In April 1895 London was fascinated and shocked by the trial where Oscar Wilde sued the Marquess of Queensberry (father of Bosie, Oscar’s lover) for libel. But there was so much evidence against him that Wilde had to drop the prosecution and the Marquess was acquitted. Oscar had to pay the expenses, which left him bankrupt, but more importantly he was in danger of arrest. In fact, as he left the court, a warrant for his arrest was applied for on charges of sodomy and gross indecency.

Wilde did have time to catch the boat train to France, where he could have lived out his life comfortably and safely. However, the man who had accepted all the good that society could give him, now felt he also had to accept the bad. He went to the Cadogan Hotel and dithered there with his friend Robert Ross. Soon police arrived, he was arrested, and of course, after another trial he was sentenced.

Poor Oscar did two years’ hard labour in three different prisons – his health was destroyed, and apart from The Ballad of Reading Gaol, which was published under his prison number C.3.3., he never wrote another word.

Oscar Wilde uttered the best known literary last words, saying “My wallpaper and I have been fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has got to go”. A true wit until his last breath.