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Crisp was one of our most cherished satirists & commentators, immortalized by John Hurt in the film version of his book "The Naked Civil Servant". His flippancy, self-deprecation & theatricality masked a fierce intelligence & sharp eye for details of contemporary English life. Born in 1908, into a resoundingly ordinary middle class family, he was traumatized by the inequities of a boarding school education in Derbyshire before starting work as a book designer. Thereafter, he made a living as a life model before his autobiography was published in 1968. These 1979 recordings were made in New York, thanks to the popularity of the film and capture one of "Britain`s stately homos" in garrulous form, delighting an invited audience. This 2007 reissue makes them available again after more than two-decades, adding a 35-minute interview with fellow artist Morgan Fisher at Crisp`s flat in 1980. The package is completed by a series of stunning unpublished black and white photographs of Crisp.