Tag Archive: cross-dressers

Mar 26

An everyday story of Victorian cross-dressers by Tim Stanley, The Telegraph

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, …

Continue reading »

Aug 15

Criminal case rocked Victorian London to its knickers, as it were!

Fanny & Stella has now reached Canada!  The Toronto Star recently posted a review.   By: Nancy Wigston Staff Reporter., Published on Fri Jul 26 2013 In 1870, a sensational criminal case rocked Victorian London to its knickers, as it were. Two male transvestites — who’d adopted the names Fanny and Stella — were arrested outside the Strand …

Continue reading »

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 …

Continue reading »

Jul 10

A Fanny & Stella Review by Xandra

I have just come across another review of my book, Fanny & Stella, by the blogger Xandra ‘A fantastic read, well researched, superbly written and a work which keeps the reader riveted, as well as laughing one moment and weeping the next.’ You can read the full review here

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 …

Continue reading »

May 07

A pair of ‘questionable leather trousers’ at the Brighton Festival!

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 …

Continue reading »

Apr 15

Interview with Future Radio and Nick Cordingly

I was interviewed recently on the Pride Live Show by Nick Cordingly of Future Radio about Fanny & Stella. You can listen to a recording here.  We talk about how I came to write the book, cross dressing and gay history.  

Apr 02

‘Fanny & Stella… a keyhole to our Victorian past.’ Another great review

  Fanny and Stella is a book that acts as a keyhole to our Victorian past that allows readers to spy on the activities and atrocities that occurred during the time of Fanny and Stella. Activities that may be raucous to overly sensitive minds and atrocities that make us both realise how far we have …

Continue reading »

Mar 18

Reviewed: Fanny & Stella – The Young Men in Women’s Clothes by Juliet Jacques, NewStatesman

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, …

Continue reading »

Mar 05

Excellent Review for Fanny & Stella in Lambda Literary by Cheryl Morgan

The following review was posted on 03. Mar, 2013 by Cheryl Morgan, Lambda Literary in Bio/Memoir, Reviews. It is a very thoughtful, well-written and fair review. Cheryl has obviously picked up every nuance of the book.   When we think of Victorian England we tend to assume a moral code that was as tightly laced as …

Continue reading »

Feb 06

Fanny and Stella on Radio 3 Night Waves with Matthew Sweet

On 4th February, I was a guest on BBC 3’s flagship arts programme, Night Waves. talking with Matthew Sweet about Fanny and Stella, chirruping and the invention of camp, among other things! You can listen to the podcast here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/r3arts  

Feb 03

Arrested for cross-dressing!

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 …

Continue reading »

Jan 29

Interview with George Miller about Fanny & Stella on The Faber Podcast

Listen to me talking to George Miller about Fanny & Stella on The Faber Podcast

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.’ …

Continue reading »