Jul 16
On 10th July I unveiled the commemorative plaque to Ernest Boulton and Frederick Park, Fanny and Stella, on the site of 13 Wakefield Street, London, their drag dressing rooms. The Mayor of Camden and Councillor Jonathan Simpson were there along with many supporters. Gay’s the Word bookshop also sold copies of Fanny & Stella on …
Jul 08
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 …
May 07
If you have read the previous blog post, you will know that I gave a talk about Fanny & Stella at The Brighton Festival recently, which was reviewed by Duncan Hall in The Brighton Argus. If you have read it, you will also know that he described me as ‘clad in a pair of questionable …
Mar 18
Neil McKenna’s book revisits one of Victorian Britain’s most explosive trials. The Charge of Personating Women Yesterday afternoon the Bow-street Police-court and its approaches were literally besieged by the public, owing to the re-examination of the two young men, Ernest Boulton aged 22 of 43, Shirland-road, Paddington, and Frederick William Park, aged 23, …
Feb 13
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 …
Feb 04
Here, author Neil McKenna reveals the story at the centre of his new book, a tragic tale of love, lust and betrayal which scandalised society and led to a court case in which two transvestites and suspected homosexuals had their private lives laid bare Fanny And Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England By …
Feb 03
This article by Martha De Lacey appeared on USA-UK Online recently and includes an extract from the book. Meet Fanny and Stella, the Victorian gentlemen who shocked Britain and were prosecuted for the ‘unnatural offence’ of being transvestites Frederick Park, 22, and Ernest Boulton, 21, arrested in 1870 Were leaving Strand Theatre in London on …
Jan 29
Listen to me talking to George Miller about Fanny & Stella on The Faber Podcast
Jan 23
In the morning of January 22nd I appeared on the Radio 4 Today programme where I was interviewed by Evan Davies about Fanny and Stella, my latest book. You can listen to a recording further down the page. Here is a transcript of that interview: Radio 4 Today Programme broadcast on 22nd January at 6:53 …
Jan 21
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.’ …
