Notes and queeries

The Great Cormorant is also known as the European Shag. About 1 in 500 pairs of Cormorants is composed of 2 male birds. It therefore seems that male Shags seldom shag males.

Lesbian composer Dame Ethel Smyth was imprisoned after becoming active in the “votes for women” campaign. She conducted a performance of her suffragist anthem from a window in Holloway Prison using her toothbrush as a baton.

The Roman emperor Heliogabolus initiated a contest to find the man with the largest penis. He then “married” the winner.

Servants made redundant by the death of Princess Margaret included not only the Yeoman of the Pantries and the Maid to the Coffee Room, but also the Page of the Backpassage . We are not making this up.

The dildo used in the 1968 murder of actor Ramon Navarro was originally a gift from Rudolph Valentino and a replica of Valentino’s penis. (We want to know how the dildo killed him ...)

The dictionary of Gay Slang defines Australian Sex as sex which involves licking all parts of the body in a set order. New Zealand Sex is the same without the rimming.

Is the sexuality of a town defined in any way by it’s name? Perhaps it is if you live in Gay Head (Massachusetts), Gays (Illinois), Fort Gay (Wyoming) .... and then there’s Dildo (Newfoundland).

It is rumoured that Robert Mugabe’s virulent homophobia stems back to his teenage years, when someone pointed out that his name is an anagram of bugame.

In 1947 a meeting of the Swedish Cabinet discussed the King, 89 year old Gustav V. The Interior Minister announced: “The King is homosexual”. The Minister of Finances was heard to say “At his age … how vigorous!”

In 1941, bisexual American composer George Antheil joined forces with 1940s movie star Hedy Lamarr to patent a remote control torpedo.

Joyce Grenfell’s biography mentions film actor Maurice Flynn, described as “every gay man’s dream”. While filming, he left to go to the lavatory and was only found 8 days later painted blue from head to foot and playing the ukelele.