With its steamy reputation Strait Street in Valletta lured thousands of young and not so young servicemen who often threw caution to the wind and dived into what some people used to regard as a den of iniquity.

Even though the street is now but a shadow of its former self, tales of wanton women and transvestites mingle and intertwine to prime the imagination of visitors to this lane whose name has been flagged around the four corners of the globe.

But what are the facts and what are the figments of the imagination when it comes to its history?

In collaboration with Heritage Malta, George Cini, who has just published his second book recording the oral history of this much-maligned street, will try to answer questions about what made this melting pot of music, dance, drink and other earthly pleasures come to posess such magnetic powers, during a talk in English at the Inquisitor's Palace in Birgu on Thursday, 21 January at 7pm.

Was it the music that pulled in the crowds? Or was it the voluptuous young women? How come drag queens often topped the bill?

Among the household names when it came to the female set, there was Nina who pulled no punches when it came to dealing with men; Rita, known as Sparrow who mesmerized sailors and soldiers with her displays and May Brum whose beauty melted hearts and weakened minds.

Top of the heap among the crop of drag queens were Bobbie and Sugar who apart from packing dance halls to the rafters, often engaged in a war of words over the same young sailor they both set their vulture eyes on during the same evening. 

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