French writer Jean Genet found success later in life

When Jean Genet passed away at the age of 75 in 1986, he had inspired a generation of artists and activists.

Genet had a tough start in life. Born in Paris in 1910, his mother put him up for adoption when he was seven months old. He often ran away from home, and when his foster mother passed away he was taken in by an elderly couple. He didn’t stay with them for long; reportedly he squandered some money he was meant to deliver to someone else and was frequently going out late at night, shocking his new foster parents by wearing makeup.

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At the age of 15 he was sent to prison, a period he would later recount in his novel Miracle of the Rose. After his time in prison, he joined the Foreign Legion when he was 18, but was discharged after he was caught engaging in a homosexual act. He then spent time as a vagabond, getting by through theft and sex work across Europe.

He returned to Paris in 1937 and spent time in and out of jail for petty offences. While serving time in prison he wrote his first poem, which he later self‑published, and his first novel Our Lady of the Flowers.

Genet introduced himself to Jean Cocteau, who was impressed with his writing and helped him get his first novel published. Later, when authorities threatened Genet with a lifetime sentence for his repeated returns to prison, Cocteau rallied other prominent artists, including Pablo Picasso and Jean‑Paul Sartre, to appeal to the French President for leniency. Genet would never return to prison after this.

Instead, his literary career flourished. He wrote many novels and plays, often noted for their explicit portrayals of homosexuality and criminal activity. In the late 1950s he also directed a short black‑and‑white film depicting the sexual fantasies of a male prisoner and his prison warden.

From the 1960s Genet became politically active, visiting the Black Panthers in the USA and spending time in Palestinian refugee camps, where he met Yasser Arafat.

In 1982 filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s final film Querelle was released, based on Genet’s book Querelle of Brest. Several of his books, plays and short stories were adapted into films, and Todd Haynes’ 1991 film Poison is based on Genet’s writings. David Bowie’s song “The Jean Genie” is also inspired by him.

Genet passed away in 1986, aged 75. He had been diagnosed with throat cancer, but it is believed he may have died as the result of a fall.

Actor Kenneth Williams died on this day in 1988

Kenneth Williams is remembered for his acting roles, and as a raconteur and diarist. He featured in 26 of the 31 Carry On films, and for more than 20 years appeared regularly on the BBC radio program Just a Minute.

After building up his skills in repertory theatre, Williams got his big break in the mid‑1950s when he appeared on the radio show Hancock’s Half Hour, alongside comedian Tony Hancock. He appeared on the show for five years.

From the 1950s to the 1970s he appeared in comedy films in Britain and is most well known for his roles in the Carry On series. He was a popular guest on chat shows and was renowned for his anecdotes.

While Williams is remembered for playing mostly camp characters at a time when there was significant stigma around homosexuality, he described himself as asexual.

He was close friends with the playwright Joe Orton, who wrote the role of Inspector Truscott in his play Loot specifically for Williams. Williams, Orton and Orton’s boyfriend, the actor Kenneth Halliwell, travelled together to Morocco. Orton and Halliwell died in a murder‑suicide in 1967.

Williams lived in a series of small flats in central London and had close friendships with Maggie Smith and her husband, the playwright Beverley Cross, Gordon Jackson, and Sheila Hancock.

He died on 15 April 1988. His final diary entry read, “Oh, what’s the bloody point?”. His cause of death was an overdose of barbiturates; the coroner declared it was not possible to determine whether his death was accidental or suicide.

Williams kept diaries throughout his life and often wrote about suicidal ideation and depression. Extracts of his diaries have been published, and they form the basis of several biographies. In 2006 his life was the subject of the television play Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!, in which Michael Sheen portrayed Williams.

In 1979 The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence made their debut

Charity, protest and street‑performance organisation The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence made their public debut on this day in 1979.

As religious organisations campaigned against LGBTIQA+ communities, three men in San Francisco turned to performance art to highlight the church’s opposition to queer people. Ken Bunch (Sister Vicious PHB), Fred Brungard (Sister Missionary Position) and Baruch Golden appeared on San Francisco’s Castro Street to share their mission “to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt.”

They then headed off to spread their universal joy at a local nude beach, a softball game and the annual Castro Street Fair. It’s said the three obtained their real nuns’ outfits from a convent in Iowa under the guise of staging a production of The Sound of Music.

Soon the group were staging regular fundraisers, delivering political messages with aplomb and highlighting hypocrisy. As the AIDS pandemic spread across the globe, and church groups at the time rallied against LGBTIQA+ communities, the membership of the Order of Perpetual Indulgence spread too.

Today there are missions in Australia, the United Kingdom, Colombia, France, Germany, Uruguay and many other nations. Locally, you can spot members of the Order of Perpetual Indulgence from the Abbey of the Black Swan out and about, usually causing a little bit of mischief.

OIP Staff, this post was first published in 2022 and has been updated. 

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