Polari flourished in the difficult years between the trial of Oscar Wilde and the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. It was a kind of code, which enabled one gay man to identify another, allowed them to express themselves publicly without fear of arrest or reprisal and provided a vocabulary for talking about gay sex and sexuality.

Glossary: troll back, to return; nish, no more; aunt nells, ears; naff, straight, tasteless; ogle, eye; dolly, nice, pleasant; eek , face - a contraction of the backslang ecaf; cod , bad, fake; zhoosh, to titivate; drag, clothing, a special outfit; dish, attractive, to gossip or bum; trade, sexual partner; colin, horn, erection; fantabulosa, fantabulosa.