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Brighton Ourstory was set up to collect and preserve our lesbian, gay and bisexual history. Our long term aim is to establish an archive in its own premises. We are a registered charity.
My Policeman, and Other Stories...
My Policeman
We were delighted recently to come across a new book by a local author - My Policeman by Bethan Roberts. Bethan lives in Brighton with her family and the book was published in January this year:
"A tragic tale of loss and thwarted hope set in the repressive society of 1950s Britain."
But there's more, as Bethan says in the credits for the book...
"During the research I read a wonderful collection of first-hand accounts of gay life in 1950s Brighton called Daring Hearts. It was this book that made me want to set the story in the 50s. It led me to other research about the witch hunts against gay men which were conducted in this country during the 50s.
"Peter Wildeblood’s brilliant book, Against the Law, is a bracing, moving and utterly unsentimental account of his experiences of being involved in the Montagu trials of 1954 and his subsequent sentence at Wormwood Scrubs, and was a great inspiration for me."
It's a book about two people, Patrick who runs Brighton's Art Gallery and a young school teacher Marion, who are both in love with the same man, a handsome young policeman named Tom Burgess.
To find out more about My Policeman and order yourself a copy go to bethanrobertswriter.co.uk.
Picture: My Policeman by Bethan Roberts
Other Stories: Queering the University Art Collection
In celebration of LGBT History Month, the University of Leeds Art Gallery presents a special exhibition project with new work by Matt Smith. A display of materials from Special Collections related to Edward Carpenter, Victorian writer, poet and early gay activist is the inspiration for Smith's 'interventions' in the University Art Collection.
Everyday objects are inscribed with stories by different people from the LGBT community, whose experiences shed light on the multiple and varied experiences within the British LGBT community in the past 100 years. These stories offer alternate views of our shared history, and its representation in museums and galleries.
The life stories used by Matt in this exhibition were all from the Brighton Ourstory archive.
The exhibition is on at the University of Leeds 27 February – 5 May 2012.
You can read a review in the Times Higher Education.
Picture: Address Book by Matt Smith
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