ABSTRACT
In 1963, four years prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK, the Soviet spy John Vassall was discovered to be gay. The British tabloid newspaper the Sunday Mirror published an article entitled ‘How to Spot a Possible Homo’, which listed a number of folk stereotypes about gay men:
It is high time we had a short course on how to pick a pervert . . . Basically homos fall into two groups – the obvious and the concealed . . . THEY are everywhere, and they can be anybody . . . I wouldn’t tell them my secrets. 1 The Middle-aged man, unmarried . . . 2 The man who has a consuming interest in youths . . . 3 The Crawler . . . 4 The Fussy Dresser . . . 5 The Over-clean man.
