TASH Talk report by Robert Gurney: June 2026

The June 2026 TASH lecture was Wilde about Oscar - Famous for Being Famous & Infamous, given by Simon Whitehouse.  

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854, and educated in Dublin, including at Trinity College.  He then took a degree At Oxford, in Greats, falling under the influence of the aesthetic movement and particularly John Ruskin and Walter Pater.  While still an undergraduate he cultivated flamboyant dress and languorous attitudes.  He started collecting, famously saying:"I find it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china".  

After graduating (with a First) he moved to London and moved in literary and artistic circles, including meeting famous actors and actresses such as Ellen Terry and Lily Langtry.  His early literary efforts were now well received.  In 1881, Gilbert and Sullivan wrote Patience, a caricature of the aesthetic movement.  It was a great success, and Richard D'Oyly Carte, the impresario, put on an American tour.  He invited Oscar Wilde to accompany the tour to explain the aesthetic movement.  He was a sufficient success to stay a year and make enough money to establish himself in London.  

He married and bought a house in Chelsea.  He started publishing journalism and children's stories, and then the novel, A Picture of Dorian Gray.  He then started writing plays, first Salome, and then social comedies, starting with Lady Windermere's Fan. These comedies lampooning Victorian society were very popular, and brought Wilde increasing fame and fortune.  

At this time, Wilde was introduced to Lord Alfred Douglas, who was flamboyantly homosexual.  Douglas introduced Wilde to the demi-monde of male prostitution.  Douglas's father, the Marquess of Queensberry, tried to separate Wilde and Douglas, and published accusations against Wilde.  Wilde sued for libel.  His private life was exposed in court, he withdrew the prosecution and bankrupted himself with the costs.  Wilde was then prosecuted by the crown for sodomy and gross indecency and found guilty, sentenced to gaol.  After some time in London prisons, he was incarcerated in Reading Gaol, where his health was broken.  He was released after two years, and immediately sailed for France.  He died three years later, having published the Ballad of Reading Gaol and De Profundis.  

He is buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.  He has subsequently been pardoned of his crime and there are many memorials, including in Reading.

This tragic and complicated life was extremely well explained by our lecturer, Simon Whitehouse, who brought his skills as an actor to illustrate it.
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Original Event Details

Learn about the extraordinary life and times of Oscar Wilde, from his Irish roots through his student days and his rise to the heights of celebrity.

We travel with him to the United States and examine his starring role within the artistic & theatrical worlds of late 19th century London.

We visit his home in bohemian Chelsea and some of his favourite West End haunts.

Finally, we learn how ‘tired of being in the heights, he plunged into the depths’ and became famous for being INfamous...

TASH Members & their Guests Only.  Arrive early to enjoy drinks, lunch and great company.

TIMINGS: Morning Lecture & Online @ 10:45 / Afternoon Lecture @ 14:15.

About our Speaker

Simon is a (recovering) actor, lecturer,  presenter, Alexander Technique and voice teacher and award winning London Blue Badge guide. He has worked as a guide lecturer in-house at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC and the National Gallery guiding both public and private tours. He is in the faculty of Ithaca College and also lectures for the Blue Badge  Guide training course on the performing arts and English literature. Simon’s specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion and art history but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it.