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Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud. Each week we choose some of our favorite pieces

from the magazine and ask their writers to read them aloud.

I'm Patrick Gibbons and on this week's podcast. Peter Parker takes us through the history of guardsmen and

homosexuality. Professor Wayne Hunt explains the lessons the Tories could learn from the 1993 conservative

election wipeout in Canada.

As a centenary of Franz Kafka's death approaches,

Nicholas Lezard explains why an undated entry in Kafka's diaries has been haunting him for weeks.

Mark Mason provides his notes on horse guards here in Westminster.

And finally, Nicholas Farrell ponders over his wife's potential suitors once he's died.

Up first, Peter Parker.

In 1943, the music critic Desmond Shaw Taylor placed an advertisement in exchange and mart offering a pair of troopers' breaches for sale.

A number of men replied, one asking, have they been worn by a trooper or just yourself?

One another observed, it is always good to see the boys pulling themselves into tight troopers

and then admire the smashing finish.

Members of the household division of the British Army, in their figure-hugging breeches and scarlet coats,

had always held a particular appeal for homosexual men.

It was therefore fortunate that, though the military authorities publicly denied it,

...