#James A. Herne

[travsd]

James A. Herne: "The American Ibsen"

Time was, all American theatre-goers knew the name of James A. Herne (James Ahearn, 1839-1901), not just a few scholars. Herne ranks with figures like Dion Boucicault and Steele MacKaye in the ranks of America’s top pre-O’Neill playwrights. After O’Neill, theatre people tended to sneer at these earlier figures but in recent decades their reputations have been partially restored if only for the…

[future-crab]

The thing about TMA is that if I think about Sasha James too much I will cry and if I think about Michael Shelley too much I will cry and if I think about Agnes Montegue too much I will cry and if I think about Jonathan Sims too much I will cry and if I think about Naomi Herne too much I will cry and if I think about Gerry Keay too much I will cry and if I think about Tim Stoker too much I will cry and if I think about Jane Prentiss too much I will cry and if I think about Martin Blackwood too much I will cry and—

[candlecoo-sideb-art]

Martin Lukas snapshots 2

[slyandthefamilybook]

why do all the women in TMA have such attractive voices

[killmebythebeach]

Tma as stuff on my phone 2/3

[deadwhisper]

Ep11: ALONE

The magnus archives

@deadwhisper

[gwydionmisha]

Hymn to Herne -  Alexander James Adams

[thenewdemocratus]

Lakers Dynasty: Video: The 1987-88 Los Angeles Laker Back to Back: The Lakers Become the Team of the 1980s

. Source:The Daily Journal The Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s were a great dynasty for several reasons and more reasons because they had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin Johnson and Pat Riley as their head coach and Jerry West as their general manager. They had the best center of all-time, the best point guard of all-time, one of the best head coaches of all-time in Pat Riley, one of the best…

[asongofgoldenfireandblackblood]

Greetings and a very happy weekend to everyone in our lovely, incredible, spectacular court! There have been some changes in the line up of our court so here are all our latest updates 💜

Due to player choice, inactivity, or other unforseen circumstances please wish farewell and unfollow: @wardenofeast @ladyregallioness @cassandrabaratheons @thegoldenlionc

The following roles and faceclaims are now open:

Lady Paramount Jeyne Arryn Lady Johanna Westerling-Lannister Lady Cassandra Baratheon (Eldest daughter of Lord Borros and Lady Elenda) Lady Cerissa Lannister (Third daughter of Lord Jason and Lady Johanna)

Ecem Sena Bayir Phoebe Fox Bruna Marquenzie Maria Valverde

New members have joined our court! Please give them a warm welcome and follow:

@johxnnxshusbxnd @payapreciouspenny @effie-bracken @theprincessofd0rne @little-griffin-jocie-connington

The following roles and faceclaims are now taken:

Lord Jason Lannister Lady Penny Greyjoy (Youngest daughter of Lord Dalton Greyjoy) Lady Emphyria "Effie" Bracken (Youngest daughter of Lord Humphrey Bracken) Ruling-Princess Aliandra Martell Lady Jocelyn Connington (Daughter of Lady Daisy Connington (neé Wylde) and the Late Ser Robin Connington)

Max Brown Brooke Carter Lily James Anya Chalotra Robyn Betterbridge *Nettles' faceclaim was changed from Sennia Nanua to Abbie Hern

Full blog roll under the cut! ~ With Love, Mod Ivory 💜💜

@black-queen-rising - Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen @rogueprincedaemontarg - King-Consort Daemon Targaryen @aegontheyoungprince - Prince Aegon III Targaryen @princeviserystargaryen00 - Prince Viserys II Targaryen @visenyatargaryen-ii - Princess Visenya Targaryen

@alicenthightowerrp - Dowager-Queen Alicent Hightower @goldaegontargaryen - Prince Aegon Targaryen of Dragonstone @helaenasdreamfyres - Princess Helaena Targaryen of Dragonstone @shrxkxs - Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen of Dragonstone @jaeheratargaryen - Princess Jaehaera Targaryen of Dragonstone

