A Biography of Tibor Urgay

Tibor Urgay, 'Youth in the Glade', ca 1961

  Thanks to Basil Clavering's flair for publicity in the early days of Royale, we know more about Tibor than most of their models.

 Tibor Urgay was a Hungarian national, born in Budapest in August 1941 [1], at the height of the second world war, a war in which Hungary sided with the German fascists. 

Tibor (aged 15) came to the UK in the wake of the September 1956 uprising against communist rule and the subsequent Russian re-occupation. About 200,000 Hungarians fled their homeland to escape retribution after resisting the Soviet invasion. Tibor had manned the barricades, according to [1]. Most of them escaped by crossing the Austrian border illegally in treacherous, wintery conditions. Tibor was one of around 20,000 who came to the UK. He and many others really wanted to go to the USA and regarded the UK as a stepping stone, but he ended up staying in Britain.  

The refugees were generally welcomed in the UK, but most of them could not speak English and found it hard to find work [4]. According to one source, though, they were not universally accepted, particularly if they failed to conform to expectations*. One report suggested criminal behaviour was hushed up by a supportive press, but when a group roasted a wild duck in Hyde Park it made headlines [4]. 

According to two sources, Tibor worked in the English coal mines [2], [3]. Miners were indeed a significant group amongst the arrivals, having played a major part in resisting the Soviets. The National Coal Board had a scheme to actively recruit 4000 experienced Hungarian miners to fill the national labour shortage after the War. They were mainly sent to Staffordshire and Cheshire. A 2006 article in 'The Guardian' reported local opposition to employing them in coal mines in Wales.

Tibor wasn't actually old enough in 1956 to work in a UK mine. He was reportedly living about 30 miles north of London in 1958 [1] and there weren't any coal mines there. The Coal Miner claim may be a distortion of his life in Hungary or a result of him attempting to join the National Coal Board scheme. Or it may simply be pure invention by Basil Clavering, cashing in on the NCB publicity to give him an interesting persona.

 According to [1], Tibor turned up at Royale's Studio, i.e. Clavering's house, in July 1958. We don't know how this came about, but his first issued photo set, a dual shoot with Fred Collins, was issued in October of that year. Fred, a relatively experienced model for Royale, may have had the job of mentoring him. A flurry of solo sets of Tibor had appeared by the end of the year. 

Tibor seems to have posed again occasionally, for Royale and Dolphin, in the years that followed. He doesn't seem to have posed for anyone else. A Royale advertisement in the beefcake press in January 1959 claimed in the small print that he was exclusively contracted to Royale, implying some sort of ongoing, monetary arrangement. After Royale's demise, a number of Tibor's photos appeared in the beefcake press labelled as the work of Peter Dobing, but nearly all of them are demonstrably by Royale. That doesn't necessarily mean Dobing didn't take them, Royale also distributed photos taken by John Barrington, but equally Dobing may have just bought the rights to them in the closing down sale.

Tibor Paul Urgay became a naturalised British citizen in 1967 under the name Tibor Urge, which I imagine is the correct Hungarian spelling (with the 'e' pronounced 'eh', as in 'bet'). That means that he was able to show good character to the British authorities and intended to stay in the UK. He was declared to be living in Luton, which is indeed 30 miles north of London. His occupation was given as a toolmaker, which means he had acquired professional engineering skills when he wasn't posing for beefcake photographs.

I have also found press reports of a man with the name Paul Tibor Urgay in the Haverhill area (about 50 miles from Luton) later in 1967. The man concerned was reportedly 26, which exactly fits with 'our' Tibor's birthday. Another report puts a man called Tibor Urgay in the nearby Cambridge area ten years after that in 1976. 

The trail goes cold after that, but as I haven't found any UK record of him dying, it's probably not appropriate to pursue it. He would now be 84. It's possible he returned to Hungary after they reinstated Western-style Democracy in 1989, when Tibor would have been 48, or after they joined the European Union in 2004 when he could have moved there with minimum paperwork and no legal jeopardy relating to the 1956 up-rising.

~ 

*In the 50s, of course, 'conforming to expectations' included not being homosexual. Criminalisation and oppression in the UK was not very different to Tibor's homeland, but we don't actually know if Tibor was gay or not.  

So, how did he come into contact with Clavering in the first place? Well, several other Royale models were Hungarian and they could have introduced him. It's not impossible that some of had them learned, like British servicemen, that providing limited escort services to gay men was a way of earning pocket money. This might have brought them to Clavering's attention. 

Tibor may not have been gay, but in his position as a refugee, simply fraternising with homosexuals like Basil Clavering would have been frowned upon. Fortunately, Basil enjoyed an elevated position in society through his family connections, and that brought him a degree of immunity.

The photographic evidence left by Tibor also leaves this question open to doubt. In his solo images, he rarely smiles and certainly doesn't court the camera like Fred Collins did. Apart from his first solo set, 'the cyclist' which is shot entirely with him safely in shorts. His known appearances with other models were also fairly conservative, mostly sticking to gym exercise and wrestling scenarios. 

 

 

 In his two sets with Fred Collins, there are nude sequences, but the models are carefully distanced in them. In the wrestling images, there are some close contacts and even a spanking image, but it's all in shorts and Tibor projects a dominant aura. Even in the shot above, Fred shows no sign of inappropriate contact. 

 

 

The wrestling set with Brian Lamprill in 1959, though nude throughout, does not include much physical contact at all. Lamprill's own Royale persona seems to have been equally cautious, this was his only nude outing with another model. 

Both of these models feature in the rare shot of Basil Clavering at his camera, perhaps reflecting their esteem in his eyes. 

 

References 

[1] Article in Man's World, Nov 1958 (Beefcake Magazine)  

[2] Article in Tomorrow's Man v7#1, Dec 1958 

[3] Article in Formosus #1 (Summer '59)

[4] How Britain welcomed fugitives from Hungary - Guardian, Oct 20th, 2006