Paul Raymond: Pioneer, Loner and Recluse
Paul Raymond has been all over the news this week due to a biog just released, but who was he really? For some he was the face of stripping in the UK, his London club was as part of the skyline in the capital as Big Ben.
We are of course much more used to the face of Peter Stringfellow, his media friendly chat, dire fashion sense and hair but Paul Raymond seems to have been much more a Howard Hughes character, shadowy and eccentric making billions of pounds having magazine titles that were household names in the UK and beyond. His past was just as shadowy with a confusing mix of truth and fable in what he told the media, in his last years he became a virtual hermit following his wifes death, becoming the richest man in the country beating royalty having a fortune of £1.5 billion while staying down to earth enough to chat to employees at all levels.
Paul Raymond was so famous that his phone was bugged by the authorities, targeted by the IRA and by Mary Whitehouse types. Personal trajedy such as drugs death of his daughter led him to retreat from the limelight in the 90s.
Paul Raymond was a true character, expect the movie any time from now! He helped bring the industry out of the darkness of Soho onto every high street in the country, would lap dancing have been possible without his vision?