Paul Raymond (publisher)
| Paul Raymond | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Geoffrey Anthony Quinn 15 November 1925 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 2 March 2008 (aged 82) |
| Education | St Francis Xavier's College |
| Occupation | publisher, club owner, and property developer |
| Known for |
Paul Raymond Publications Soho Estates |
| Spouse(s) | Jean Bradley (1951–74) |
| Children | Debbie Raymond, Howard Raymond, Derry McCarthy |
| Relatives | Cheyenne and Boston Raymond, from son Howard, and Fawn and India Rose James from daughter Debbie (grandchildren) |
Paul Raymond (15 November 1925 – 2 March 2008), born Geoffrey Anthony Quinn, was an English publisher, club owner, and property developer.
After opening the UK's first strip club, Raymond became very wealthy, buying property on a large scale and launched Paul Raymond Publications with the soft-porn magazine Men Only, soon followed by Escort, Club International, Mayfair and many other titles.
He was starting to hand over control to his daughter Debbie when she died of a heroin overdose in 1992, after which he became a recluse.
Born and raised in Liverpool, the family was abandoned by the father (a haulage contractor) when he was five. Raymond was brought up by his mother. He also attended St Francis Xavier's College. The outbreak of World War II prompted relocation to Glossop, Derbyshire, where he was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. Leaving school at 15, he was a Manchester Ship Canal office boy before taking up the drums with dance bands. Feigning a heart condition, he avoided imprisonment for evading National Service instead served as a switchboard operator and bandsman all the while a self-confessed spiv selling nylons and petrol coupons on the black market. His name change occurred when, at 22, he attempted a show business career as a mind-reader on Clacton pier.
The Lord Chamberlain's Office controlled what was allowed on theatre stages and ruled that nudes could not move so when he toured with a show featuring nudes they were presented as statues, which moved about the stage on podiums; Raymond's preference, in this context, was for women between 18 and 30 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall and with a chest measurement of no more than 36 inches. The reason for the latter provision, Raymond explained, was that "I wouldn’t like to embarrass my customers". He also circumvented the authority of the Lord Chamberlain's powers in 1958 when he opened the Raymond Revuebar strip club as a private club in the former Doric Ballroom in Soho's Walker's Court. He had been unimpressed with the first legal strip club in Soho, believing he could do better. Within two years, Raymond's Revuebar had 45,000 members. He also bought the freehold of his venue for £14,000 within a year or two, the beginnings of his property portfolio in Soho.
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