@moondancer-rp - Princess Baela Targaryen @rhaenaspearls - Princess Rhaena Targaryen @notatargaryenbastard - Crown-Prince Jacaerys Velaryon @princeluce - Prince Lucerys Velaryon (On-Hiatus) @princejoffreyvelaryon - Prince Joffrey Velaryon

@aemond-one-eyed - Prince Aemond Targaryen @thefallenprincesss - Princess Rhaenya Targaryen @thedaringprince - Prince Daeron Targaryen

@rideroftheredqueen - Princess Rhaenys Targaryen-Velaryon @lordhusband - Lord Corlys Velaryon @calla-celtigar - Lady Calla Celtigar @sersteffondarklyn - Lord-Commander Steffon Darklyn @femme-piquante - Nettles

@bloodybenjicot - Ser Benjicot Blackwood @oscartullyofriverrun - Ser Oscar Tully @roslinstrong - Lady Roslin Frey @sabithafrey-rp - Lady Sabitha Frey @alyofraventree - Lady Alysanne "Aly" Blackwood (On-Hiatus)

@goldenclarice - Lady-Regent Clarice Tyrell @stunningladysam - Lady Samantha "Sam" Hightower @sweetleilarowan - Lady Leila Rowan

@daltongreyjoy-rp - Lord Dalton Greyjoy @theredripper - Toron Greyjoy @sirenalannysgreyjoy - Alannys Greyjoy @rodrickgreyjoy-rp - Rodrick Greyjoy @payapreciouspenny - Penny Greyjoy

@johxnnxshusbxnd - Lord Jason Lannister @cerellelannister2 - Lady Cerelle Lannister @tysharalannister - Lady Tyshara Lannister @celiamarbrand - Lady Celia Marbrand @josswesterling - Joss Westerling

@thecleverestorm - Lady Maris Baratheon @lady-ellyn-of-the-storm - Lady Ellyn Baratheon @theladydaisy - Lady Daisy Connington @little-griffin-jocie-connington - Lady Jocelyn Connington @jonswann - Ser Jon Swann (On-Hiatus)

@sercorwyn - Ser Corwyn Corbray

@creganstarkrp - Lord Cregan Stark @torrhen-manderly - Torrhen Manderly @manderlypearl - Lady Erena Manderly (On-Hiatus)

@theprincessofd0rne - Ruling Princess Aliandra Martell

[grumpycakes]

So as the house gets warmed up to go let me give a few updates I found out!

Voting Present LOWERS the number necessary to win, so it SHOULD be 219 with the full house but because Spartz votes Present it's 218

ARGUABLY if more Republicans vote Present but the 20 stick to their guns, the Democrats COULD win with 212 but Republicans don't want that

Buck who left for a non emergency medical procedure yesterday may not be back

We're starting up with only 275 reps present cause it's more than half but YIKES. Though I would assume more are showing up

a Californian Republican just got up to nominate McCarthy just to see how fast he loses. He's saying it's NOT ABOUT McCARTHY. FRIENDO YEAH IT IS. Lolll he's talking about serving the country with "Pure and Selfless intent~" and like idfk if any human can do taht.

ughghg the Republicans also keep bringing up fentinol overdoses and immigration and how it's going UnChEcKeD while we vote.

oh interesting, he thanked the national police (happily everyone got up and clapped for them) to pretend like Republicans care AT ALL about them.

... Sir why we talking about China, I don't think this is gonna move anybody you wanna move???

Jesus, he's trying to scare ppl into voting together cause the world is in DANGERRRR but like, THESE ARE THE PPL THAT REFUSED TO WEAR A MASK CAUSE IT MADE THEM UNCOMFY while people DIED. So loll ur talking for nothing sir. Hahahaha he's like, I agree w you shits but I WOrk w OtHeRsss and that's how you gotta WoRk!!! lolll

Oh here we go, telling the Dems they're on the EDGE of a VERY IMPORTANT VICTORY. Loll sure you lil dipshit. OH OH RUDE he just said, looking to the Dems I realize i haven't met many of you cause you're not here, voting by proxy. WOW, rumbles in the crowd and then the Clerk had to bang the gavel and be like HEY, UR SUPPOSED TO DIRECT COMMENTS TO THE BENCH.

Ur useless dude, this is too long of a speech. And stupidly blaming all of it on the Dems

South Carolina Rep is up for the Democrats

Awww he thanked the Clerk who's been running this circus and all the Dems rose and the Clerk smiled and mouthed thank you.

He's talking about learning lessons and working to be a better govt but flowery-er. Ah okay he's bringing up Jan 6. Resiliency. USA was made for liberty, justice, and freedom. Pointing out that it's the first time in over 100 years that they can't figure out who to vote for. The goodness of the american people is at stake??? Jeffries is a good dude i guess lol.

Oh lord almighty Gaetz is up and saying HE TAKES EXCEPTION TO THE CALIFORNIA REPS STATEMENTSSS. LOLL oh shit and he's saying that McCarthy is only speaker if he GETS THE VOTES and he DON'T HAVE THE VOTES. And he's saying it's vanity making McCarthy keep going. LOLL AND I THINK THE DEMS CLAPPED FOR THAT. hahaha ppl are yelling at him and order had to be called. HAHAH Gaetz just called him LaBron James but that would mean that McCarthy was a WINNER AT SOME POINT.

Oh dude don't fucking bring up PURITY you lily white fuck. Damn he's just calling out his own party. He's saying their intentions when trying to negotiate w him weren't PUUUREEE. Again humans, nothings gonna be pure my dude.

Mr SQUINTS IS BACK!!!

Bottom line, they don't trust McCarthy, saying it's for the ppl

WOAH WAIT HE JUST NOMINATED JIM JORDAN AGAIN, NO

Boebert is up to nominate Hern. She keeps pointing out that he was unanimously voted as chairman for something and that he's gonna be united. Blahblahblah inflation, republican talking points. Oh yay quickly ended

OH SHIT AND WE'RE VOTING ROUND 12!!!

[maidenofsophia]

Faith Update

I'm going through something of a religious identity crisis at the moment and trying to decide exactly what I am. I still adore Filianism and align myself with most of the beliefs and teachings and concepts on Déa. But I don't know if I feel truly comfortable calling myself a Filianist anymore.

I'm not even completely sure I'm a Déanist.

Most of this has been due to my growing connection with the Horned God who has been coming to me a lot lately. I've been going through a lot of difficult times lately and while Sophia has been there for me and protected me, it's the Horned One - sometimes as Pan, sometimes as Cernonnus - who has come to give me comfort. It's strange because I was never drawn to him all that much in my Wiccan days but have found myself connecting with him more over the years.

There's always been this debate on whether someone can be a Dèanist or a Filianist if they believe in male gods alongside Dèa / The Goddess. I had this same dilemma back when I was a Gnostic and was determined to keep Jesus in my faith.

Reason I still consider myself Déanic is that my inclusion of the Horned God is not a Wiccan "God and Goddess" dualithic system. For me, Sophia is Déa. She is the Supreme, the Goddess. She is Mother, as Zoe She is Daughter and as Barbelo She is Déa Absolute. She has no equal or consort. The Horned God is not some Great Father, but he is a divine father figure to me. He's also a brother, a guide and just an all round positive masculine energy. Most of all, he's a friend. While I love and respect him, I wouldn't prostrate myself before him as I would my Lady and I don't feel he'd want me to (not that Sophia demands it either). I see the Horned God as one of many entities or aeons who were born of the Pleroma, the womb of Barbelo.

