For many in love the symptoms are bearable, as sickening for devoted bliss can be its own remedy. But, according to recent reports, the consequences of stress from emotional extremes — lack of concentration, no appetite and no sleep — suggest being in love can be too intense to handle, while those whose love is […]

The hotel heiress declared she was quitting one-night stands on Live with Regis and Kelly in June 2006. Six months later, ParisExposed. com revealed the contents of her locker, including a video allegedly including footage in a bubble bath. Most memorable is her 2003 starring role in One Night in Paris with ex Rick Salomon. […]

‘You find out who your real friends are when you’re involved in a scandal.’ Liz Taylor The Profumo Affair MP John Profumo’s political career was ruined when news broke in 1963 that he had shared a mistress (albeit unknowingly) with an attache at the Soviet embassy. The woman in the middle was topless showgirl Christine […]

Amsterdam’s red light district, famous as a sexual destination since the 14th century, is also home to the Venus Temple sex museum. Open since 1985, a satyr with an erection welcomes visitors to an exhibition of artefacts, including an ancient stone phallus and an iron chastity belt. In New York, the Fifth Avenue Sex Museum […]

The sexual imagination of the Japanese knows few boundaries, starting with clubs populated by pretend nurses, fake air hostesses and phoney secretaries. Other specialities include: rotating sushi-style breast­fondling clubs; special ‘Marilyn features’ — you watch as she stands over a hot air-vent; naked karaoke; soapgirls, notably ‘handpicked brides’who bathe customers; anime clubs (sex with manga […]

‘It’s been so long since I made love,l can’t even remember who gets tied up.’Joan Rivers THE EVE CLUB In the 1960s, the Eve club in Soho was one of the few places in town where you could see an erotic floor show. This featured ‘the most beautiful showgirls in London’, although full nudity was […]

But musicians seem to like sex as much as their music. And some of their fans have been pretty keen too. Musicians ‘I think I mentioned to Bob [Geldof] I could make love for eighthours. What I didn’t say was that this included four hours ofbegging and then dinner and a movie.’ Sting on tantric […]

In France in the 13th century young women were kept in gynaecea — or chambres de dames — where they were available 24/7 exclusively for the lord’s pleasure. Count Baudouin, for example, had accessto his servant girls’ quarters along with the bedroom of practically every female in his castle. When he died, 33 of his […]

‘You men are unaccountable things: mad till you have yourmistresses, and then stark mad till you are rid of’em again.’Sir John Vanbrugh, Tire Provok’d Wife, 1697 The Dirty Duchess Margaret Whigham (1912-1993) had a taste for millionaires and playboys, but following a near fatal fall down an elevator shaft during her first marriage, the then […]

Several kings of England were rumoured to be gay and some most certainly were. James I had a succession of male lovers, including the Earl of Somerset and George Villiers whom he referred to as his ‘sweet child and wife’. Extraordinarily handsome, Villiers rose from the humble post of royal cupbearer to Gentleman of the […]