Friday 1 February 2013

Tom Driberg and the Joy of Es(sex)

A free copy of The Joy of Essex is on its way to Dominic in Oxfordshire for enlightening me about the sex life of Tom Driberg MP and Jonathan Meades' esoteric closing line about Essex being a "voracious sump inhabited by an eternal mutating Driberg". Dominic, whose mum once camped at Driberg's mansion with Barking Labour Party, writes: 

"Yes that last line was a bit odd, wasn't it...? Driberg was MP for Barking as well, and lived up near Bradwell (frequently inviting local members of the Barking labour party, and others, to stay.). "Wild promiscuity" is probably the no 1 thing I'd associate with him - and he was quite open, even shamless about this, (well, flamboyant homosexuality and showy Anglo-Catholicism too) - so, excluding the homosexuality (and religion) thing, I suspect the point was a dig at the Essex stereotype of slappers in Romford/Basildon nightclubs, etc."

I'm still not sure about the word "spermophage" that Meade used to describe Driberg, but if you type it into Google, the search engine suggests some dodgy-looking porn sites… best not go there. 

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