Famed physicist Richard Feynman was notorious for doing some of his better thinking about physics in strip clubs, no doubt inspired by his observations of heavenly bodies. (I’m sure I’m only like, the ten zillionth person to make that tired joke.) So I was amused to see this blog post linking stripping and neuroanatomy, with bonus paragraphs about the history of naked ladies in London:

It’s hard to start a paragraph with “I was strolling through London’s red light district the other evening…” without seeming a little dubious, but it’s the truth, so I shall have to begin by sounding suspect.

If your suspicions have already been raised, I doubt that if I say that I became interested in one of London’s biggest strip clubs for its importance in the history of neuroanatomy that I will seem at all convincing. But it was also the case, so I shall I have to also begin by sounding a little implausible.

The photo on the left depicts the neon drenched Windmill Theatre, the first venue in London to have risqué shows displaying the naked bodies of young women to breathless crowds of young men.

In the 1930s the owners realised there was a loophole in the law, and that if the naked girls stood still, they weren’t acting and so weren’t subject to legislation banning nude actors. Decades of titillating ‘living statue’ shows followed, using increasingly inventive ways of presenting the spectacle of the unclothed and unmoving girl.

Thanks to Violet Blue for the link.