The Wellcome Collection .

The Institute of Sexology at The Wellcome Collection .

 The two substantial buildings - one in traditional stone the other an ultra modern construction -  that house the Wellcome Trust take up a substantial part of the busy Euston Road close to the British Library and St Pancras International Station.    In a prominent position it’s a rather grand location, but nowhere near half as impressive as the man from whom the trust takes its name. 

 Henry Soloman Wellcome was born in 1853 in the north western part of the USA to an itinerant missionary who with his wife travelled the country in a covered wagon preaching to the unconverted.  Given the middle name of Soloman one might wonder if his father had a premonition of the riches that would come to him, however Henry was brought up with a strict work ethic and deeply religious convictions.   He displayed an early interest in medicine , eventually working  as an executive for a  pharmaceutical firm  and at the age of 26 together with a colleague called Burroughs began his own company  – Burroughs, Wellcome & Co.

In 1901 Wellcome married Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo, a daughter of  Thomas John Barnardo.   Born in Dublin, Barnardo trained as a doctor at The London Hospital in the East End of London and after qualifying set up a Ragged School in the same area, where poor children could get a basic education. It's still there prominently positioned on the now fully updated and regenerated East London section of the Grand Union Canal and a popular visitor attraction. Welcome went on to later found the charitable foundation known as the Dr Barnado Childrens Homes which still exists today.  The marriage  was perhaps Welcome’s first brush with philanthropy and may possibly have influenced him in some way in later life.

His wife, better known as Syrie was a by all accounts  a flighty  thing and during their marriage allegedly had several affairs , one with the department store magnate Harry Gordon Selfridge, and another with author William Somerset Maugham with whom she had a child and later married.  Wellcome divorced Syrie in 1915 naming Maugham as co-respondent , but  later displayed no apparent ill feeling about the whole episode.

In 1910, Wellcome became a British subject and in 1932 after being made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons he became Sir Henry Wellcome, a knight of the realm.   He died in The London Clinic in 1936, aged 82, and in his will vested the entire share capital of his company in individual trustees, who were charged with spending the income to further human and animal health. 

In the window of the excellent restaurant in this section is a ball gown decorated with 6000 foil wrapped contraceptive pills, at its waist an inter-uterine device donated by a schoolteacher for whom it had provided continuous contraception for 26 years.

 The Wellcome Trust was established as a charitable foundation eventually becoming one of the world's largest private biomedical charities.  Dedicated to fund biomedical research and support the public’s understanding of science and independent of both political and commercial interests, it is the largest provider of non government funding in the UK as well as one of the largest in the world. 

Wellcome was an insatiable collector , especially of medically related artefacts and by the time of his death there were a total of over one million objects in his collection.   His collection of books, paintings, drawings, photographs and other media is available for viewing at the Wellcome Library and a selection of the remainder formed the basis for an  exhibition aptly entitled The Institute of Sexology.

Billed as “eye popping” and “an intellectual romp” it was neither the largest or most luxurious I have covered in my time , but it was certainly one of the most interesting and thought provoking.   The figure of a life sized naked man hanging upside down from the ceiling in the huge reception area could certainly be described as “ eye popping “ , sadly I couldn’t discover the significance of it , but the remainder of the display I found to be very significant indeed.

                                                   
                                                         SIR HENRY WELCOME

The three separate illustrated guides, headed Spicier , Braver and Deeper made it very easy to navigate the entire exhibition  as well as providing a useful amount of information. Mainly about sex of course, the exhibits in the Spicier Trail included  an early Roman amulet in the shape of a large penis with small bells hanging from the frenum ,that could be worn round the neck or hung in a courtyard rather like a modern wind charm.

Items about the temptations in the Garden of Earthly Delights”  by Hieronymus Bosch illustrates his narrative about the origin of sin and the constant argument of whether it condemns or supports lascivious human behaviour. In the window of the excellent restaurant in this section is a ball gown decorated with 6000 foil wrapped contraceptive pills, at its waist an inter-uterine device donated by a schoolteacher for whom it had provided continuous contraception for 26 years.  The Braver Trail was primarily a powerful exploration of human stories of oppressed sexualities, with numerous unusual medical artefacts to support them. The Deeper Trail was part meditative contemplation which ponders over some intriguing theories and leads on into the Reading Room. This is like no other reading room I have ever been in – where lush cushions line the sweeping staircase and you could even try on an antique straitjacket.

The archives contain the original records of some of the major sex researchers of the 19^th and 20^th century including Kraft-Ebbing , Sigmund Freud, Alfred Kinsey and Masters & Johnson’s  unique accounts of hundreds of individuals having sex.   Also on display was Wilhelm Reichs orgone accumulator , a small closed box just big enough for one person that the client sat inside while receiving a dose of orgone, which would supposedly lead to good health and a renewed sex life.  Input by the visitors themselves, who were all invited to complete a personal survey also formed a valuable part of the exhibition itself. 

I was particularly attracted to this exhibition by its description of a candid exploration of private acts spanning art, erotica, film and photography, the very same subjects I have studied and written about over the past forty years or so.   This brand new gallery is dedicated to year long shows which will continue when this one ends to include new commissions that may have evolved during the run of this present exhibition.  Within this context I am surprised that no organisation anywhere in the world has so far included an exhibition to publicly examine the naturist lifestyle and wonder if perhaps such an event would fall within the aims and ambitions of The Welcome Collection. 

  

A Unique Collection

For the past 25 odd years I (we) have created a genre like nothing else in the publishing world, with more than 500 photographically illustrated articles linking the subjects of sex, erotica, leisure, health and the arts appearing in specialised magazines throughout the world - and made a reasonably good living from it. 

About a year ago I began the task of putting together the whole of my output in a more regularised form, the first part of which is already published, with some of the reminder already under way. 

However , even as I write this letter events are rapidly overtaking me and I am in fact now in danger of falling well behind. 

What we are looking at here is not just a collection of non fiction - photographically illustrated articles linking our unusual style of work as seen and experienced through the eyes of a real lifestyle, It is a highly unusual gathering together of unique material forming the basis for what might be described as a complete and unique genre in it’s own right . 

 It begins in 1940 as a simple autobiography- the first of three parts - weaving its’ way as it goes though a vast amount of interactive material both written and visual in completion of – not necessarily the end , but perhaps even the beginning. The long term purpose of this exercise has been to create a positive balance to set off against the often “dubious benefits of modern technology” that are now a permanent part of the new world order and to explore the essence of love and beauty-in all their many different forms and expressions. 

I am now looking for someone to take hold of the whole of my substantial archives - and to do what you will with them according to your skill and practical experience. This is a neat and tidy collection not stuffed away in old carrier bags , but carefully stored in modern media files , boxes , on discs and sticks – as well as conventional storage devices – literally thousands of items covering a wide range of limited genre interests. Money is not my primary concern and I shall leave the financial details to whomever takes it on. 

Contact me now to find out more about our work and 'The Private Case'  on babsm@freenetname.co.uk

MY EAST END LIFE – The Old and the NEW.

In the mid-eighteenth century Bethnal Green was a small hamlet in the old parish of Stepney,  but by the end of that century it had become a metropolitan borough in its own right.  Change came about once again in 1966 when Bethnal Green ceased to exist as a separate borough and became part of the Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Like many parts of the East End of today  Bethnal Green has benefited from the continual programme of regeneration driven jointly by developers and the Borough of Tower Hamlets but there are still large parts of this relatively compact area which are still desperately awaiting modernisation and improvement. 
My day began at Bethnal Green Station just one short stop away from Mile End on the district line ,which looks today very much like it did fifty or sixty years ago.  The best known landmark right here must be The Museum of Childhood, lifted and moved here lock stock and barrel in the 1870’s – even including some parts of the original cast iron structure of the old building – from its site as part of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Practically every young school child in the whole of the London area – and sometimes from even further afield – would have come here on an organised school trip at some time over the past  20 years or so. 

Right opposite the station is Bethnal Green Road a long straight road and the main thoroughfare with a mish-mash of old buildings of mostly no particular architectural note lining each side.

A strange mixture,  with the very occasional gem like the white and brown art deco facade of the oddly named Frank E Trimmings still standing out among the dross.

Looking out from the station exit, on one corner is the old Victorian facade of the Salmon and Ball - still a  popular working pub - and on the other side a tiny terrace called Paradise Row.  This is supposedly the very spot that features in the old music hall song “ On Mother Kellys Doorstep” popularised by Marie Llloyd  and Gracie Fields, where Nellie a young Jewish immigrant used to sit on the doorstep of old Ma Kellys pawnshop.

Also on the right and just under the railway bridge taking the trains from Essex into Liverpool Street,  Hollybush Place leads into a maze of little streets and small factory buildings lying between Bethnal Green and Hackney Road which runs parallel to it.  The trade of skilled cabinet makers -  polishers , carvers, veneerers and makers of all kinds of traditional furniture  flourished here for almost 100 years. We bought the beautifully hand carved cabriole legs to make our range of Georgian side tables here – right up until the end of the 1980’s ,when Chinese imports put an end to most of them and many other British manufacturing industries.  

With a pub on almost every street corner it used to be said  that you could buy almost anything on this road ,which apart from the proliferation of betting shops and gaudy fast food eating places remains basically just about the same as it was for many years.  .
Market traders line the street on the left  hand side on and off for practically its whole length  and vary according to the day of the week. This is the place where the grandfather of Len Goodman, head judge of the Strictly Come Dancing team had his greengrocery business and where there is still a branch of Kelly’s the pre-war pie and mash shop.  It’s just had a make over and a posh new shop front but the Ocean Dinner Club in Stepney still get their once a month portions old fashioned pie and mash here.

   
About half way down the imposing facade of The Marquis of Carnarvon dominates the corner of Vallance Road , once home to the notorious Kray family.  Although the pub was their local Ronnie and Reggie the infamous Twins didn’t appear to use it that much – a bit too near home for comfort I imagine – no doubt preferring other similar haunts.  I remember seeing the piano playing cockney duet Chas and Dave  performing here long before they became famous outside the East End. 

The Krays were well known throughout the East End and latterly the West End too for their   organised gangland activities and their particularly violent behaviour throughout  the 50’s, 60’s and 70s, at the end of which they got their just desserts. In effect they were in some degree the victims of their own success, taking on the establishment and thumbing their nose at the law.  In his latter days of imprisonment Reg took up the artists brush and produced some quite reasonable pieces of work – in a kind of naive.impressionist way.  Already a figure of criminal distinction Reg has now been immortalised in East End celebrity with a painting of his “ Christ on the Cross “ now hanging permanently in the illustrious Museum of London.  An unusual picture by an equally unusual person, but to be honest when I first saw it I thought the face of the main subject looked more like  his twin brother Ronnie than Jesus.

I was now not far away from my final destination The Bethnal Green Working Mens Club in nearby Pollards Row.  Built in 1895 by the old Borough of Bethnal Green and once the home of the working /drinking classes this typically grand  late 19^th century building has for several years now been the  venue for a variety of avant - guarde acts attracting a mainly young 20’s to 30’s mixed audience and performers. A listed building the Victorian red brick structure looks pretty much OK, but the inside has been severely neglected over the years. When I last visited the place about five years ago it was bad enough, but now it’s even worse. It’s a real shame as although it’s now a bit more rough than ready it still provides good entertainment at incredibly reasonable prices.

On the opposite corner stands another building of considerable architectural note - the old Bethnal Green Town Hall its magnificent carved stone work and bell tower reaching into the sky. Now completely redundant it’s a sad reminder of corporate neglect.

 
I was there for prostitution- not the actual thing of course, but for the early evening  performance of  The Fanny Hill Project’  an unusual show by Theatre State and the  invention of two extremely talented young women. Inspired by their joint interest in British Culture, Tess Seddon and Cheryl Gallacher have created a range of unique events in modern theatre. I thoroughly recommend their work which is bound to appeal not just to the young but to those of all ages who appreciate this contemporary art form.
Based on the so called erotic novel by John Cleland about prostitution in the 18^th century it blended together the  life of the heroine Fanny and a real life modern woman – who after graduating was unable to obtain any useful kind of work in the UK and eventually  finds herself homeless in New York . It was a fast moving show, intelligent and  funny and included drama , dance , comedy and audience participation.  The show finished at about 9pm – and after a quick last drink of their excellent real beer in the bar I resisted the urge to visit the Mexican restaurant on the top floor and was home just in time to watch the ten o clock news.

About the bona fide naturist lifestyle.

About the bona fide naturist lifestyle.

It’s very clear that people the whole world over   ( and throughout the Western world in particular ) , irrespective of age , gender or status are desperate to find some kind of relief from the stresses and strains of modern living.  So much so that they will clutch at almost any opportunity that arises , however daft it might at first seem. Cults and therapies , agony aunts and astrology , strange sounding diets and gurus galore , to name but a few - and there is also NATURISM.  But in spite of the way in which it is almost always portrayed by the media , the modern – day  bona fide naturist lifestyle is not as silly as it may at first sound.

There are already millions of practising naturists around the world and the numbers are growing at an enormous rate every year, as more and more people discover this unusual kind of lifestyle , but in most instances this remarkable discovery is made completely by accident as the rest of society know almost nothing about the true facts of naturist living.   It is now a enormous multi billion pound financial international enterprise , now increasing out of all proportion each year on year.

 The reason for this is quite simple.  The bona fide naturist community have no desire whatsoever to expose their naturist lifestyle to public gaze,  nor to encourage others to do so other than by a natural process. Neither do its followers have any compelling urge to convert others to their way of thinking.  

The success of our writing over the years is that we have continually provided a balance that contains just the right amount of interesting information, art , sex , erotica and stimulation without  it containing crude pornography and more importantly without it intruding upon the privacy of the millions of people that make up the bona fide naturist community .

As useful as it might be to plump up TV viewing figures or increase magazine and newspaper circulation , the bona fide naturist lifestyle naturism is not about  getting arrested for taking all your kit off in some major city centre , neither is it about walking the public pathways of (say) Britain from one end  to the other wearing just your boots and socks , upsetting all sorts of people along the way.  These people are the eccentrics and nutters and exhibitionists  of the world at large and only show about 1 % of the iceberg that best describes the real naturist lifestyle.   The truth is that naturism is not just about taking your clothes off at all and a proper naturist lifestyle is as much an attitude of mind as it is a practical activity.

 As old as humanity itself , naturism has wonderful powers of healing .  It benefits society as a whole but asks for nothing in return. The modern day version is healthy , relaxing and most certainly helps to relieve the stresses and strains of modern life , but its also exciting , its fun – and dare we say it – it can be pretty sexy too ,  leading to better and improved relationships within family life.

 

About us:

What started as a kind of therapeutic hobby for me after a traumatic divorce very quickly became a pleasant source of income and amusement.  It is I believe , now a pretty unique package of varying content, but which all comes together in the final part of my autobiography.

Sometimes writing under our own names and also other pseudonyms including  Mark Golding and Belinda Mosse  for past magazine work , we have together over the past twenty five  years or so created a genre like nothing else in the publishing world, with about 800 photographically illustrated articles linking the subjects of sex, erotica, leisure, health and the arts as seen through the eyes of a naturist lifestyle, appearing in specialised magazines throughout the world.  For seventeen years I (we) have written and edited the worlds only naturist agony column and produced an interactive C.D – rom ( The Naked Truth).  We are probably the most published writers of illustrated naturist material ever and we still own all copyright on our work.  

Naturism and erotica are admittedly a niche market , however 90% of the worlds population have a consuming interest in sex and nudity, the naturist lifestyle has both in abundance and our work is completely different from the naturist norm. We also have a slight advantage in that unlike the vast majority of writers of erotica we are real people writing about real life. We also have a full real life outside naturism .

The Whirlpool of the Eye of Sweet Water

The Whirlpool of the Eye of Sweet Water -  A naturist lifestyle/travel feature.

The wild rugged lands of the Languedoc area of Southern France stretch all the way from the Rhone Valley to the mountain foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees.  Its long golden coastline is washed constantly by the warm waters of the Mediterranean sea under an almost perfect sun, but until about 60 years ago this magnificent landscape was virtually unknown .   Over the passing years the coastal regions have been developed and now boast some of the most popular naturist sites in the whole of Europe , but as for the rest of this area apart from not much more than a handful of major cities the remainder of this vast wilderness remains a place of myth and mystery , much as it has for thousands of years.  

Regular visitors to Cap d’Agde will know that Agde itself is the second oldest town in the whole of France and was colonised by the Greeks in the 6^th century.   A couple of hundred years later the Romans arrived and made Narbonne the capital of Roman Gaul.    The emperor Hadrian took his army complete with elephants on his march from Moorish Spain right through the Langudoc on his way to lay siege to Rome and many relics of his historic journey remain en route.  

A bit later on the Cathars , a strange breakaway religion were driven into the region from other parts of France where they remained for many years, building the most incredible remote mountain strongholds before eventually being wiped out by a bunch of equally religious fanatics.   

We were fortunate to be able to spend most of our summers in the early 1990’s in the Aude and were often around when some new ancient site was discovered, frequently in the process of attaining national protective status. Not only were these places of prime historic interest, but because of their  isolation made an almost perfect backdrop for our naturist photography

Until it was developed, principally as a small holiday resort for the French residents of Narbonne to escape the hot summer months, St Pierre sur Mer was not much more than a tiny fishing port and a few odd houses.   We found it almost by accident by following a signpost on the main road to ‘Naturist Beach’ and soon became regular visitors .  On the way home from the beach one day we saw a new sign directing visitors to a place called le Goffre de la Oeil douce and decided to take a look.   About the best translation I can make of this is ‘The whirlpool of the eye of sweet water’  – a spectacular geological curiosity  and probably something to do with the quality of the water.  

Just on the outskirts of the Massive de la Clape, a small mountain range which separates the City of Narbonne from the coast it is within a spectacular limestone chasm at the very heart of which is an almost perfectly circular lake.  We arrived at about 3 pm one weekday to find a neat and tidy carpark,  open gates and absolutely no one at all around.  The information boards told us that myths and mystery –and even fear - surround this place , although we found it gave off a feeling of absolute peace and tranquillity.  It’s source is still unknown , it’s pure clear waters never ever drop or rise  and no one knows how deep it is although it is said that some years ago Jaques Cousteau took one of his submersibles there but failed to reach the bottom- and none has tried since. Swimming is not recommended but neither it is banned. 

After taking lots of pictures of the impressive surroundings , as we were alone off came our clothes for a nice long  session of naturist photography.  It was an incredibly peaceful place with that wonderful natural aroma of plant life where the fresh air from the sea and mountain came together

Following the signs we eventually came to another part of  the site,  a small farm which  was now obviously too small to be profitable and had now become a part  of this unusual protected site.

A number of pieces of old agricultural implements stood around the beautifully restored 18^th century farmhouse – but still no sign of any other human life except our own.    Wandering around we came upon a well maintained paddock where a couple of fine looking horses came over to take a look at us and where we also almost stumbled over a some wild looking black pigs wandering around like a couple of pet dogs . We had got dressed by now but as we still appeared to be alone,  got undressed for a few more pictures before leaving.  

Over the years we discovered many more of these interesting historical or geological wonders and recorded our visits for posterity.  There were so many that I could write a book about them – and maybe one day I will.