17 APRIL 1959, Page 7

SIXTY YEARS AGO homosexuality was called— during the Oscar Wilde

trial—'the love that dare not speak its name'; but l thought that its name had been heard often enough since in Parliament, on television, and (in spite of the long resistance of the Lord Chamberlain) on the stage for it to be used without qualm in print. Last week the Daily Express featured an attack on the London stage which, though it dredged up a notable collection of euphemisms—'the West End vice,' unpleasant freemasonry,' secret brotherhood,' chi-chi world,' 'social disease,' evil men'—succeeded in avoiding any explicit mention of what the writer was attacking. 'Isn't it about time,' the headline asked, 'someone said this plainly and frankly?' Yes.

PHAROS

`And as they'd need thousands of guided missiles to destroy our Blue Streak Rocket we're practically invulnerable, old boy.'