Quentin and Philip: A Double Portrait - Tapa dura

A fascinating double portrait of two great English eccentrics: Quentin Crisp and Philip O'Connor.Andrew Barrow first met Quentin Crisp in 1971 and their friendship lasted until Crisp's death last year. Through Crisp, he also met the wild, much-married 'genius' Philip O'Connor. The two men had known each other since the beginning of the Second World War when they both inhabited the same select corner of Low Bohemia. O'Connor was as ill-mannered as Quentin was polite, but like Quentin he would enjoy huge success with a volume of autobiography. Memoirs of a Public Baby was published in 1958 and took the world by storm. Barrow knew both men and his book is a wide-ranging but highly personal account of these two extraordinarycharacters. At the same time it is a vivid picture of high and low life in London, France and New York in the second half of the twentieth century.

Andrew Barrow is a writer and journalist, who regularly contributes to the pages of the Independent, The Daily Telegraph and the Spectator. He is also the author of two novels, both published by Picador - The Tap Dancer and The Man in the Moon. He lives in London.