After Dinner Speakers - Cynthia Payne
Cynthia Payne was born in Bognor on Christmas Eve 1932. She first hit the headlines in 1978 when the police raided her home in a pleasant tree-lined avenue in suburban Streatham to find a sex party in full swing. Queues of middle-aged and elderly men waited to exchange their 'luncheon vouchers' for food, drink, friendly chat, striptease shows and a trip upstairs with the girl of their choice. Vicars, MPs and lawyers were among those who considered her the best hostess in London. When the case came to court in 1980, she was sent to prison for 18 months for running the biggest disorderly house in history, but on appeal, this was reduced to six months and a hefty fine for running a brothel.
Convinced she was doing no wrong since she no longer ran a brothel, she continued to give an occasional swinging party, and it was an 'end of filming' party for ,Personal Services, which the police chose to raid in 1986.
The resulting court case in January 1987 stole the headlines and kept the nation amused for three weeks with its stories of sex, slaves, transvestites and undercover policemen in disguise. Cynthia won a resounding victory and was found not guilty on 10 charges of controlling prostitutes.
Two more books followed, ,Entertaining at Home, by Cynthia Payne, a coffee table book packed with stories and hints about how to give fun parties and deal with the police, and ,Sexplicitly Yours - The Trial of Cynthia Payne, , by Gloria Walker with Lynn Daly.
Incensed by the second trial, Cynthia was determined to try to change Britain's archaic sex laws, and stood for Parliament as a candidate in the Kensington by-election in July 1988. She was not elected, but the world's media took notice of what she had to say. She is now an accomplished after-dinner speaker, and agony aunt, and she has completed a three-week season at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where she played to packed houses. Cynthia is also concerned about the quality of life in Streatham, where she lives, and hopes that she can draw attention to the problems, persuade local people to take a pride in the area and 'bring back the pleasure of living in Streatham'.
Cynthia has no connection with any other party, though politicians from both Labour and Conservative, and others, have taken up some of her ideas, but she feels that as an individual with personal experience of the law, she can at least get sex reform put on the agenda.
Her life has been depicted in the film Personal Services starring Julie Walters. Also, her early life was dramatised in Wish You Were Here, starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell.
She had her one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1992, which lasted for three weeks and played to packed audiences throughout.
She is a very experienced after-dinner speaker, including one hour and a question and answer session.
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