Issue 7 . Winter 1999
We're in the Money! . Millennium Memories: Edward Carpenter . Amy Levy 1861-1889 . Barbara Takes Off . Grand Evils . Michael Smith
Barbara Takes Off
Barbara Bell's autobiography (Just Take Your Frock Off) is selling well and collected this review in the Guardian, 24th July. It would make a great christmas present for friends young and old.Now 84, Barbara Bell is the author of this enchanting memoir. Born in Lancashire, she became a London WPC in 1938 and discovered the pre-war queer underground. Work at modelling agencies and a Nigerian school followed. The lives of "ordinary people" usually make excruciatingly dull reading but this one is a treat: it was transcribed from tape and the editors have wisely let Barbara's charming, anecdotal style shine through. Her many love affairs are recalled with surprising frankness and glee. Who knew that men in postwar London got up to such queer things with Lyons cream buns?
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