An archive of homoerotic photographs from the 1950s-1960s at Bonham's "The Male Form" sale fetched £ 22,750 (US$ 30,952) on June 16th. It included over 850 silver gelatin prints.

Basil Clavering, owner of the successful Gala-Royale cinema chain, built a studio in the basement of his Pimlico home with his friend John Charles Parkhurst. Both had served in the Navy, and they paid military men around the Hyde Park and Chelsea barracks to model.

The studio operated under two names: Royale and Hussar. They sold the photographs by mail order.

The images are erotically charged although there's no frontal nudity. Models were often in groups, and scenarios involve uniforms, military and naval discipline, wrestling, and bondage.