It is only recently, however, that I have become aware that in Soho there used to be a beautiful Italian woman called Claudia. She worked at 70A Berwick Street until a few years ago. She has been described as looking like Sophia Loren and Raquel Welch. Readers of this blog may know that I have always been most strongly attracted to Italian and Italian-looking women, and I have always lusted after Sophia and Raquel.
I couldn't understand how I could have missed her. I have been going to Soho and using PunterNet for the past ten years. I tried to find out all I could about Claudia, and then I became aware that Sebastian Horsley had seen her a number of times and written about her. He wrote an article in the Guardian/Observer and there is an extract from Dandy in the Underworld in Twill magazine.
I went onto Amazon and ordered a used paperback. When I got it I found the pages about Claudia, and then I read the book from the beginning. I wasn't particularly interested in his wealthy but dysfunctional childhood, his failed attempts to be a punk musician, or even his association with Jimmy Boyle, 'Scotland's most violent gangster'. After I re-read what he had to say about Claudia there was an account of descent into crack cocaine addiction, some rehab, and then another descent into addiction, this time heroin. I have never taken drugs although I have met people who were crack and heroin addicts so this was of great interest to me. It helped me to understand something of what it is like to be totally addicted.
The most poignant part of the book is when his brother-in-law Giles, who had been a heroin addict, offered to help Sebastian. He gave him a job in his business, even though all of the other addicts he had tried to help had robbed him. Giles seemed to have everything sorted and so it was a shock when Sebastian got a call from his sobbing sister. He went round and found Giles dead on the sofa, an abandoned syringe next to him.
I noticed throughout the book numerous references to suicide. His mother had tried to kill herself four times and his grandmother achieved it. He often wrote about how desirable it would be. It had been suggested that Sebastian had killed himself, but it is generally reckoned to have been an accidental overdose. Taking heroin however is a bit like Russian roulette. It is so difficult to get the dose right, and many addicts die by accidental overdosing. He gives a graphic account of when he overdosed but survived. He also gives an account of when he played actual Russian roulette - he owned a gun.
Sebastian's book and his life would not make many people like him. I don't think you could say that he didn't care what people thought of him (as he had said of John Lydon). He would have liked to be adored but I think he thought that it would be better to be despised than ignored. His flaunting of his wealth, his self-centredness and immaturity would enrage many. People would have envied his privileged life, but I am only envious that he knew Claudia.
The last mention of Claudia in the book is where he invites her to his flat to meet another beauty, the model Rachel Garley. It is there that Claudia finally allows him to kiss her; she had not permitted him to do so before.
I saw Sebastian once, sitting outside a café in Old Compton Street. I recognized him immediately; no one else wore a top hat. Apparently it was quite unusual for him to be out during daylight hours. He looked quite approachable, I wish that I had said hello to him. There was a play about him based on his memoirs. The final words said by the actor playing him were "If you see me on old Compton Street please say hello won't you?"
For the purposes of completeness I should mention some of the other activities that Sebastian managed to cram into his short life. He was a failed punk band member. He got to know intimately psychopathic Scottish gangster Jimmy Boyle. He swam with Great White sharks. He lost a fortune and regained a fortune by gambling on the financial markets. He was voluntarily crucified in the Philippines. He was a semi-successful artist.
