Kenny Everett (December 25, 1944 – April 4, 1995)

[reviews_and_ramblings]

The outrageous humor of Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole, 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an essential element of Pirate Radio, the offshore station that expanded the boundaries of good taste in European broadcasting. Everett was a popular comic and DJ in England, with shows on BBC-1 and Capitol Radio. For BBC Television, he created The Kenny Everett Show, where he played flamboyant characters such as biker Sid Snot, French barber Marcel Wave, and buxom blonde Cupid Stunt. Everett married the singer and psychic Audrey Lee "Lady Lee" Middleton (b. 14 February 1937, the daughter of a fireman) at Kensington Register Office on 2 June 1969. By September 1979, they had separated, and in the mid-1980s, he publicly acknowledged his homosexuality. One of his first boyfriends, an Australian waiter called John "Jay" Pitt was found for Everett by his wife; he and Pitt lived together for a while. In the 80s, having fully thrown off his guilt about his sexuality, he took up nightclubbing with a vengeance, and it was on one such evening out that he met former Red Army soldier Nikolai Grishanovitch. Grishanovich was one of the two husbands he eventually unveiled to the press (the other was a Spanish waiter, Pepe Flores), and he died of an Aids-related illness in 1991, the same year as Everett's close friend Freddie Mercury. Everett died of AIDS-related illness in 1995.

Timeline & Places:

• December 25, 1944: born.

• April 4, 1995: died. Buried at Mortlake Crematorium  Mortlake, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London, England

References:

Queer Places, Vol. 2.1: Retracing the Steps of LGBTQ people around the World
ISBN-13: 978-1532906312 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1532906315
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/6228833
Amazon print: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1532906315/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1KZBO/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Comments

[julesjones]

He was such a funny, funny man, and I wish more of his work was available on DVD. When he died, I did literally laugh through tears as I read his obituary in one the newspapers.

I hadn't realised there was a new biography out -- must add to my wishlist.