In January 1948, George Lucas, an unremarkable 21-year-old Roman Catholic who had just been demobbed from the Pay Corps, was living unhappily in Romford with his ill-matched parents, who relentlessly taunted him about his homosexuality. He would shortly get a job at the War Office and so embark on a lifetime’s career as a civil servant, commuting to central London every day to work at his desk and spend his evenings in search of sex and companionship, largely among the servicemen who hung around Marble Arch. In later life Lucas would trawl the pubs, streets and urinals of central London, more often than not paying for sex, and always keeping a detailed account of his exploits and expenses in his diaries.
When Lucas died in 2014 he left the diaries to Hugo Greenhalgh, who had first met him while working on a documentary about rent boys and their clients. The 56 volumes that survive cover the years 1948 to 2009, providing a daily record of Lucas’s life and opinions, amounting to some ten million words set down in his small, neat handwriting. These bulging notebooks are additionally stuffed with photos, newspaper clippings and other ephemera, and provide an extra-ordinary account of gay life during these years. If, as Greenhalgh observes, the diaries sometimes seem more Mr Pooter than Joe Orton, they will nevertheless be an invaluable source for future historians.
Selecting excerpts for publication from such a wealth of material presents a considerable challenge, and the volume Greenhalgh has assembled is largely devoted to the 1960s, though generously supplemented with diary entries from other decades. Around these Greenhalgh weaves a narrative that provides an overview of Lucas’s life, an analysis of his elusive and not always admirable character, and an account of the changing nature of gay life over half a century.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in