1893-01-15

On this date British musical comedy performer IVOR NOVELLO was born in Cardiff Wales. It seems everyone except the millions of women of swooned over the star knew he was Gay. Novello wrote the famous World War I song “Keep the home fires Burning,” but it is not clear which soldier he was keeping them burning for. Novello was well known for some of his more glamorous Gay affairs. For thirty-five years, he was the lover of the British actor Bobbie Andrews, and he had an affair with the British poet and writer Siegfried Sassoon. No less than Winston Churchill has admitted having a one-night stand with Novello. When asked how it was, Churchill is said to have reported, “Musical!”