Desire and Danger under Blackout and Bombs
7.00pm Thursday 26th March 2026
The Horse Hospital
Colonade
London
WC1N 1JD
Admission: Tickets £13.80 inc. in advance only HERE
With millions of young men and women passing through the capital on military service, the transitory nature of life under threat of sudden and violent death created a charged atmosphere in which conventional boundaries loosened. The darkness of the blackout became both cover and catalyst.
From the pre-war tradition of Guardsmen informally selling encounters in the royal parks, to the indefatigable dancing girls of the Windmill Theatre, the wartime city became, for a time, a place of sanctuary and exploration, particularly for men who did not follow the heterosexual norm — a fleeting liberation shaped by anonymity, movement and risk.
And in a metropolis under the convenient cover of darkness, it wasn't just sexuality but criminality that took advantage of the unlit streets. CLARE SMITH, curator of The Police Museum, examines the criminal side of the blackout. Londoners may have prided themselves on their Blitz spirit, but the enforced darkness altered patterns of crime across the capital, creating new opportunities for theft, assault and violence.
Clare will focus on the case of the so-called 'Blackout Ripper' whose murders exploited the conditions of wartime London and exposed the vulnerabilities of a city under nightly cover.
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LUKE TURNER is co-founder and editor of online culture magazine The Quietus and has contributed writing to The Observer, Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph, Sunday Times, Vice, Dazed & Confused and the BBC. His memoir Men At War is a critically-acclaimed account of masculinity and sexuality during the Second World War.
LUKE TURNER is co-founder and editor of online culture magazine The Quietus and has contributed writing to The Observer, Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph, Sunday Times, Vice, Dazed & Confused and the BBC. His memoir Men At War is a critically-acclaimed account of masculinity and sexuality during the Second World War.
CLARE SMITH is the Curator of the Metropolitan Police Museum. She has over twenty years of museum experience. Her PhD examined the cinematic depiction of Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel murders. She has published on masculinity and gender in cinema and depictions of victims and detectives on screen.
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Our home, THE HORSE HOSPITAL, is a unique Grade II listed not for profit, independent arts venue within the only existing unspoilt example of a two-floor, purpose-built stable with public access in London.
Built in 1797 by James Burton. the shell is constructed with London Stocks whilst the interior features a mock cobbled re-inforced concrete floor and ramps with slats to prevent the horses from slipping. Each floor has 5 cast iron pillars and several original iron tethering rings.