1.646.560.3205
andrew@oscarwildetours.com
I have been hoping for an England tour from Oscar Wilde Tours for years and I was very excited to see that wish fulfilled. It did not disappoint at all. The tour could be called the great English literary tour as we went from Shakespeare (Stratford on Avon + The Globe Theatre London), A walking tour of Bloomsbury (London) and then the homes of Virginia & Leonard Woolf, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, Knole and Sissinghurst for Vita Sakeville West and Harold Nicholson. Bath was the point for all of our Jane Austen segments with visits to the Pump Room for tea and an optional trip to the Theatre Royal where Jane placed bits of her novels (Northanger Abbey and Persuasion). For dear Oscar Wilde we visited his Tite Street Home in London, Brighton where he and Bosie vacationed, Oxford University and Magdalen college where Oscar studied . Then a trip to York and Halifax to see where the fascinating Ann Lister lived and loved and wrote her diaries. All this plus Blenheim, the Royal Pavillion at Brighton and Howards Castle for a bit of Peerage living. Also included were marvelous meals ,an incredible local guide who kept us all together (amazing for a group of 15 and not as easy as one might think) . We had enough free time in London to see several plays and museums on our own although we did have a few museum tours included (a particularly good tour of the V & A with a wonderful guide). If you want to visit England and not just London but also the beauty of the countryside, the stately homes and gardens while enjoying the company of a lively group of fellow travelers, I cannot recommend Oscar Wilde Tours highly enough. Andrew packs your days with fascinating information on the sites visited and the people who lived in those places. Believe it or not, this is just the highlights, there was much more and all of it made for a very memorable trip
One of the greatest thrills on this trip was our visit to Oscar Wilde’s house in Tite Street, Chelsea. Even though it was long ago broken up into flats, Jen, the charming occupant of the ground floor, welcomed us into her home and shared with us much Oscar Wilde lore and many memorabilia.
We stayed in a wonderful hotel in London, The Bloomsbury, with sitting rooms decorated à la Duncan Grant, and a first class staff including several tall & handsome Bulgarian doormen, who always wished us a pleasant day when we set out, and inquired after us when we returned. We were within easy walking distance of most of central London and the theatre district, just down the street from the British Museum, and with an easy commute to Heathrow via the Elizabeth Line.
Other memorable tour highlights: Oscar Wilde’s College at Oxford (Magdalen); high tea at the Pump Room in Bath, with echoes of Jane Austen, and ascending Beckford Tower, built by an wealthy gay eccentric; Edward II’s 14th century tomb in Gloucester Cathedral, along with some 2004 Jesus paintings in the Lady Chapel that were highly virile; experiencing the over-the-top interior of Brighton Royal Pavilion; pilgrimages to the Bloomsbury group homes in Kent (Monk’s House & Charleston Farmhouse, Sissinghurst & Knole); and, on the York extension, visiting York Minster, Castle Howard (scene of the 1981 “Brideshead Revisited”), and Shibden Hall, Anne Lister’s home outside Halifax.
We consumed several delightful meals together, at pubs and inns — British cuisine has come a long way from Blimpie’s! And our local guides (especially Nick!) were, as always, superb. Thanks again to Professor Andrew Lear for his design and execution of a splendid fortnight for us!
People are fascinated by Japan: by its refined arts and crafts, from calligraphy to kimonos: its exotic (to us) cultural traditions, such as geishas and tea ceremonies, and by its contrasting, almost futuristic modernity, as in the Shinkansen bullet trains and anime.
But did you know that Japan also has one of the world’s most interesting LGBTQ+ histories? Until Westernization took over in the 19th century, Japan had very different sexual customs from the West—including *male* geishas, to start with—and some claim this is still reflected in today’s worlds of manga and Japanese TV.
So come on Oscar Wilde Tours and Out Asia’s LGBTQ+ history and art tour of Japan. See the beautiful temples of Kyoto, relax in a traditional hot spring spa by Mount Fuji, experience a Japanese tea ceremony, ride on a bullet train—and learn about Japan’s LGBTQ+ side while doing it, from the time when (supposedly) monks brought same-sex love from China to Japan’s Buddhist monasteries and Samurai warriors to the elegant “pleasure quarters” of the 17th and 18th centuries to today’s Shinjuku Ni-chome gay town and its 300 bars.
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Professor Andrew Lear combines a love of travel with a passion for gay history, and he brings both of those attributes to Oscar Wilde Tours.
Professor Lear holds a B.A. from Harvard and a Ph.D. from UCLA. He has published a widely praised book on male-male love in ancient Greek art, as well as a number of important scholarly articles in this area… READ MORE
Our tour starts and ends at our Japanese hotel. It includes hotel accommodation; all breakfasts, 7 lunches, and 5 dinners; guide, escort, admission to all sights on the tour, and transportation to them (by minibus or train).
Singles and seniors are very welcome! Ages on our tours generally range from 40 to 80+. Our groups generally consist of a mix of couples and singles, and there is generally a nice group ethos, so no-one will ever feel left out. Single rooms are available, with a supplement; we are also happy to try to find you a room-mate if you would prefer.
All of the main sights in the tour are visited on foot, on walking or museum tours. There may be uneven ground, for instance in archaeological sites, and steps in some museums or historic houses. The amount of walking is not, however, excessive: we rarely exceed 2 miles a day. We travel from site to site by train, air conditioned bus, or private van.