Mr Lucky monogramMr Lucky

Historical notes

Sixty years,in places and in politics.

Mr Lucky covers sixty years of a gay life, and gay life in Britain changed beyond recognition in that time. These are the places the book passes through, and the dates that shaped what was possible in them.

Where it happened

Cornwall
Grammar School
Teacher Training College
Damp London flats
The gay bars of E11
The Salisbury, W1
L.A.
Stallions
Spats
Pigeons
The East London scene of the 80s
Hungary
Germany
A council estate
North Cornwall beaches
Paddington Station
France

What the law said

  1. 1967aged 11

    Decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales — in private, over 21, and only just.

  2. 1969aged 13

    Stonewall. A riot in New York that gave the rest of us a word for ourselves.

  3. 1980saged 24

    AIDS. Friends began to disappear, and the country decided we had it coming.

  4. 1988aged 32

    Clause 28. It became official policy to pretend we did not exist in schools.

  5. 1994aged 38

    The age of consent lowered — still not equal, but lower.

  6. 2005aged 49

    Civil Partnerships. The first time the state offered us paperwork instead of pity.

  7. 2014aged 58

    Gay Marriage. It took them long enough.

All of it is in the book

502 pages, 177,256 words, and sixty years of it happening in real time.

Read Mr Lucky