Tash Siddiqui, Richard Wagner and the Mystery of Old Compton Street

Rumours of Wagner’s cross-dressing proclivities were in circulation long before the speculation resurfaced in the very first issue of The Wagner Journal, edited by Barry Millington and (at that time) Stewart Spencer. Wagner’s transvestite tendencies are most probably no more than fanciful allegations, as Spencer indeed pointed out in his article in that first issue. However, sexual and gender fluidity are all the rage these days, and so it gives me great pleasure to describe here the results of my investigation into Wagner’s stay in Old Compton Street, now the heart of LGBT+ London.