http://strangeflowers.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/the-quest-for-ba
Backhouse evidently roamed the globe, summering in Russia with Tolstoy,
discovering the joys of eunuch sex in Constantinople and appearing on stage
with Sarah Bernhardt in Paris. Although he was largely homosexual, women
weren’t entirely safe from his attentions: the renowned courtesan La Belle
Otero, an Ottoman princess, even the Dowager Empress herself succumbed to
his charms.