While I give the Horned One he/him pronouns most of the time. I'm currently reading James Mankey's book "The Horned God of the Witches" to try to get a better understanding of these different forms he or they can take and I'm looking forward to reading the chapter on Elen of the Ways. Does this mean any god or goddess with horns is part of the Horned God? I dunno. I guess it depends on their attributes, Cernonnus and Pan and Herne, as well as Lucifer in his horned depictions, all bring this similar energy. This feeling of freedom and harmony and mystery and playfulness but also guidance born from being in tune with life and nature. Despite wearing horns like "crowns", they're not judgemental or controlling or wrathful like angry kings. They don't rule beside or above Déa, but in Her name. More like a steward than a ruler.

I also never connected much to the Horned God before being an demisexual lesbian. There was always so much of a focus on the Horned One as a lustful deity that it put me off. But letting him come to me in meditations has weirdly helped me feel comfortable understanding my sexuality in a way that never felt right discussing with Sophia. Sophia connects more with that side of me, which does not feel almost any sexual desires, whereas The Horned One does in those rare moments where I do experience something or even just a romantic fixation. It's like the Horned One helps me manage my more base and material desires while Sophia is more about my spiritual and esoteric growth.

Dunno if any of this is making sense but as I'm no longer a Gnostic, I don't believe we need to forsake the material world entirely to become one with Spirit. There is a harmony to be found and I think with Sophia as my (supreme) Goddess and the Horned One as my (lesser) Lord, I've found that balance, and I've been looking a lot more into various open Pagan practices to help reconnect with the world outside rather than just praying at my altar with my rosary. Which also feels more like Paganism to me than Filianism.

[justforbooks]

In 2015 James Rebanks published the bestselling The Shepherd’s Life, a seasonal account of a year in the life of a small-scale sheep farmer in Cumbria. He wanted, he said, to put “the working-class nobodies – our people – back into the books”. In one of the most unforgettable sections, he recalls the epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease that ravaged the UK in 2001. A “contiguous cull” required all sheep within three kilometres of a known outbreak to be slaughtered. Rebanks watched as the animals he had bred and raised were shot, one after the other. “When the last wagon had gone, I went into the barn … sat down in the shadows, held my head in my hands and sobbed.”

Foot-and-mouth devastated Cumbria, wiping out the livestock and livelihoods of nearly 900 farms. That devastation sits at the heart of The Borrowed Hills, Scott Preston’s blistering debut novel. Preston was a boy when the epidemic hit. Like Rebanks, he grew up in the Lake District, where his father was a dry stone waller. He too was frustrated that nothing he read told the story of the land and the people he grew up with in a way he recognised. The Borrowed Hills is an explosive bid to right that wrong.

Steve Elliman is the son of a tenant farmer in a fictional fold of the fells called Curdale Valley. When his father falls ill he chucks in his job as a lorry driver and goes home to help. The smallholding is “scarce a thumbprint” on the valley and rapidly falling into disrepair. Their flock of just 200 sheep live wild on the open fells 1,000 feet up, “higher than where the flycatchers and doves roosted in cragfolds, and higher than where falcons nested watching their dinner below”. When rumours of foot-and-mouth start to spread, Steve isolates the sheep but he cannot save them. The sickness has taken hold at a neighbouring farm and orders are clear. Every animal must be eliminated.

The massacre that follows is unsparing in its matter-of-fact violence. Steve’s first-person narrative is written in his distinctive Cumbrian voice, a vernacular stripped to its bones that encompasses stark prose and sudden startling flashes of poetry. Rifle muzzles are “placed between [the sheep’s] ears and the bullets lined along their backs so each bang stayed inside their heads”. The sheep panic. The squaddies sent to dispatch them panic in their turn. The result is half Tarantino and half pitch-black northern realism, an absurdist horror that slides under the skin and lodges deep.

Later Steve fetches up on his neighbour William Herne’s farm, where the outbreak is rumoured to have started. The sheep that William tried to hide out in the fells have been seen from a police helicopter and gunned down from the sky. The fires incinerating the dead animals burn day and night for a week. “We had burned through everything, even what we’d no right to, rubbed out the stars and hid the moon, and if the night sky wasn’t already black we’d have had a good go at making it.” When the job is finished Steve leaves the valley and goes back to driving lorries, but something in him has changed. He can’t stay away. When he finally returns, William has a plan to get back on his feet, a plan that will push both men into a spiralling nightmare of violence and bloodshed.

