Hello! I’m a new fan who recently became interested in James Hunt, and I really appreciate the content about James that you share on your account! For the past few months, I’ve had a question about James that I haven’t been able to find an answer to😩, and I was hoping you might know something about it. The topic is a little sensitive, and I sincerely hope it won’t offend you.🙇♀️ In any case, thank you very much for all the work you do in organizing and sharing information every day!
I heard about this from Weibo (which is a Chinese social media platform): It was said that during the program "The Grand Prix Night of the Stars"(I think it's the program that James played trumpet🎺), James Hunt unintentionally excited one of Shirley Bassey’s makeup artists (who was a gay ). The makeup artist even said that James was a popular figure in gay magazines. I have tried my best to search for more details and also contacted the blogger who originally posted about this incident. Unfortunately, she said that it happened too long ago and she no longer remembers the source.
Thank you again for all your efforts in collecting and organizing information! The more I learn, the more I feel that James is such a complex and fascinating individual.💓(P.S. I used translator, hope I didn't say something weird)
Hello! You did not say anything weird, and well done for reaching out in a language other than your first language. I only speak English, and I admire anyone who has any command of more than one language :)
There is one little thing that your translator has done! In English we don't say someone is "a gay", we say they are "gay." It is used as an adjective and not a noun!
As it happens, I DO KNOW ABOUT THIS!
The story is from a book called Memories of James Hunt, which is saved on the Internet Archive (archive.org), and it is on page 195.
It was on the night of the Grand Prix Night of the Stars in 1976 when James played the trumpet, and Doug Darnell, one of Shirley Bassey's wardrobe designers (whose work is now in the V&A Museum in London - he was a big deal in his own right) was moving through the corridors behind the stage and encountered James. Doug was carrying Shirley's dress and said "excuse me, please" and James smiled at him as he moved past. James was apparently wearing tight trousers and a shirt with several buttons open, but photos from the night show him in a t-shirt.
Doug, like any sensible person, almost fainted and ran back to the dressing room to tell Shirley he'd just met James Hunt. He added "No wonder the gay papers voted James Hunt No.1 dream boy for years."
Apparently Doug had heard people say "anything on legs and Hunt is chasing it, without waiting for the hounds!" (This is a pun on Hunt's last name, for anyone who isn't familiar with the extremely barbaric and ugly British sport of fox hunting. People on horses hunt foxes with packs of dogs known as hounds. It's gross. When James owned a farm, he banned it on his land. But it's a fairly standard joke and just means James had a reputation). When Doug told Shirley he'd met James, she joked that she'd seen him first so he was hers.
Of course, in the book, this is all written in a recognisable tabloid-newspaper style, where James met Doug in the "dark, narrow corridors" behind the stage, and they were briefly "in a crush," that Doug "almost fainted", and James obviously "appealed to both sexes." I don't think it's implying anything, but many people who grew up in Britain in the 90s (as I did) would recognise that style of writing. It's very melodramatic!
I have done a little bit of googling looking for gay publications from the 70s that might feature James, but haven't found any. Queer history is a whole area of study and unfortunately, because queer people were marginalised, a lot of material relating to queer lives was destroyed or didn't survive.
James also appeared in a TV comedy sketch show written and presented by Kenny Everett, who was gay and whose sexuality would have been known at the time James appeared on his show. I think it's fair to assume from this and other evidence that James wasn't judgmental about gay men. Attitudes were different then but James seems to have generally been quite liberal and accepting.
Thanks for the ask and for your kind words about the blog ❤️
