Soho Society is a 2008 album-format book by

Bernie Katz Bernard Daniel Katz, born Bernard Daniel Clifford, (10 August 1968 – 31 August 2017) was the long-serving manager of the Groucho Club. Katz was the author of ''Soho Society'' in 2008. He was nicknamed "The Prince of Soho" by Stephen Fry. He was ...

, long-time maitre d' at London's

Groucho Club The Groucho Club is a private members' club formed in 1985 located on Dean Street in London's Soho. Its members are mostly drawn from the publishing, media, entertainment and arts industries. The club has rooms on several floors, including thr ...

. It was published by

Quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

, with a foreword by

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

. In addition to Katz's personal reminiscences of Soho characters and culture, the book contains nearly twenty illustrations by celebrated artists such as

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...

Tracey Emin Tracey Karima Emin, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Associate of the Royal Academy, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawi ...

and

Sam Taylor-Wood Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson OBE ( née Taylor-Wood; 4 March 1967) is a British filmmaker and photographer. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009's ''Nowhere Boy'', a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter a ...

, most of whom were personal friends of Katz and contributed their work for free. The book's front cover featured artwork by Sir Peter Blake.

Background

Katz served as 'front-of-house' at the Groucho Club on

Dean Street Dean Street is a street in Soho, central London, running from Oxford Street south to Shaftesbury Avenue. Historical figures and places In 1764 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then a young boy, gave a recital at 21 Dean Street. Admiral Nelson stayed ...

for 18 years and acted as gatekeeper for a venue once called 'the A-list crowd's favourite stomping ground. Outside of The Groucho, the book also covers Katz's off-duty wanderings and encounters in Soho haunts such as

Soho House Soho House is a museum run by Birmingham Museums Trust, celebrating Matthew Boulton's life, his partnership with James Watt, his membership of the Lunar Society of Birmingham and his contribution to the Midlands Enlightenment and the Indu ...

Blacks Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...

and

Bar Italia Bar Italia is an Italian café located on Frith Street in the Soho district of London. Location and notable events On 26 January 1926, John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of television at 22 Frith Street, the building where ...

. Stephen Fry, a collector of Soho literature, said that he had despaired of ever hearing a new voice who really understood Soho, bur Bernie Katz' collection of stories had made him happy.“Tales from the hidden celeb Soho” book review, ''Jewish Chronicle'', 11 December 2008
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References

2008 non-fiction books English non-fiction books History books about London 21st-century history books Fine illustrated books Social history of London {{UK-hist-book-stub