As our newly crowned Queen glided past the cheering crowds on Coronation Day, Rex recalls that other queens were also offering services to the nation.

In this short extract, Rex talks about the places he used to visit in order to find sex partners. He recalls that in the 50s and 60s, 'cottages', which is gay slang for public toilets, were the place to pick up potential partners. He also recalls that six temporary toilets were erected along the route of the 1953 Coronation, to provide relief to the watching crowds.

The temporary toilets in St Martin's-in-the-Fields, were particularly busy and Rex tells of a man who, when asked whether or not he saw the Coronation parade, replied that he was much too busy enjoying himself in the 'cottage'.

Rex also remembers that the police became much more active from Coronation year onwards, following Home Secretary Maxwell Fyfe's declaration in Parliament to 'rid England of this plague'. Rex remembers a very popular 'cottage' where men met in Shaftesbury Avenue, the cast iron remains of which can still be seen today, as well as the numerous bars in the area. Men met mostly for casual one-night stands which, as Rex observes, didn't lead to that many long term-relationships. However, since most people were doing it, casual 'hook-ups' were considered to be nothing unusual.

Teacher, actor, author and tour-guide, Rex was born in 1928, in Dorset. His father was a village butcher, and his mother was a housewife. Having his first homosexual experience when he was nine or ten, Rex went to school in the sea-side town of Weymouth, where he had several more encounters with sailors and men in public lavatories.

Aged 19, Rex began a relationship with an older man, a debonair and cultivated ex-officer, who was part of the 1930s 'country house set', and who also introduced him to the word 'homosexual'. On moving to London, Rex lived with a new partner, John. Meanwhile, the well-set 'country gentleman', back in Dorset was arrested and later convicted for 'corrupting young men'. Rex was also drawn into the police investigation but escaped their close attention.

Rex attended RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, along with John (later Joe) Orton and Kenneth Halliwell, both of whom he knew and liked, though he lost touch with the pair before they became famous (Orton was later murdered by his lover, Halliwell, in 1967). Rex had a few bit-parts in films and worked as a freelance writer for BBC Radio, though for most of his life, he was a teacher His partner John worked for J. Sainsbury's, as did Rex for a short while, though John stayed on at the company.

Rex penned an autobiographically based novel called 'Rid England of this Plague', the title of which is a quote from a 1953 statement from the then Home Secretary, David Maxwell Fyfe, who promised to eradicate homosexuality from Britain. In his later years, Rex was involved with the 'Friends of Nunhead Cemetery' conservation group, becoming a committee member and the author of many of their publications. Rex died in 2017.