Their Finest Hour by Mihangel

[Mihangel]

Thanks again, guys, for all the kind words.

Nigel's right that, in Britain, the 30s and 40s were far from a bad time to be gay. I think he's wrong, though, in dating the start of the real persecution to the late 50s and even 60s. I would put it in 1952-3 under (no coincidence?) the new Tory government. Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, who described gays as "a plague over England", was Home Secretary. As commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, he appointed Sir John Nott-Bower who swore to "rip the cover off all London filth spots" and brought other police forces into line. All this, it seems, was with encouragement, even advice, from America which was in the grip of McCarthyism.

The immediate result was the "great purge" as it was known - a witch-hunt which caught, as well as countless lesser-known victims, many big figures. Burgess and Maclean have already been mentioned above, as have Turing and Gielgud. There was an MP whose name escapes me who was forced to resign, and - most famous of all at the time - Lord Montagu. By 1960 thousands were in gaol. Yet the vendetta was not in tune with public opinion at large. The first time Gielgud appeared on stage after his conviction, he got a standing ovation. When Montagu and his co-defendants were removed from the courthouse after being sentenced, the large crowd waiting outside, which the authorities thought would attack them, cheered them instead.

But all that was later. Back in the 30s Hodge and Jack in Habakkuk's Mill, and during the war Charlie and Doug in Their Finest Hour, would have few problems provided they were not too blatant.

[Pedro]

If I remember correctly Quentin Crisp (The Naked Civil Servant) implied that things were easier for him during the war. People were more tolerant when they weren't sure if they would see tomorrow, and being a neighbourhood 'character' his being seen to be still around would be sort of good for morale, but the tolerance went almost as soon as the dancing stopped on VE Day.

[Nigel Gordon]

Mihangel, just to clarify what I stated, I state that the persecution started after 1951. There is a major change in the tenor of the relevant documents (where they have been released) from late '51 onwards, with comments about homosexuals being a danger to national security. The appointment of Maxwell-Fyfe as Home Secretary brought into a position of influence a man who had a hatred of homosexuals, but had no problem in taking sexual pleasure with thirteen year old boys, which he did not apparently consider a homosexual activity!

Even with the attitude from the Home Office and the appointment of Chief Constables who were known to be homophobic, it is still quite common till the end of the 1950s to see magistrates either dismiss charges or impose minimum sentences.

That the official attitude was not in tune with the publics attitude was quite clear in cases like Gielgud and Montagu where after their conviction the public showed support for them. There was a story floating around in some legal circles that when Maxwell-Fyfe enquired why Noel Coward had not be arrested and prosecuted he was advised that Coward was so popular no jury would convict him and the public anger at such an arrest could bring the government down.

Although life was becoming increasingly more difficult for from 1951 onwards the real jump in prosecutions came in 1962 where the records show a massive year on year increase in the number of prosecutions. There was a determined effort on the part of a certain section of the Establishment to show to the public just how much a danger homosexuals posed to society. This is actual recorded in some Home Office memos of the period. The highest level of gay related prosecutions per head of population was in the years immediately before and after the change in the law in 1967. It is not till the appointment of Leon Brittan as Home Secretary in 1979 that there seems to be a real change in attitude of the police, no doubt brought about that the senior officers who had been appointed under Maxwell-Fyfe were finally all put out to pasture.

[Chris James]

Unlike some of you who have a certain close knowledge of the events surrounding WW2 and the Blitz what I have is second hand. My father was in the Army during that war: tanks, Normandy, battle wounds, Patton, several medals for bravery...this is my image of those times from the stories he tells. Today I would much rather envision the sacrifice necessary from England and America through images like this:

https://youtu.be/omlBeCGLFG4

[Mihangel]

Thanks for that, Chris. Thinking of boys' choirs, here is one from the other side of the fence: Dresden, flattened by us in February, 1945.

The amazingly gutsy director of the Dresdner Kreuzchor, Rudolf Mauersberger, had parked the choirboys at various places around the city and they would gather in the Kreuzkirche only for services. On one of the nights of the bombings, eleven of the boys for some reason took refuge in the church, which took a direct hit. A month later, Mauersberger wrote this motet using words from Jeremiah's lament over Jerusalem, and it was performed in the ruins of the church in August 1945 at the first service that could be held there after the bombings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gZXg8lNH2g

[Gee Whillickers]

Just finished this one.

As always Mihangel, absolutely incredible. Believable characters engaging in realistic actions from well thought out motivations, all set in a wondefully written

environment that taught me and enthralled me at the same time.

Well done.

[ChrisR]

If history books in school were written more like this, I suspect that there would be much less ignorance of history in our world. This is truly masterful telling of an incredible story reduced to a level of intimacy that people can understand and feel a part of. Thank you, Mihangel, for your beautiful craft.

[Nick Deverill]

Because of this thread re-emerging, I've just re-read the story. At times, a kleenex (tissue) one, but not excessively.

It has got to be Mihagel's best, and in all honest, perhaps the best gay themed story written by any author. And truthfully, up there with the best from any genre.

Set aside plenty of time and read the story (again).

http://awesomedude.com/mihangel/their-finest-hour/index.htm