Dr Tim Stanley wrote an article about Fanny & Stella recently in The Telegraph On April 28, 1870, two young gentlemen turned up to the Strand Theatre, London in evening frocks. Ernest Boulton went by the name of Stella and Frederick Park liked to be called Fanny. The behaviour in their box was outlandish and outrageous, …
Category Archive: Newspaper article
Jul 23
Blue Plaque recognition for ‘illegal’ cross-dressing double act ‘Stella and Fanny’
Following on from my earlier post, you can read more about the day I unveiled the plaque at 13 Wakefield Street to commemorate Fanny & Stella. This article was written by Alice Hutton and appeared in the Camden New Journal recently. A PLAQUE has been unveiled on a Bloomsbury church in honour of a Victorian …
Jul 08
Fanny and Stella to be honoured with historic plaque on King’s Cross church
A Plaque commemorating the cross-dressers is to be put up on the wall of a United Reformed Church in King’s Cross, London soon. Tom Foot from the CamdenNewJournal has the story. I am looking forward to the unveiling. ‘A PLAQUE commemorating a celebrated Victorian cross-dressing double act is to be bolted onto the national headquarters of …
Feb 14
Another fantastic review for Fanny and Stella – Wildely Ahead of Their Times
Gay City News published a review on February 13th by Doug Ireland. Here are the best bits: “Boulton and Park have been brought to life again in a riveting new book published last week in London by the venerable publishing house of Faber and Faber. “Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked …
Feb 13
You can NEVER have too much camp…
After the launching of Fanny & Stella at Wolff Olins in King’s Cross, the London Evening Standard dropped a couple of lines into the paper… Biographer Neil McKenna launched Fanny & Stella at Wolff Olins in King’s Cross last night, the story of the notorious Victorian drag queens. “I don’t think you can ever …
Jan 25
The He-She Ladies – Fanny & Stella Review by Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian
A world of ‘lush longing for embroidered handkerchiefs and soft kisses’ is interrupted by a police campaign to achieve the downfall of the cross-dressing pair. In 1870, two tatty-looking girls were hauled before Bow Street magistrates court and charged with “the abominable crime of buggery”. After a night in the cells, with wigs slipping and stubble …
Jan 24
Great drag queens of their day – A review of Fanny & Stella by John Preston, London Evening Standard
A review appeared in the London Evening Standard today. John Preston says of the Fanny & Stella You would need to be a very dull — or prim — dog indeed not to find this a terrifically entertaining story. Neil McKenna has thrown himself into it with unfettered glee. If the opportunity arises to describe …
Jan 21
Sunday Times Book Review by Dominic Sandbrook for Fanny and Stella
I was delighted to have Fanny and Stella reviewed by Dominic Sandbrook in the book section of The Sunday Times on January 20th 2013. Here are some of the best bits! ‘This rollicking account of the trial of two middle-class cross-dressers unveils one of the most extraordinary legal dramas of the Victorian age.’ …