Despite the wild beauty of the landscape, there is something claustrophobic about Preston’s novel: the tyranny of a place that demands relentless back-breaking labour and will never pay back what is given. Steve and William’s increasingly feverish venture is not a quest for new frontiers but a frantic struggle to claw back a life that was already falling apart. “That’s what I like about you farm lads,” a man tells Steve. “Know what it is to raise something to be killed.” But like the slaughter of foot-and-mouth, the violence that enmeshes the two men is not heroic. It is ugly and senseless and it destroys lives. It offers no redemption. The best one can hope for is the restoration of a precarious equilibrium, a return to the harsh hardscrabble of before.

This is a sucker-punch of a novel, a viscerally vivid portrait of desperation, edged with knife-sharp black humour and shot through with moments of startling beauty, but there is little hope in it. Angry as it was, Rebanks’s book was a love letter to Cumbria. The connection to the land goes just as deep here, but, bound to a place that demands so much in return for so little, it is a more dysfunctional relationship.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

The Archivist Doesn't Like Musicals

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3o76DCu by HypnoticArachnid A meteor hits a theater in London, and now it's Jon's problem. Words: 1632, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: The Magnus Archives (Podcast) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: Gen Characters: Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus, Sasha James, Not-Them Sasha James, Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), Martin Blackwood, Melanie King, Georgie Barker, Basira Hussain, Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Evan Lukas, Naomi Herne, Julia Montauk, Jane Prentiss, Michael "Mike" Crew, Michael | The Distortion (The Magnus Archives) Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Sasha James/Tim Stoker, Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist & Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood & Sasha James & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist & Tim Stoker Additional Tags: Musical: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3o76DCu

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The House of Representatives passed a bill to establish an Office of Food Security at the Department of Veterans Affairs, with 49 Republicans voting against the proposal.

The Food Security for All Veterans Act was passed by a 376-49 vote, sending the bill to the Senate for approval.

The legislation, introduced by Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, aims to establish a department to assist veterans facing food insecurity and lack of nutrition, such as providing them with information about food stamps and other programs.

Speaking on the House floor to advocate for what was her fist bill, Peltola said Alaska's high veteran population motivated her to push for the introduction of the department.

"There is nothing more important than ensuring our veterans and their families can enjoy a safe and healthy life after their service to our country," Peltola said.

The bill received overwhelming bipartisan support, with 49 Republicans being the only lawmakers who voted against the introduction of an Office of Food Security at the Department of Veterans Affairs, some of whom are military veterans themselves.

FULL LIST OF REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED AGAINST OFFICE OF FOOD SECURITY FOR VETERANS

Rick Allen, GA

Jodey Arrington, TX

Jim Baird, IN

Dan Bishop, NC

Mo Brooks, AL

Ken Buck, CO

Tim Burchett, TN

Michael Cloud, TX

Andrew Clyde, GA

James Comer, KY

Dan Crenshaw, TX

Jeff Duncan, SC

Jake Ellzey, TX

Pat Fallon, TX

Drew Ferguson, GA

Scott Franklin, FL

Matt Gaetz, FL

Louie Gohmert, TX

Bob Good, VA

Lance Gooden, TX

Paul Gosar, AZ

Mark Green, TN

Marjorie Taylor Greene, GA

Morgan Griffith, VA

Glen Grothman, WI

Andy Harris, MD

Diana Harshbarger, TN

Kevin Hern, OK

Jody Hice, GA

Ronny Jackson, TX

Jim Jordan, OH

John Joyce, PA

Debbie Lesko, AZ

Barry Loudermilk, GA

Thomas Massie, KY

Mary Miller, IL

Barry Moore, AL

Ralph Norman, SC

Steven Palazzo, MS

Scott Perry, PA

Bill Posey, FL

Matt Rosendale, MT

Chip Roy, TX

Steve Scalise, LA

Greg Steube, FL

Van Taylor, TX

Tom Tiffany, WI

Daniel Webster, FL

Newsweek has contacted several GOP lawmakers who voted against the bill for comment.

