Tuesday, September 8, 2026
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| This Day in Gay History | ||||||||
September 08
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Via Daily Dharma: A Perfectly Realized Moment
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Monday, September 7, 2026
Via White Crane Institute \\ GAVIN MAXWELL
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| This Day in Gay History | |||
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Died  1969 - GAVIN MAXWELL died on this date, (b: 1914) I don't know about you, but I have always loved otters and that love first made itself known to me in the book Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell. So it was with great delight that I discovered that this book was written by a gay man. A Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his work with otters Gavin Maxwell wrote the wonderful book Ring of Bright Water in 1960 about how he brought an otter back from Iraq and raised it in Scotland. Ring of Bright Water sold more than a million copies and was made into a movie starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna in 1969. The title Ring of Bright Water was taken from a poem by Kathleen Raine, who said in her autobiography that Maxwell had been the love of her life. Maxwell's book Ring of Bright Water describes how, in 1956, he brought a Smooth-coated otter back from Iraq and raised it in "Camusfearna" (Sandaig) on the west coast of Scotland. He took the otter, called Mijbil, to the London Zoological Society, where it was decided that this was a previously unknown sub-species of Smooth-coated Otter. It was therefore named Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli (or, colloquially, "Maxwell's Otter") after him. It is thought to have become extinct in the alluvial salt marshes of Iraq as a result of the large-scale drainage of the area that started in the 1960s. In his book The Marsh Arabs, Wilfred Thesiger wrote: [I]n 1956, Gavin Maxwell, who wished to write a book about the Marshes, came with me to Iraq, and I took him round in my tarada for seven weeks. He had always wanted an otter as a pet, and at last I found him a baby European otter which unfortunately died after a week, towards the end of his visit. He was in Basra preparing to go home when I managed to obtain another, which I sent to him. This, very dark in colour and about six weeks old, proved to be a new species. Gavin took it to England, and the species was named after him. The otter became woven into the fabric of Maxwell's life. Kathleen Raines' relationship with Maxwell ended in 1956 when she indirectly caused the death of Mijbil. Raine held herself responsible not only for losing Mijbil but for a curse she had uttered shortly beforehand, frustrated by Maxwell's homosexuality: "Let Gavin suffer in this place as I am suffering now." Raine blamed herself thereafter for all Maxwell's misfortunes, beginning with Mijbil's death and ending with the cancer that took his life in 1969 Maxwell was the youngest son of Lieutenant-Colonel Aymer Maxwell and Lady Mary Percy, fifth daughter of the seventh Duke of Northumberland. His paternal grandfather, Sir Herbert Maxwell, was an archaeologist, politician and natural historian. Maxwell was raised in the tiny village of Elrig, in south-western Scotland. Maxwell's relatives still reside in the area and the family's ancient estate and grounds are in nearby Monreith. During World War II, Maxwell served as an instructor with the Special Operations Executive. After the war, he purchased the Isle of Soay of Skye in the inner Hebrides, Scotland. According to his book Harpoon at a Venture (1952, since republished under various titles), bad planning and a lack of finance meant his attempt to establish a basking shark fishery there between 1945-48 proved unsuccessful. In 1956, Maxwell toured the reed marshes of Southern Iraq with explorer Wilfred Thesiger. Maxwell's account of their trip appears in A Reed Shaken By The Wind, later published under the title People of the Reeds. It was hailed by the New York Times reviewer as "near perfect". Maxwell next moved to Sandaig (which he called Camusfeàrna in his books), a small community opposite Eileen Iarmain on a remote part of the Scottish mainland. This is where his "otter books" are set. After Ring of Bright Water (1960), he wrote The Rocks Remain (1963), in which the otters Edal, Teko, Mossy and Monday show great differences in personality. The Rocks Remain is a sequel to Ring of Bright Water, as it demonstrates the difficulty Maxwell was having, possibly as a result of his mental state, in remaining focused on one project and the impact that had on his otters, Sandaig, and his own life. In 1966, he traveled to Morocco with a male companion, tracing the dramatic lives of the last rulers of Morocco under the French. His account of the trip was published as Lords of the Atlas: The Rise and Fall of the House of Glaoua 1893-1956. During the Moroccan Years of Lead, the regime there considered his book subversive and banned its importation. In The House of Elrig (1965), Maxwell describes his family history and his passion for the calf-country, Galloway, where he was born. It was during this period that he met ornithologist Peter Scott and the young Terry Nutkin, who later became a children's television presenter. A closeted homosexual, Maxwell married Lavinia Renton (née Lascelles) on February 1 1962. The marriage lasted little more than a year and they divorced in 1964. In 1968, Maxwell's Sandaig home was destroyed by fire and he moved to the lighthouse cottage of Eilean Bàn (White Island), another island he owned off the coast of Skye. He invited John Lister-Kaye to join him on Eilean Bàn and help him build a zoo on the island and work on a book about British wild mammals. Lister-Kaye accepted the invitation, but both projects were abandoned when Maxwell died from cancer later that same year.
