Paul Raymond (publisher)
Paul Raymond, born Geoffrey Anthony Quinn, (15 November 1925 - 2 March 2008), was an English publisher, club owner, and real estate developer. His self-made fortune came from pornographic magazines, property development and ownership of the Raymond Revuebar strip club in Soho.
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[edit] Life and career
Born and raised in Liverpool where he attended St. Francis Xavier's College, his family was abandoned by his father, a haulage contractor, when he was five.[1] The outbreak of the Second World War prompted their relocation to Glossop in Derbyshire, where he was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. Leaving school at 15, he was an office boy for the Manchester Ship Canal before taking up the drums for dance bands.[2] Avoiding imprisonment for evading National Service by feigning a heart condition, he served as a switchboard operator and bandsman. Subsequently he dabbled in the black market as a self-confessed spiv selling nylons and petrol coupons.[3] He changed his name when he tried to break into show business as a mind-reader on Clacton pier at the age of 22.[4]
Raymond toured a show featuring nude models as statues who were moved around the stage on podiums;[5] nudes could not move on stage at this time under a ruling from the Lord Chamberlain's Office which controlled what could be shown in the theatre at this time. Raymond opened the Raymond Revuebar strip club as a private club to circumvent the Lord Chamberlain's powers,[5] in the former Doric Ballroom in Soho's Walker's Court in 1958,[6] which was at the time the first British strip club. Within two years 45,000 members had signed up.[7] Though originally not quite as seedy as its reputation suggests, the venue was popular with prominent people of the day like actor John Mills and comedian Peter Sellers, Raymond had regular clashes with the authorities for over a decade.[8] In 1961 Raymond was fined £5,000 following a magistrate's decision that permitting members to ring the Ding Dong Girl's bells constituted running an "unruly house".[2] The JP also objected to a performer swallowing a snake in public and described the venue as “filthy, disgusting and beastly”.[3]
He first moved into publishing in 1964 by launching the men's magazine King, but it soon ceased publication[2] after only two issues.[4] In 1971 he took over the adult title Men Only; his other magazines eventually included Razzle, Mayfair. Among the models featured in his magazines were Fiona Richmond who became Raymond's girlfriend towards the end of his marriage to Jean Bradley (1951-74).[3]
In 1974 he purchased the lease on the Windmill Cinema and renamed the cinema the Windmill Theatre, a former name of the venue. Other theatres run by Paul Raymond included the Whitehall Theatre, where the sex comedy Pyjama Tops ran for more than five years along with several sequels[3] and the Royalty Theatre.
Raymond diversified beyond pornography and had many millions invested in property and real estate, most notably in Soho from the 1970s onwards,[9] through his company, Soho Estates.[10] Raymond regularly appeared on UK rich lists with an estimated wealth of £650 million by the time of his death, though one associate claimed the estate was worth billions,[11] and Forbes placed Raymond on its list of dollar billionaires.[12] He was though the victim of two attempts at extortion,[13] detailed in Metropolitan Police papers released into the public domain at the end of October 2010. The perpetrators of the second, long thought to have been the IRA were decorators posing as terrorists, sustained a campaign against him, including a threatened bombing and shooting of Raymond himself.[14]
He began to hand over control of his empire to his daughter Debbie during the early 1990s, until her death in 1992 from a heroin overdose.[6] Raymond also had two sons, Derry McCarthy (born Darryl) the eldest from a relationship prior to his marriage with a woman who had rejected Raymond's proposal of marriage.[15] He became estranged from his ex-wife Jean Bradley,[16] who blamed him for their daughter's death, and illegitimate son. Raymond had four recognised grandchildren: Cheyenne and Boston Raymond, from son Howard, and Fawn and India Rose James from daughter Debbie.[17]
