The Naked Civil Servant is the first volume of an autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

 by the gay icon

Gay icon

A gay icon is a public figure who is embraced by many within :lesbian, :gay, :bisexual and :transgender communities...

 Quentin Crisp

Quentin Crisp

Quentin Crisp , was an English writer and raconteur. He became a gay icon in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant.- Early life :...

. It was later turned into a TV movie

Television movie

A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

 starring John Hurt

John Hurt

John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...

, which was also titled The Naked Civil Servant

The Naked Civil Servant (film)

The Naked Civil Servant is a 1975 TV film based on the 1968 autobiography by the gay icon Quentin Crisp, also titled The Naked Civil Servant. It stars John Hurt in the title role....

.

The book started life as a radio interview with Crisp in 1964 conducted by his friend and fellow eccentric, Philip O'Connor

Philip O'Connor

Philip O'Connor was a British writer and surrealist poet, who also painted. He was one of the 'Wheatsheaf writers' of 1930s Fitzrovia...

, which was heard by the then managing director of Jonathan Cape

Jonathan Cape

Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...

, commissioned by him, and which was published in 1968. It only sold 3,500 copies when first released but became a success after a re-publication once the television version was shown.

The book contains many anecdotes about Crisp's life from childhood through to middle age. It documents the troubles he faced because of his refusal to hide his homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

 and flamboyant

Flamboyant

Flamboyant is the name given to a florid style of late Gothic architecture in vogue in France from the 14th to the early 16th century, a version of which spread to Spain and Portugal during the 15th century; the equivalent stylistic period in English architecture is called the Decorated Style, and...

 lifestyle during a time when gay sex was illegal in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Crisp also recalls how he had many jobs including a book designer, nude model

Model (art)

Art models are models who pose for photographers, painters, sculptors, and other artists as part of their work of art. Art models who pose in the nude for life drawing are usually called life models...

 and prostitute.

The title comes from Crisp's quip that being a nude art model is like being a civil servant, except that one is naked.