Monday, 29 June 2009

A Welsh gay icon who isn't Shirley Bassey



That iconic Welsh superstar of stage, screen and music Ivor Novello is finally recognised with the unveiling of a statue to him in his native Cardiff.

He has a blue plaque already (on the house of his birth, not far from where I used to live, in Canton and across the road from the long-demolished cottage where (allegedly) a Bishop of Llandaff was once caught in flagrante delicto).

But now the gay genius (who died in 1951) finally has a statue smack-bang in the middle of Cardiff Bay - an area which in his day was notoriously known as "Tiger Bay", the haunt of whores of all sexes. Given his reputation for seduction and sexual proclivity (this is the man who supposedly bedded dozens of famous actors, members of the nobility and politicians - including Winston Churchill), I suppose that's quite fitting really...

Read the whole article on the BBC

Some other Welsh artistes have also done tributes to their fellow countryman by singing some of his classic compositions...


Dorothy Squires - We'll Gather Lilacs [skip to 4:10]

Ivor Novello Appreciation Bureau

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