History

The shadowy, twilight world of the homosexual was already a cliche and mainstream joke on TV by the late 1970s

In the midst of the hysteria surrounding the TV series “It’s A Sin”, many articles have been published about what gay life was like in the 1980s. Supposedly…  In those days many of us gay men were out and proud and we didn’t seem to face much homophobia personally. If we did, we tended to The shadowy, twilight world of the homosexual was already a cliche and mainstream joke on TV by the late 1970s

Archives reveal “regular, ranting bigotry about gays” in the pages of the Manchester Evening News

In 1989 the MEN called for an “awful” floral display in Piccadilly Gardens commemorating Stonewall to be “destroyed.” Scene Out, August 1989. An article in Scene Out magazine, August 1989 issue, with the headline “Evening paper degrades community”, reports on how a floral tribute in Piccadilly Gardens to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Archives reveal “regular, ranting bigotry about gays” in the pages of the Manchester Evening News

The LGBT Foundation’s misleading “researchers’ guide” to LGBT history, funded by the Heritage Lottery

Manchester’s LGBT Foundation published its document “Unlocking A Hidden History – A Researchers’ Guide To Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Historical Sources In Manchester”, back in 2013. You can see it here (PDF). It was funded by the Heritage Lottery. Over recent years the Heritage Lottery Fund has given out around a quarter of a The LGBT Foundation’s misleading “researchers’ guide” to LGBT history, funded by the Heritage Lottery

Canal Street in the 1880s: Ginger Liz, Cockney Jim and Dirty Alf

In the 1880s the Manchester Evening News published a series of articles which were then gathered together in a book called “Criminal Manchester.” One chapter is “Canal Street: Ginger Liz and Cockney Alf.” You can download a PDF of the whole book here, courtesy of Chetham’s Library. And here’s Chapter X about Canal Street: CRIMINAL Canal Street in the 1880s: Ginger Liz, Cockney Jim and Dirty Alf

Jimmy Savile implicated in the tragic story of a 15-year-old Top of the Pops dancer who took an overdose and died after spending the night with a “well-known disc jockey” in 1971

Back in May I wrote about the tragic story of a 15-year-old girl who killed herself in 1971. A news report in The Guardian on April 6th of that year describes how she had danced on Top of the Pops on four occasions and, according to her diary, spent the night with a man the Jimmy Savile implicated in the tragic story of a 15-year-old Top of the Pops dancer who took an overdose and died after spending the night with a “well-known disc jockey” in 1971

The end of the Oxford Road Show (video)

How the BBC’s studios nearly ended up opposite Platt Fields Park in Rusholme Here in Manchester, New Broadcasting House is being demolished. But back in the mid-1950’s, when the BBC decided to build new northern regional headquarters, this famous location on Oxford Road wasn’t the first choice. At the beginning of 1956 the BBC was The end of the Oxford Road Show (video)