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Abstract
Commemoration of the anniversary of the deaths of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell brings centre-stage an event which has caused difficulties for those writing about Orton. These difficulties mainly originate in John Lahr’s biography, which used the deaths as a frame for viewing Orton’s life and work. This essay attempts to think afresh about those deaths by drawing on texts that pre-date the biography, namely the news reports of witness evidence at the inquest. These texts have very different tone and detail from the biography but get lost under the memory- and archive-management which characterises the early Orton industry. In following where the news reports lead us, the essay takes the opportunity to ask questions about the concept of anniversary.