Fun facts about the life and work of the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan
1. He dodged his National Service – possibly by being too flamboyant. When Kenneth Tynan (1927-1980) was called up for National Service, he turned up with painted fingernails and wearing an over-the-top floppy hat, and ‘camped up’ his demeanour; he was promptly declared ‘medically unfit’ for service. He had long courted controversy, and even at his school debating society he put forward what were for the time ultra-progressive views in an effort to get a reaction, such as calling for the abolition of laws outlawing homosexuality and abortion. (He once gave a speech extolling the virtues of masturbation, perhaps inspired by Mark Twain’s lecture which took as its theme a similarly onanistically related subject. Later, he would unsuccessfully try to publish an anthology of masturbatory literature.)
