though I find Michael Thornton a bit creepy.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1167197...ichael-Thornton.html

very interestingly I have talked a few times with Orton's sisters Leonie and Marilyn. Neither of them hold any ill feeling toward Halliwell, and maintain that he needed mental health treatement which was not available at the time.

They also debunk the myth of the Prick Up Your Ears film which portrayed a handsome Orton staying with an ugly Halliwell out of pity. Both sisters (tho Leonie is the one who has most facts to hand) maintain that this was a genuine love story right to the end.

I have written quite a lot about this.

I thought this a bit creepy when I read it before you posted..

I've always been fascinated by Orton. I love his plays.
It sounds like this awful murder was going to happen at some stage and perhaps Thornton was the trigger, but it could have happened with anyone saying the wrong thing.

It's a bit odd though that Thornton seems to want to claim the murder for himself...

ps: those alterations that Orton & Halliwell did in library books which they went to jail for, are very funny. Like works of art.

once when I spoke to Leonie she said she did not believe that Orton had been having an affair at the time of the murder (this had been rumoured before).

She also said (supported by Orton specialist Francesca Cappa) that the protrayal of the Orton and Halliwell's relationship in the media and Prick Up Your Ears was essentially homophobic, making it sound as sordid aspossible. She said that Orton is often protrayed as an otherwise macho man (an image Orton deliverately created,like a fictional character) who was corrupted by an "ugly sicko" (Halliwell). Both Leonie and Cappa maintained that Orton and Halliwell's relationship was actually one of equals.

Leonie told me that in her opinion, Halliwell had a mental health problem which, in these days, could easily be treated. Halliwell's GP was so concerned for his wellbeing that on the night before the murder, he tried several times to contact Halliwell to check up on him.

sorry to repost after myself, but I seem to have repeated myself in my post above- oops! (I blame the wine).

Good article about Joe Orton's death in the directory on this fascinating albeit 'perhaps in questionable taste' web site.

www.findadeath.com/

interesting to a degree Foz, but that site also quotes the John Lahr biography which has been largely discredited by Orton's family and academics.

One problem with the Lahr biography is that it buys into the macho persona that Orton created as his public image.