Eligible Bachelors

The English writer Rupert Croft-Cooke was onto something when he observed in 1963 that “we are one of the world’s most homosexual races.” My own sense is not that the British are more prone to homosexuality than other peoples but rather that gay men have long been vastly over-represented among Britain’s elite. From the world of letters (Oscar Wilde, Nöel Coward, W. H. Auden, E. M. Forster) to the theater (John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi) and pop music (Elton John, Freddie Mercury, George Michael), they have contributed far more than what their relatively tiny numbers would suggest.