[olympic-paris]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

August 11

480 BC – Leonidas, (b. circa 540 BC); King of Sparta, the 17th of the Agiad line, one of the sons of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta, who was believed to be a descendant of Heracles, possessing much of the strength and bravery that made his ancestor famous, died on this day.

While it has been established (to say nothing of being turned into the film "300") that King Leonidas of Sparta died at the Battle of Thermoplylae in August, 480 B.C., defending Greece from an invasion by Xerxes and his Persian forces, very little is known about the year of his birth, or for that matter, his formative years, but it is legend that he was accompanied by his "army of lovers." These were the Spartan army, who each went into battle with his male lover by his side, in the belief that they would fight better for each other. It is assumed that Leonidas had his own lover by his side.

1913 – The English novelist and writer Sir Angus Wilson, CBE, was born on this date. (d.1991). Wilson was born in Bexhill, Sussex, England, to an English father and South African mother. He spent part of his childhood in South Africa.

Back in England, Wilson found a stability at school and university, that was not offered at home. Within these institutions he fashioned himself into a 'character'. His homosexuality soon became obvious and, as his pretty looks metamorphosed into oddity and campness, he created defences to protect himself.

Taking pride in his differences and learning to clown, impersonate and tell stories enhanced his natural kindness and generosity, and attracted others to him.

He was educated at Westminster School and Merton College, Oxford, and in 1937 became a librarian in the British Museum's Department of Printed Books, working on the new General Catalogue. His first publication was a collection of short stories, The Wrong Set (1949). His writing has a strongly satirical vein. Several of his books have been adapted for television. During World War II, he worked in the Naval section Hut 8 at the code-breaking establishment, Bletchley Park, translating Italian Naval codes. A wearer of large, brightly-coloured bow-ties, he was one of the "famous homosexuals" at Bletchley (Alan Turing being the most famous). The work situation was stressful and led to a nervous breakdown. He returned to the Museum after the end of the War, and it was there that he met Tony Garrett, fifteen years his junior (born 1929), who was to be his companion for the rest of his life. From 1946 onwards, their relationship, based on friendship as well as mutual attraction, slowly developed until it became a strong, loving and respectful, though not always unproblematic, partnership that neither wanted to relinquish.

He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his book The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot and later received a knighthood for his services to literature. His writing, which has a strongly satirical vein, expresses his concern with preserving a liberal humanistic outlook in the face of fashionable doctrinaire temptations. Several of his works were adapted for television. He jointly helped to establish the now renowned creative writing course at the University of East Anglia.

In the mid 1980s Wilson began to suffer from dementia and was cared for by Garrett until his death in 1991.

1945 – Denis Lemon (d.1994) was a British magazine proprietor, editor and journalist. Born in Exmouth, Devon, he grew up in Herne Bay and Whitstable. He moved to London for a job in accountancy, and later worked in a record shop in south London. He founded Gay News - Britain's pioneering gay newspaper- in June 1972 with Andrew Lumsden. Within months he was the sole editor.

James Kirkup's poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name was published in the 3 June 1976 issue of Gay News. The poem, written from the viewpoint of a Roman centurion, graphically describes him having sex with Jesus after his crucifixion, and also claims that Jesus had had sex with numerous disciples, guards, and even Pontius Pilate.

In early November 1976, Mary Whitehouse obtained a copy of the poem and announced her intention to bring a private prosecution against the magazine. Leave to bring this prosecution was granted on 9 December 1976. The charges named Gay News Ltd and Denis Lemon as the publishers. A charge against Moore Harness Ltd for distributing was subsequently dropped. The indictment described the offending publication as "a blasphemous libel concerning the Christian religion, namely an obscene poem and illustration vilifying Christ in his life and in his crucifixion".

