TASH Talk report by Robert Gurney: June 2026 - Wilde about Oscar - Famous for Being Famous & Infamous, given by Simon Whitehouse

Oscar Wilde famously said, "I find it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china".

Born in Dublin in 1854, educated in Dublin (including at Trinity College), he took a degree At Oxford and fell under the influence of the aesthetic movement - particularly John Ruskin and Walter Pater.  While still an undergraduate he cultivated his flamboyant dress and languorous attitudes.

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.