Editing Frankie Howerd (section)

==Personal life==

Throughout his career, Howerd hid his potentially career-destroying homosexuality from both his audience and his mother, Edith. (Sexual acts between consenting males were illegal in England and Wales [[Sexual Offences Act 1967|until 1967]].) In 1958, he met [[sommelier]] Dennis Heymer at the [[Dorchester Hotel]] while dining with [[Sir John Mills]]; Howerd was 40 and Heymer was 28. Heymer became his lover as well as [[Talent manager|manager]], and stayed with him for more than thirty years, until Howerd's death, with Heymer helping to revive Howerd's flagging career in the 1960s. However, the two had to remain discreet as Howerd feared being blackmailed if anyone beyond his immediate circle found out. The relationship was explored in 2008 in a drama for [[BBC Four]], ''Rather You Than Me'', starring [[David Walliams]] and [[Rafe Spall]].

Backstage, Howerd was notoriously bold in his advances, and was known for his [[promiscuity]]. One of Howerd's former boyfriends was comic actor Lee Young who created the TV sitcom ''[[Whoops Baghdad]]'' (1973) for him. Howerd's uncomfortable relationship with his sexuality{{spaced ndash}} he once allegedly said to [[Cilla Black]], "I wish to God I wasn't gay"{{spaced ndash}} as well as his [[Depression (mood)|depressive]] mental state, led him to seek resolution through a series of different methods. Heymer would often drop Howerd off on Friday at his [[psychiatrist]], who would ply him with [[LSD]] over the weekend.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6480117.stm |title=Frankie Howerd's forbidden love |work=[[BBC News]] |date=23 March 2007 |access-date=16 December 2007 |first=David |last=Sillito}}</ref> This experience was later the subject of the March 2015 [[BBC Radio 4]] drama ''Frankie Takes a Trip''.<ref name="BBC Frankie Takes a Trip">{{cite episode| title= Frankie Takes a Trip| series= Drama| credits= Director/Producer: Gary Brown; Writer: Martyn Hesford| network= BBC| station= [[BBC Radio 4]]| url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05n1mhm | airdate= 27 March 2015| access-date=  5 March 2017 }}</ref>

In his early career, Howerd suffered from a [[stutter]], which caused him some distress,<ref>Howerd mentioned his youthful stutter in a revealing BBC broadcast of ''Desert Island Discs'', Jan. 1982, rebroadcast in April 2012 in the three-hour ''Howerd's Ways: the Radio Times of Frankie Howerd'' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gvwzh</ref> but which he turned to an advantage in developing his delivery style as a comic.<ref name="OTWILI"/>

For the last 20 years of Howerd's life, he and Heymer lived in Wavering Down, a house in the village of [[Cross, Somerset]], under the [[Mendip Hills]].<ref name = "BBC 17m2006">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4813788.stm |first=Stephen |last=Smith |publisher=BBC |date=17 March 2007 |title=Titter ye not – it's Frankie's pad |access-date=16 October 2007}}</ref> After Howerd's death, Heymer curated Howerd's collection of memorabilia until his own death in 2009.