Quotes from Philip Hoare

Nationalism associated all too easily with anti-semitism. The huge leap in population growth of the nineteenth century, migrations and contacts with other racial groups, had led to theories of eugenics – subscribed to even by intellectual socialists such as H.G.Wells – which advocated drastic and racist measures to accomplish restriction.

vague anti-semitism developed into fully-fledged hatred, derived from specious and elaborate notions of Jewish conspiracy such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Translated by V.E. Marsden, correspondent of the Morning Post, the book purported to prove the existence of an age-old Zionist plot to take over Europe; in fact, it was an invention of Tsarist secret police in Russia, a 'farrago of nonsense' given plausibility by the events of the First World War.

The outbreak of war produced the remarkable phenomenon that an unusual number of homosexuals streamed into the army and voluntarily joined the ranks. In this group there were a large number whom public opinion on the subject of homoerotic love in Germany and the fear of Paragraph 175 had driven from their homeland before the war.

Yet 'homosexual soldiers were very brave warriors … [and] homosexual officers were especially noted for their kindly treatment of the men entrusted to them'. It was a phenomenon borne out by the experience and practice of officers such as Sassoon and Owen.

Such notions thrived as eugenic purity was espoused by Chesterton and Hilaire

Hirschfeld did not regard homosexuality as immoral, and much of his work sought to establish the humanity of those with desires other than the norm. In doing so, he uncovered some sad stories of suffering.

in a recent article in The Times entitled 'The Ferment of Revolution' 'it was suggested that there was a danger of the vast mass of the people becoming revolutionary in their ideas'. This he found an insult to the working classes.

There was a surprising apparent enthusiasm for the war among homosexuals, some of whom went to war in the hope 'that a bullet might put an end to their life which they regard as being a complete failure from their point of view of the present conditions and notions.

the radical right sought victory without compromise; ironically, their bête noire, the left-wing Lloyd George, seemed the only man likely to achieve this. The Unionists backed Lloyd George's coalition government, but in the continuing stalemate of 1917-18, the right became restless, and campaigned for Lloyd George's removal.

Only recently a flier whom I had congratulated on his distinctions replied that in truth, his disregard of death was nothing more than disgust with life.

Protesting against the coalition government, they advocated conscription up to fifty, closure of all German-owned businesses, internment of enemy aliens, conscription in Ireland and counter air raids against German towns.

To die outside a rejecting society, but with men one loved, seemed a fitting end in a time of apocalypse.

may have marched to war to ragtime tunes, but few troops could have suspected that among their ranks were men with ballgowns packed in their kitbags

This was very much Billing territory. He picked up on the literary, journalistic and political notions of the radical right: proposals for Jewish ghettoes and yellow star badges; anti-German and anti-alien strictures; moves against the sale of honours and internal corruption; and, crucially, took them to the masses.

When the more lurid popular newspapers in England mentioned men in women's clothing 'nigger-dancing' at Chelsea parties, the 'blame' was laid on the frontline custom of soldiers donning dresses for troop shows.

Little wonder that Renaissance art glowed so well, in these new fields and lakes of colour. The world was dug up, burned out and boiled down; it was a matter of demand and supply.

In South Africa he came to the conclusion that the Boer War had been fought for the benefit of Jewish gold and diamond financiers, who were exploiting British imperialism for their own international purposes.

informed its readers that research in India 'proved' that addicts died within three months

Beamish had seen the government as dominated by Jews, with Rufus Isaacs, Sir Alfred Mond and Edwin Montagu as Lloyd George's advisors; Britain was now ruled by a 'Jewalition' and Jews were responsible for a quarter of the war's casualties.

A fellow traveller in nascent fascism, and another founder of the Vigilante Society, was the elderly and sinister Dr J.H. Clarke. He was chief consulting physician to the Homeopathic Hospital, Bloomsbury, a profession at odds with his self-proclaimed mission to protect England from the Church of Rome. He also adhered to an unpleasant strain of scientific, Malthusian racism.

First to strike a visitor was the raucous music: strident jerking jazz, faster than anything that had gone before; it was the sound of speed. Yet more striking were the dancers: thin young women, diaphanous short skirts showing their legs, their heads crowned with iridescent feathers twitching in time to the music. To those used to Strauss waltzes, these 'flappers' seemed to be suffering from some new nervous disorder.

The smoky, feverish, frenetic atmosphere was as unlike the genteel debutante balls of Mayfair as the mechanised war of the Western Front was removed from the cavalry charges of nineteenth-century stage-set battles.

people had begun to look recognisably modern as strict gender codes began to blur. Men wore lounge suits and soft collars, while women's mannish tailored suits with ties, shorter skirts and masculine hats were severe and practical, announcing fierce determination rather than acquiescent femininity.

It was the perfect social drug. Unlike morphine, cocaine did not require a hypodermic, and was easy to take in situ, snorted from the knuckles or off nail files; chewing gum masked the teeth-grinding side-effect, and afterwards, alcohol calmed the sleep-depriving frenzy.