Room 2D

A Richard Manton story from Janus 51 Where were you at 8.50am on 19 November 1985? If you were listening to Radio 4, you will have heard a spokesman for the Anti-Slavery Society talking of the new dangers which threaten the young and the beautiful. At first it sounded like a spoof, recalling all those old jokes about girls who accept sweets from strange gentlemen and end up ‘dancing on the tables in Port Said’. It is no spoof. Unemployment and recession in Western Europe have given a new glamour, for many girls, to the promise of well-paid and usually tax-free jobs as secretaries, dancers, club hostesses in parts of the world where the harem is a centuries-old part of culture. In an alarming revelation, quoted hereafter, the  Daily Telegraph estimated that a staggering 20% to 30% of all girls attracted by the bright lights and easy life of showbiz in such areas disappear into the sexual captivity of the harem. More asto...

By Richard Manton from Janus 34. By popular demand, Lesley resumes her disciplinary adventures from  Janus 13  &  21 . The house with the green verandah stood at the end of an elegant late-Georgian terrace, among tree-lined residential streets high above the city. Its classical façade was hidden by the screen of chestnut trees dividing the main road from the crescent of the private terrace-drive. There was nothing to indicate who lived in the house or what use it might be put to. Early on most afternoons several young women would arrive at intervals — never the same young women. Later on, one or two men would follow — never the same men. It was rare to see one of the girls leaving on foot or bicycle. As a rule they were collected by taxi or private car from the front door. The blouses, ties, and short pleated skirts of some of the girls suggested fifth-formers arriving for a lesson in deportment. Others, in...