The Strange, Sad Story of Joe Orton, His Lover, and 72 Stolen Library Books – Atlas Obscura
The Secret of Chimneys, Agatha Christie. ISLINGTON LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE AND MUSEUM
Police came to the door of Joe Orton, the man who would one day be one of the most famous playwrights in the United Kingdom, and his partner Kenneth Halliwell’s one-bedroom apartment at 9 a.m. on 28 April 1962. It was a Saturday, the cooling end of the first warm week of the year, and the men had been up for hours, customarily getting…
Source: The Strange, Sad Story of Joe Orton, His Lover, and 72 Stolen Library Books – Atlas Obscura
9 comments on “The Strange, Sad Story of Joe Orton, His Lover, and 72 Stolen Library Books – Atlas Obscura”
Leave a Reply
ABOUT ME
Top Posts & Pages
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Rogues & Vagabonds 
Did you ever see the film ‘Prick Up Your Ears’? It was written by Alan Bennett. Gary Oldman was superb as Orton, and Alfred Molina unforgettable as Halliwell. I can recommend it. Sad in a way that the books that caused so much outrage are only recently celebrated and exhibited. Then again, I doubt Orton would have wanted that, as it was probably the subterfuge that appealed.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093776/
Best wishes, Pete. x
Naturally! I wasn’t so enamoured of Molina’s performance but I’ve never thought he was terribly good in anything. Oldman was sublime. They’re my generation and one was always watching one’s contemporaries with a beady, trying-not-to-be-jealous eye!
I liked Molina in ‘Frida’, ‘Enchanted April’, and ‘Letter to Brezhnev’. I don’t have a problem with him, obviously. Gary Oldman can go too far at times, but he excelled as Orton.
Best wishes, Pete. x
Yes, Oldman can go too far! I’d forgotten Molina was in Letter to Brezhnev.
So sad! Writers stealing library books. Terrible
Well, yes and no – it’s added to the legend that was Orton!
Got it!
Great read. I know the story but you did it proud. Thanks.
I wish I could take credit but that belongs to the writer at Atlas Obscura!