I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here star Tom Read Wilson has revealed that fellow contestant Martin Kemp can speak Polari, a secret language historically used by the gay community before homosexuality was decriminalised.
Polari, which borrows from Yiddish, Italian and Cockney Rhyming Slang, was used covertly from the 19th century until the 1970s. Words like “butch”, “naff” and “zhuzh” have since entered mainstream slang.
Speaking on Paul C Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, Read Wilson said Kemp, who is married to singer Shirlie Kemp, used the language in the jungle. “He said to me one day, ‘Bona lallies, Tom,’ which means ‘great legs’ in Polari,” Read Wilson recalled.
When asked how he knew Polari, Kemp explained he grew up listening to BBC Radio’s Round the Horne, a sketch show featuring camp characters Julian and Sandy who spoke the language. Kemp also introduced a Polari-speaking character in one of his thriller novels.
Read Wilson also shared Kemp’s reflections on the New Romantics era, when Spandau Ballet emerged. Kemp described the Blitz club as a place where “there was no gender, there was no orientation”, and where people could express themselves freely. “That is something that I took with me, and I have handed down to my kids,” Kemp said.
