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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Nicole Vassell

Stephen Fry says reading about Oscar Wilde made him fear ‘a cursed life’ as a gay man in Britain

Stephen Fry Oscar Wilde Britain
Getty Images

Stephen Fry has opened up about the impact of reading about Oscar Wilde as a teenager and its effects on his thoughts on being gay in the UK.

Wilde was an Irish poet and dramatist, best known for his 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest. Before his death aged 46 in 1900, Wilde was a high-profile societal figure in Victorian London, and was married to a woman while keeping his homosexuality a secret.

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