The Gay News Fighting Fund was set up in December 1976. Judge Alan King-Hamilton QC heard the trial at the Old Bailey on 4 July 1977. Gay News Ltd was fined £1,000. Denis Lemon was fined £500 and sentenced to nine months imprisonment suspended. It had been "touch and go", said the judge, whether he would actually send Denis Lemon to jail.

Mary Whitehouse's costs of £7,763 were ordered to be paid four-fifths by Gay News Ltd and one-fifth by Lemon. Gay News Ltd and Denis Lemon appealed against conviction and sentence. On 17 March 1978, the Court of Appeal quashed Denis Lemon's suspended prison sentence but upheld the convictions. Gay News readers voted by a majority of 20 to 1 in favour of appealing to the House of Lords. The Law Lords heard the appeal against conviction and delivered their judgment on 21 February 1979. At issue was whether or not the offence of blasphemous libel required specific intent of committing such a blasphemy. The Lords concluded that intention was not required. The appeal was lost.

The European Commission of Human Rights declared the case inadmissible to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights on 7 May 1982. The £26,435 raised by the Gay News Fighting Fund through benefits and donations from the gay community and others, including a £500 donation from Monty Python, was sufficient to cover the costs of the trial and appeals.

Although he poem is freely available via the Internet it has never been published in the UK since and until someone challenges the decision, the blasphemy ban still stands.

As a result of the world-wide publicity surrounding the trial Denis Lemon found himself as a public speaker.

Denis Lemon fell ill and sold Gay News in February, 1982. (It folded shortly afterwards.)

He briefly worked with Paul Oremland on Channel 4's One in Five, the first national lesbian and gay television series. He became a restaurateur in London. He then moved to Exeter with his lover, Nick Purshouse, and opened a restaurant at the Arts Centre.

Denis Lemon died on 21 July 1994 after several years of AIDS-related illness.

In his obituary of Denis Lemon in The Pink Paper, 29th. July, 1994, Richard Smith said, 'The last year has seen the British gay press finally coming of age with a number of new titles. But none of these would have been possible if it were not for the groundwork done by people like Denis Lemon a quarter of a century ago.'

Picture above: Denis Lemon watches [on the left] as the Tom Robinson Band – who had that year released the anthem Sing If You're Glad To Be Be Gay - play at a Trafalgar Square protest of the prosecution of Gay News in 1978.

1949 – Born and raised in Edinburgh, Ian Charleson (d.1990) attended the Royal High School and then went on to attend the University of Edinburgh. He initially studied architecture but switched to acting. After graduating from Edinburgh he won a place at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

His best-known role was as the athlete Eric Liddell in the film Chariots of Fire (1981). A very fine stage actor, his other notable film appearances included his film debut Jubilee (1977), Gandhi (1982), and Dario Argento's horror classic Opera.

Shortly before his death, from 9 October to 13 November 1989, Charleson performed a run of Hamlet at the National Theatre — giving a definitive performance which garnered major accolades. The day following Charleson's final Hamlet performance, when Ian McKellen was given the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for his Iago in Othello, McKellen offered thanks, but said having seen 'the perfect Hamlet' at the National Theatre the previous night, he thought that not he but Ian Charleson was truly the Best Actor of 1989.

Charleson was diagnosed with HIV in 1986, and died of AIDS-related causes in January 1990 at the age of 40. Charleson is buried in Portobello Cemetery, Edinburgh.

The Ian Charleson Awards have been presented annually since 1991 to reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors aged under 30.

The HIV day care centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London NW3 is named in his memory.

1957 – Bobby Blake, born in Memphis, Tennessee, is an African-American retired gay pornographic film actor best known as a dominant top in gay pornographic films.