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|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8 Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute "With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989! |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8 | ||
Via Daily Dharma: Be Kind to Your Mind
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Via Fb \\ Oscar Wilde
Bisexual Visibility Month!In London, if you are leaving Charing Cross Station and heading toward Leicester Square or Covent Garden, you might cross the Strand and cut behind St. Martin’s in the Fields on Adelaide Street, which is a pedestrian walkway at the south end. It is a place where people rest or talk or hurry on by. There, in the middle of the crowd, rests a wonderful sculpture. It’s a grey/green sarcophagus-like box with upturned ends. Rising up at the north end is head and shoulders and one hand holding a cigarette. The hair is long. There is a frilly collar and a cravat. The face is alive and laughing, as if the owner is having a wonderful time. The name of the sculpture is “A Conversation with Oscar Wilde”. Looking at it you feel this would be a rare and fun conversation.
Oscar Wilde, the playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet was a most unusual man. He was born in Dublin in 1854. His father was an ear and eye surgeon who was knighted for his work in medicine. The father was also a noted philanthropist and writer. His mother was a poet who instilled in Oscar a love of poetry and art. Wilde learned Greek, Latin, and French as a child. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin in 1871 and won another scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford in 1874. At Magdalen, Wilde was part of the aesthetic and decadent movements which stressed beauty and art for arts sake. Two of his tutors were Walter Pater and John Ruskin, the essayists and art critics. #BannedBooksWeek
In the 1880s, Wilde married, and he and his wife had two sons. His wrote primarily poetry and stories and essays for journals. He also edited and managed journals. By 1886 Wilde’s marriage was coming apart, and he was involved in gay relationships.
Most of Wilde’s work was published in the period of 1890 to 1895. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde’s only novel, came out in 1890. The plays Salome, Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest came out in 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1895 respectively.
In 1891, Wilde met Lord Alfred Douglas, an Oxford undergraduate, and the two began an affair. Soon they were involved in the Victorian underground of gay prostitution. In 1895, the Marquis of Queensberry, the father of Douglas, publicly accused Wilde of being gay. Although his friends advised him to ignore the public outing, Wilde decided he couldn’t let it go. He took the Marquis to court for libel and lost. Wilde was then charged with gross indecency. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years at hard labor, 1895 to 1897.
Prison ruined Wilde’s health. He never recovered from the hard labor, the diet, and the harsh treatment. While Wilde was in jail, he wrote a 50,000-word letter to Douglas that reflects on his earlier life, his relationship with Douglas, and what he learned during his time in jail. This work is called De Profundis. When Wilde left jail, he immediately left England and lived in poverty in France for his last three years. In 1897 he wrote “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” about life in prison.
Sunday, September 6, 2026
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - September 6, 2026 🌅
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“Every role, every label you have, is just another sombodiness.” |
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Source: Ram Dass – Here and Now – Ep. 156 – Dying Into What Is |
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