Queer Places:
119 Broadhurst Gardens, London NW6, UK
Laurence Collinson (7 September 1925 – 10 November 1986) was a British and Australian playwright, actor, poet, journalist, and secondary school teacher.
In August 1970 he became Chairman of CHE's new London Group 1. He was one of the founders of Gay Sweatshop.
The first openly homophile group to be started in Britain was for women. In March 1964, Spectrum welcomed the appearance of a new monthly magazine, Arena Three, dealing with various aspects of lesbianism. So far, female homosexuality had received scant attention in public discussion of the homosexual situation — and when it was referred to, one was frequently assured by the 'experts' that it scarcely existed. The 'public images' of the lesbian, according to Arena Three, were varied and mostly somewhat bizarre; the truth, it suggested, was that lesbians were both more common and less freakish than most people imagine. Arena Three had been launched by Esme Langley, a middle-aged, wiry, grey-haired, bespectacled woman with a pawky sense of humour. By a coincidence Esme and her then partner, Diana Chapman, lived in the same road that Antony Grey and his partner did - Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead. They lived opposite ends, and in the middle had lodged at the turn of the century (in a house demolished by bomb damage during the Second World War) Frederick Rolfe, Baron Corvo. At #47, 69 and 121. A fourth at #119 was where Collison lived for some years. So with some justification Esme and Antony used to say that they lived in Queer Street; Broadhurst Gardens certainly deserved at least one pink plaque, if not three. Some mornings on his way to Shaftesbury Avenue Grey would call in on Langley, to find her in her basement flat typing busily away surrounded by piles of letters from A3 readers seeking advice and help; although unpaid and single-handed, she was soon running an advisory service for lesbian women practically full time, as well as producing Arena Three.
Born in Leeds, England,[1] Collinson's family moved to Australia in 1930. While still at Brisbane State High School, Collinson and fellow students Barrie Reid and Cecel Knopke started the magazine Barjai: A Meeting Place for Youth, which from 1943 ti 1944 published the literary avant-garde in Adelaide and Melbourne.[2] He received a secondary teaching diploma from Merrer House in Melbourne and from 1955 to 1961 taught mathematics and English in various Melbourne secondary schools. From 1961 to 1964, Collinson worked as the editor of The Educational Magazine.[3] In 1964, he returned to England. His play Thinking Straight was produced by Inter-Action as part of their Homosexual Acts season, opening 10 March 1975 at the Almost Free Theatre.[4] In the 1970s he worked in his West Hampstead apartment as a Gestalt / Transactional Analysis group therapist. Collinson died in London 10 November 1986 [3]
My published books:
