The Leather Boys one starts chatting him up. When Pete walks in they all recognise him and Reggie suddenly understands that Pete too is gay. He leaves. The book was published in 1961 under the pseudonym Eliot George—an inversion of the pen-name of the famous 19th century female author, Mary Ann Evans, who published as George Eliot. Freeman is credited under her own name in the film as the author of the screenplay based on the novel of "Eliot George". The original novel is explicit about the sexual relationship between the two male characters, and about the odds that the hero's wife is
Jack Mary Ann while walking through a rough area at night. Eventually he grabbed a kitchen chair and made to leave. Mary Ann called Jack back and asked him what he wanted the chair for. Jack said that if he did meet anyone who wanted to fight him, he would tell them he was moving house secretly to avoid paying the rent and that there were five men behind him with the other chairs and the kitchen table. Jack and Mary Ann avoided paying rent on their cottage. One day a bailiff called to serve them with notice to quit. They hid when