Quentin Crisp: A Brunch With Greatness

When I found out Quentin Crisp had moved to America, Tom (my partner at the time) and I thought we had to figure out how to meet him. Growing up, I had seen The Naked Civil Servant and we had just been to see his film Resident Alien. So Tom said let’s just look him up – and he was listed!

“We’d love to take you to lunch,” we said. And he goes, in that voice: “Hold on please while I check the Sacred Book.” There was a rustling noise and he wrote it in his diary and we arranged to meet at a restaurant.

It was for lunch on a Sunday. Lo and behold, there he was.

He was 80, which meant he'd actually been in New York for ten years.

I don't remember much about it really.

He probably said something very witty and we all laughed.

Did you know he dyed his hair?

Anyway, I'll just end with a quote I found on Google and - hey bingo - we're done!

Ed Burstell remembers a clearly not very memorable encounter with Quentin Crisp in The Observer.