Famed poet's gay great-grandson found murdered

The gay great-grandson of famed British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson was found stabbed to death in bed last week, and police are investigating the incident as a homicide, the Times of London reported. Family members said that Hallam Tennyson, 85—a former BBC executive—was found by a former partner in his North London home on Wednesday night.

Family members told police that Tennyson invited men back to his apartment up to three times per week. The newspaper reported that a boyfriend has provided investigators with a list of Tennyson's former lovers. "Normally, you worry about your teenage children, but we were worried about him," Tennyson's daughter-in-law Janice told the newspaper. "We are all absolutely devastated. We were all very close to him, particularly our children, who shared with him a love of drama." Tennyson had two children and seven grandchildren.

In 1998, Tennyson, writing about his sexual orientation, said, "Lord Tennyson, my great-grandfather, lived from 1809 to 1892 and would, no doubt, be absolutely horrified by me. He was a sexual prude, whereas I've always been very liberal when it comes to sex."

According to the newspaper, Tennyson was married for 30 years and was up-front with his wife about his sexual orientation. "I told Margo before we married that I was a homosexual, but she did not know what that meant," he wrote in the article. "I explained it to her, but she said she didn't mind. Looking back, we were terribly rational about it. I went to see a psychiatrist, who told me, quite ridiculously, that it was just a passing phase and that the love of a good woman could change me."

Tennyson also penned an autobiography in 1984, discussing a gay-bashing incident as well as his many trysts: "Instead of spending hours haunting public lavatories or other pick-up points, I might have read several books as long as War and Peace—I might even have written one." (Advocate.com)

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