tagged w/ Sebastian Horsley
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Story by Max Leonard, le cool London
London’s rich pageant is that bit duller after two sad deaths announced last week.
The first was that of Sebastian Horsley, writer, artist and dandy, who was found dead in his Soho flat after a suspected heroin overdose. He first came to public notice after he staged his own crucifixion in the Philippines, but he became notorious for his louche, Wildean way with words (“Of all the sexual perversions, monogamy is the most unnatural”) and his dissolute lifestyle.
From a wealthy family, Horsley made considerable amounts of money on the stock market in the 1980s, and spent even more on drugs, prostitutes and philandering, transforming his life into a dazzling, amoral piece of performance art – as this explicit interview shows.
His memoirs, Dandy in the Underworld had, only two days before he died, premiered on stage at the Soho Theatre (read the le cool preview), close to his flat, and the tea rooms and bars he used to frequent in elaborate top hats and velvet suits, sipping at a tea cup held with delicately painted fingernails.
Videos about Horsley on Current:
Bullets and Brothels
Dandyism, Drinks & Drugs
Drugs and Crucifixion
Only a few miles away, William Lyttle, AKA the Mole Man, has also died. He hit the papers in 2006 when he was first ordered by Hackney Council to stop digging tunnels beneath his house at 121 Mortimer Road, and then was forcibly evicted while the council filled the tunnels with cement – at a cost of £100,000 that Lyttle was later billed for.
Lyttle claimed to have dug down to the water table, and that he only wanted a wine cellar and a ‘big basement’; nevertheless, it was estimated that he removed 100 cubic metres of soil over a period of 40 years – and that his tunnels, up to 8m deep stretched 20m in all directions under his neighbours’ properties. In 2001 his excavations caused a 15ft hole in the pavement outside the house.
The bill for scaffolding, new foundations and removing 30 tonnes of debris eventually reached £293,000, and the council took over managing the house in lieu of payment, moving Lyttle to a flat where he soon demolished the wall between the kitchen and the living room.
Police have been unable to trace the next of kin, the Guardian reports , who may stand to inherit a considerable amount from the property’s sale.
Two fascinating, flawed, unique men. Exhibitionist and introvert, driven by obscure motivations, living in completely separate worlds yet only a few miles apart.
How do we reconcile, or even understand them? Of his work, Lyttle said: “People ask what the big secret is. And you know what? There isn't one.”
Rest in Peace.
Photo captions:
Sebastian Horsley, taken by Steve Glashier
William Lyttle’s house, by sarflondondunc
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Story by Max Leonard, le cool London
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Sebastian Horsley, a self styled Soho dandy, gives us his opinions on sex, sleeping with prostitutes and whether or not he's a 'lilo-sexual'.Sebastian Horsley, a self styled Soho dandy, gives us his opinions on sex, sleeping... more
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What's a dandy? We'll leave that answer to Sebastian Horsley...
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Sebastian Horsley holds forth on his views on drugs, suicide, crucifixion and life and death in general.Sebastian Horsley holds forth on his views on drugs, suicide, crucifixion and life and... more
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