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Gareth Pugh on Quentin Crisp.
"I was 15 years old and living in Sunderland when I first became aware of Quentin Crisp. Initially I thought he was in a similar vein to the art critic Brian Sewell - but on a whole other, previously unfathomable, level of camp. I've seen The Naked Civil Servant, the film based on his autobiography of the same name, with John Hurt playing Quentin. The actor who plays Trigger in Only Fools And Horses is in it as well - in plum lipstick! It's hilarious, but has a definite undercurrent of darkness.
I admire Quentin for a mixture of reasons, epitomised by the way he dressed. He stuck to a look that he felt worked, a look that has since become iconic. And I love the disregard he had for what others thought about it. He had a sharp tongue, and was very quick-witted - some of the things he came out with were amazing. There was an underlying childish or naive quality about his observations... rather like how children say the most inappropriate things at the most inopportune moments. One of my favourite Crisp quotes is, Never keep up with Joneses. Drag them down to your level. It's cheaper!'
Also I think it was his blatant display of homosexuality at a time when that was something incredibly taboo and frowned upon that I really admire. He came up against a great deal of negative public reaction, in London especially, for playing around with androgyny when most people didn't really understand what the word meant. He didn't do it behind closed doors either, but out on the streets, right in people's faces. I like to think of Quentin as a gay crusader!
I find the air of irreverence he had really inspiring, as well as his persistence in sticking to his own ideas and ideals regardless of where it took him, or what the general consensus was. I love how he never once thought he was the one with the problem, it was always everybody else - it's such a fantastic way to look at things, if a little insular. There really isn't anyone else like him - he was just so incredibly different. Maybe that's why I admire him so much.
Quentin would make a really amazing grandad - like a cross between a naughty auntie and a fun uncle figure. I think everyone needs a bit of that sort of influence when they're growing up."
"I was 15 years old and living in Sunderland when I first became aware of Quentin Crisp. Initially I thought he was in a similar vein to the art critic Brian Sewell - but on a whole other, previously unfathomable, level of camp. I've seen The Naked Civil Servant, the film based on his autobiography of the same name, with John Hurt playing Quentin. The actor who plays Trigger in Only Fools And Horses is in it as well - in plum lipstick! It's hilarious, but has a definite undercurrent of darkness.
I admire Quentin for a mixture of reasons, epitomised by the way he dressed. He stuck to a look that he felt worked, a look that has since become iconic. And I love the disregard he had for what others thought about it. He had a sharp tongue, and was very quick-witted - some of the things he came out with were amazing. There was an underlying childish or naive quality about his observations... rather like how children say the most inappropriate things at the most inopportune moments. One of my favourite Crisp quotes is, Never keep up with Joneses. Drag them down to your level. It's cheaper!'
Also I think it was his blatant display of homosexuality at a time when that was something incredibly taboo and frowned upon that I really admire. He came up against a great deal of negative public reaction, in London especially, for playing around with androgyny when most people didn't really understand what the word meant. He didn't do it behind closed doors either, but out on the streets, right in people's faces. I like to think of Quentin as a gay crusader!
I find the air of irreverence he had really inspiring, as well as his persistence in sticking to his own ideas and ideals regardless of where it took him, or what the general consensus was. I love how he never once thought he was the one with the problem, it was always everybody else - it's such a fantastic way to look at things, if a little insular. There really isn't anyone else like him - he was just so incredibly different. Maybe that's why I admire him so much.
Quentin would make a really amazing grandad - like a cross between a naughty auntie and a fun uncle figure. I think everyone needs a bit of that sort of influence when they're growing up."