music Society, and their "Poet Lore" is the longest-running poetry periodical in the USA. This was only possible because of their shared love of Shakespeare and an article on music.





A Queer Achievement - A Return to Shakespeare

[Achievement – the name given in heraldry to the full pictorial representation of a coat of arms.]

 

Following on from last year’s St George’s Day discussion on William Shakespeare I return to the subject this year. Rather than concentrate on the famous playwright, today’s subject is another person with the same surname, but it also illustrates the practice in heraldry of “borrowing” the coat of arms of a famous namesake.

The arms I’ve shown here belong to Tom Shakespeare. Whether or not he’s related to William Shakespeare or not is uncertain. Tom’s earliest known ancestor was called Humphrey Shakespeare and live at Ipsley in Worcestershire and died in 1689. There’s no known connection between Humphrey and William.

Tom Shakespeare, known officially as Sir Thomas Shakespeare, 3^rd Baronet, made it into the list of the UK’s most influential 200 lgbt people in 1995 in the 200^th issue of “Gay Times”. Then aged 28 he was a lecturer in sociology at the University of Sunderland. His specialist research areas are bio-ethics, sexuality, disability, and genetics, authoring several books of these subjects. Tom is also an active campaigner for disability rights and currently works for UNESCO.

Tom has achondrophasia, causing dwarfism which, like his title, he inherited from his father. His coat of arms is inherited from his grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Shakespeare, 1^st Baronet. Sir Geoffrey was a Liberal MP for over 17 years and held several high political offices. When he was created a baronet (a hereditary knighthood) in 1942 he was granted a coat of arms which reflected his political career and family association with the famous playwright.

With no proof of a blood relationship to William Shakespeare, Sir Geoffrey was allowed to use the playwright’s arms on condition that it included other objects. The playwright’s coat of arms is shown to the left. These were granted to his father in 1596. It shows a common practice in heraldry of using the person’s name to inspire its design, just like the roses in the arms of Eleanor Roosevelt I showed you in February. The obvious choice of object for someone called Shakespeare is a spear. The playwright’s father was also granted a crest (not shown) which is the same eagle and spear adopted by Sir Geoffrey in 1942 and inherited by Tom.

Sir Geoffrey chose to place a portcullis behind the eagle and put another in the corner of his shield. The portcullis is a symbol of the British parliament and represents his career as an MP. During his political career Geoffrey held several positions which are represented by the anchor. He was Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, and held offices in the Departments of Overseas Trade and Dominion Affairs.

Even though Tom Shakespeare, the present baronet, done not use his title, nor has any political or Admiralty connections of his own, he is still entitled to the full heraldic achievement of his grandfather. Tom’s rank as a baronet is shown in two ways. First is the helmet, which is shown with the visor open (all other members of his family can only use a closed visor). Secondly, the badge of a baronet of the United Kingdom is suspended below the shield. In the centre of this badge is a small white shield showing a red hand which is the special emblem of all baronets. Quite often this little white badge with red hand is shown in miniature on the main shield, but since I have chosen to show the badge below the shield it wasn’t necessary to include it on the main shield as well.

Finally, the motto. Sir Geoffrey doesn’t appear to have been granted a motto in 1942, though he could use William Shakespeare’s own motto “Non sans droict”, which means “Not without right”.

I have not coloured the back of the motto scroll with a rainbow as I have done with my other Queer Achievements. Instead, I have used the bisexual colours to reflect Tom’s sexuality.

Putting the Record Straight on - Shakespeare

Today is St. George’s Day, perhaps the only national day in the world which isn’t celebrated with a public holiday by its own country! It also happens to be the anniversary of the birth and death of England’s most famous playwright William Shakespeare.

I’m not convinced by any declaration of Shakespeare’s sexuality. The question about whether he was gay, bisexual or neither is more disputed than that of King Richard the Lionheart.

The whole theory behind Shakespeare being gay/bisexual seems to rest on flimsy evidence to say the least. First, his plays are presented by some pro-gay scholars as examples of cross-dressing fantasies he had. They ignore tha fact that plays in his time didn’t allow female actors and all female characters were played by boys. It was accepted in Tudor times, just as cross-dressing in panto is today. So, does that mean that everyone who wrote a pantomime has cross-dressing fantasies? Or that the writers of “Tootsie” or “Mrs. Doubtfire” are gay?

But the main evidence put forward for Shakespeare’s sexuality are his sonnets, his 20^th sonnet in particular. Alan Bray, a respected gay scholar and historian, trashed the gay Shakespeare theory in 1995. Looking at the conventions of Shakespearean England, with its culture of emotional bonding between men (the Bromance of its age) and male bed-sharing (commonplace before the 20^th century), there’s nothing in Shakespeare’s writing to indicate his own sexuality.

It seems that just because people imply a homosexual theme in someone’s writing it doesn’t mean it’s actually there. After all, Elton John has written many, very overt, straight love songs, so that obviously means he is definitely NOT gay. Right?