Growing up in Tennessee, he moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s and worked as an erotic dancer. On the advice of a friend, he visited a gay sex club owned by porn actor Paul Hanson. Impressed with Blake's performance, Hanson recommended him to adult film producers who cast him in his first film, Ebony Knights. Known for working alongside veterans and adult film performers such as Gene LaMar and J.C. Carter, Blake appeared in over 100 films playing aggressive and dominant top roles.

Bobby Blake was a long time partner with Flex-Deon Blake. Bobby actually referred Flex-Deon to the producer Edward James, and secured the introduction of Flex-Deon to the adult industry. Bobby Blake has told the story of their relationship in his book, My Life in Porn.

Bobby Blake has written the book My Life in Porn: The Bobby Blake Story co-written by Blake and John R. Gordon and published in 2008. In his autobiography, he talks extensively about his youth and experiences in the adult film industry. In one of the closing chapters entitled "Prodigal Returns", Blake depicts himself in biblical terms as the "prodigal son" who "had to leave [his] church and the place of [his] birth and go out there in the far country." However, he continues, "in all the years I was working in the adult entertainment business, I never turned my back on God or the Bible teachings I had grown up with." Blake emphasizes that he has no regrets about his lifestyle, interpreting it as part of God's plan for him: "Now that it's over, I can accept that that journey was all part of God's plan for me."

He has retired from adult films around 2000 becoming an ordained Christian minister. In 2007 studied for a master's degree in criminal justice. He also worked for a while as a security manager for a big Memphis night venue called Club Census. Bobby Blake married Ronald Fraser March 29,2015 in Brooklyn NY

1978 – Mark Alexandre "M.A." Fortin is a Canadian screenwriter and producer. He co-writes with his life partner Joshua John Miller; together they wrote the screenplay for the 2015 horror comedy The Final Girls, and the pilot of the USA Network drama series Queen of the South.

Fortin was born in Montreal, Quebec and raised in Oakville, Ontario. He is an alumnus of Emerson College, from which he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2000. He graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theatre Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University. He is gay, and as of 2013 is in a relationship with fellow screenwriter Joshua John Miller.

Fortin frequently co-writes with Joshua John Miller. Their first collaboration was on the short film Dawn, which was directed by actress Rose McGowan. The short premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. The two then wrote and executive produced the horror comedy film The Final Girls, which was directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson and stars Taissa Farmiga and Malin Åkerman. The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 13, 2015, and was given a limited release in the United States on October 9, 2015. Fortin and Miller wrote the pilot of the USA Network drama series Queen of the South, which premiered on June 23, 2016, and for which they also serve as executive producers.

1980 – Justin Jedlica, formerly known as the Human Ken Doll, is an American man who has garnered international attention for undergoing over 700 cosmetic procedures.

At the age of seventeen, Jedlica began to research his first cosmetic procedure, rhinoplasty. Inspired by watching Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous as a teen, Jedlica saw body contouring and cosmetic surgery as emblematic of the wealthy, glamorous lifestyles he sought to emulate. His parents did not approve of cosmetic enhancements and Jedlica was forced to wait until he could legally make the choice for himself. Four days after his eighteenth birthday, Jedlica underwent his first cosmetic procedure, to reconstruct his nose.

As of 2012, Jedlica had undergone approximately 190 cosmetic procedures. These have included rhinoplasty, chest implants, shoulder implants, bicep implants, triceps implants, brow shaving and lifts, cheek augmentations, subpectoral implants, gluteoplasty, and lip augmentations.

Jedlica identifies as gay and wed his partner, a successful businessman, in a civil ceremony in July 2014 after five years of dating; the couple relocated for business purposes to Chicago and resided in Trump Tower. In 2016 they divorced after two years of marriage.

1992 – During a television interview, President George Bush said that if one of his grandchildren were gay he would love the child but tell him homosexuality is not normal and discourage him from working for gay rights.

1994 – The government of Colombia issues a protest against the display of a painting by Chilean artist Juan Davila in London. The painting presents nineteenth-century South American independence hero Simon Bolivar as a transgender.