Paul Raymond was frequently dubbed by the press as the 'King of Soho'. On January 22, 1967 Paul Raymond was initiated as a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, member no.644, for his contribution to entertainment in the UK. A recluse in his last years living in a penthouse near the Ritz Hotel,[7] Paul Raymond died of respiratory failure in 2008 at the age of 82.[18] His grand daughters Fawn and India James stand to inherit his estate once estimated at £650m. Fawn plans to devote herself to charity work.[19]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Dennis Barker Obituary: Paul Raymond, The Guardian, 3 March 2008
- ^ a b c Obituary: Paul Raymond, Daily Telegraph, 3 March 2008
- ^ a b c d Obituary: Paul Raymond, The Times, 3 March 2008
- ^ a b The Real Paul Raymond, Channel 4 publicity
- ^ a b Jenny Booth "Paul Raymond, porn baron who became 'the King of Soho', is dead", The Times, 3 March 2008
- ^ a b Catharine Arnold Review: "Members Only: The Life and Times of Paul Raymond by Paul Willetts", The Observer, 5 September 2010
- ^ a b Amol Rajan "Paul Raymond, the king of the Soho sex trade, dies aged 82", The Independent, 4 March 2008
- ^ Paul Willetts "Why Paul Raymond, the porn king of Soho, was a hero", Daily Telegraph, 1 September 2010
- ^ Simon Sheridan & Pierre Perrone Obituary: Paul Raymond, The Independent, 5 March 2008
- ^ Property and porn - Property Week
- ^ Ben Laurance and Martin Tomkinson "Paul Raymond heirs to clean up in Soho", The Sunday Times, 9 March 2008
- ^ #1014 Paul Raymond, Forbes, 5 March 2008
- ^ Paul Willetts "Letter: Give us the money – and two tickets to Pyjama Tops", The Guardian, 30 October 2010
- ^ Stephen Bates "Paul Raymond and Bob Guccione were threatened with blackmail", The Guardian, 29 October 2010
- ^ Kathy Brewis "The real Paul Raymond", The Times, 17 August 2008
- ^ Kate Walsh "Son to contest porn baron Paul Raymond's will", The Sunday Times, 4 July 2009
- ^ BBC NEWS | UK | Porn baron Raymond dies aged 82
- ^ Helen Weathers "How my ruthless father tore our family apart, by Paul Raymond's son", Daily Mail, 8 March 2008
- ^ Tim Walker, "No Porn for Fawn James as she helps charity", Daily Telegraph, 23 Mar 2010
[edit] Further reading
- Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema by Simon Sheridan (fourth edition) (Titan Publishing, London) (2011)
- Men Only, Vol.37. No.4. April,1972. "The New Raymond Revuebar Show."
- Today Magazine Vol.2 no.45. 31 December,1960. "Raymond King of the Strip Clubs". An article by Ernest Dudley.
- Today Magazine January, 1961. "A Nice Quiet Country Town, That's the Place for a Strip Club.", An article by Ernest Dudley.
- The Sunday Times Magazine, 23 November, 1980. An article about Paul Raymond .
- The Soho Clarion, Issue 132, Spring 2008. "My Own Private Revuebar". An article by Gerard Simi in the Soho Society magazine.
- The Sunday Times Magazine, "Virtue and Vice", 17 August, 2008.
- The Soho Clarion, Issue 136, Spring 2009. "When the Show Has To End". An article by Gerard Simi in the Soho Society magazine.
- British Pathe film, Clubs Galore. Released 22-12-1958. Film no.1563.29. Paul Raymond talks about the Raymond Revuebar.
- "For the Record:Paul Raymond". LWT television programme 1969.Paul Raymond is interviewed by Alan Watson.
"Good Afternoon".Thames Television 1975.Paul Raymond is interviewed by Elaine Grand.
- Paul Raymond's Erotica, Film and video. 1981.
- A Night at the Revuebar. VHS Video. Electric Video. 1983.
- "Soho Stories". BBC2. 12 television documentary programmes screened from 28-10-1996 to 20-11-1996. Some programmes featured the Raymond Revuebar.
- Soho Sex King: The Paul Raymond Story. Channel 4 television documentary. Screened 15-3-2008. A shorter version of this documentary film was produced in 2005 before the death of Paul Raymond, the title being Sex in the 70's: The King of Soho.
- Members Only: The Life and Times of Paul Raymond by Paul Willetts. London: Serpent's Tail, August 2010. ISBN 9781846687150.
[edit] External links
- The Real Paul Raymond (Channel 4)
- Guardian Online report: "King of Soho" Paul Raymond dies aged 82
- 'Clubs Galore!' - 1958 newsreel exposing Paul Raymond's Soho empire
- BBC News: Porn baron Raymond dies aged 82
- The Stage: Revuebar’s Raymond dies at 82
- PaulRaymond.com: -Official Website of Paul Raymond Publications
