The Diaries of Mr Lucas: Notes from a Lost Gay Life

by Hugo Greenhalgh

FOR NEARLY 60 YEARS Mr George Lucas led a double life. A mild-mannered civil servant by day, by night he was a fixture of London's colourful underground gay scene - a twilight world of petty crime, louche pubs and public toilets. He was also an obsessive diary writer.

Beginning in the early 1960s, Mr Lucas had a passionate and fraught affair with a rent boy associate of the Kray twins known as Irish Peter, one of many men Mr Lucas paid for sex. Together, Irish Peter and Mr Lucas represent the spectrum of gay criminality prior to the partial decriminalisation of gay sex in 1967.

When Mr Lucas died in 2014, he left his diaries to the journalist Hugo Greenhalgh. The Diaries of Mr Lucas combines Mr Lucas's deliciously indiscreet recollections of a life spent sometimes literally in the shadows with Greenhalgh's commentary - this is gay London like it's never been seen before.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, LGBT, Memoir, Gay, Queer

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 2, 2024

Reviews

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting snapshot of social history and what it would have been like to be a gay man over the last 5 or 6 decades.

This was absolutely more than a diary it was snippets of history intertwined with the thoughts, passions, and day to day musing of a civil servant who lived his best queer life.

Very, very interesting.

[Kexx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely a book on his diaries, not his diaries per se. Often more of a history lesson using snippets of the diaries as examples or expanding a point. Perhaps there is a book of the Diaries, as Mark Gatiss is quoted having read them, a book I’d rather read. Disappointing.

Read on Holiday.

[Martin Moriarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the diary entry for 22 January 1963, after a young man has successfully deployed the gay panic defence to be acquitted of the murder of a gay trade unionist:
“We now have it from an eminent judge that for a man to put his arms round a youth and to say ‘give us a kiss then’ is provocation sufficient to justify killing him. Few homosexuals then, are really safe – indeed, it seems that many queers may be killed with impunity if the killer is fairly young. It is rather painful to realize that we are still, not merely subject to criminal prosecution ourselves, but virtually outside the protection of the law … in fact, if not legally, outlaws.”

[Steven Pollack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a review of this book in one of the weekend papers. After reading it, I said to my wife, "was the chap who lived above us in Mandalay Road called George?" Indeed it was Mr Lucas. We rented the flat below him for six months in 1996. Whenever our paths crossed he was always very polite and friendly. Although we never saw the inside of his flat, I can definitely attest to the grubby suit that he always wore.

Of course we had no idea of his sexuality or of his diaries. Hugo Greenhalgh's book provides a fascinating insight into what I presume to be a long lost world. Well worth reading.

[Richard R]

Disclaimer: I have a glancing acquaintance with the author, having attended a tour he did to promote the book.

Strictly speaking, there are two Mr Lucases in these diaries. The first was a respectable civil servant, initially at the Ministry of Defence and subsequently at the Board of Trade. His social views were not so much conservative as reactionary. This is perhaps a little understated in the excepts published here but the diary entries Hugo Greenhalgh regularly posts in full on social media are essentially a remorseless jeremiad against the evils of the modern era. Innovations to the Latin mass at Catholic services are denounced. The evils of socialism are routinely decried. Working class yobs are inveighed against. Everything, it is fair to say, is going to the dogs. Greenhalgh has currently got as far as posting entries from the early seventies and from what he says, it only gets worse as Mr Lucas gets older, with racist diatribes becoming more and more frequent.

If you are now thinking that Mr Lucas might not have been the nicest of people, well, that probably would be because he wasn't. On the other hand, there is the second Mr Lucas, who was altogether different, using his diaries to record his life as a gay man at a time when it was the subject of popular hysteria and moral denunciation. This Mr Lucas was charged with gross indecency while serving in the British military in Germany, before being dismissed from the service. Much of the diaries consist of a record of his sexual exploits with other men, most strikingly with a rent boy that went onto become a member of the Kray gang. Even after decriminalisation, blackmail and violence are ever-present risks throughout the diaries.

Surprisingly, the counter-cultural aspects are what repeatedly leap out from this Mr Lucas: "(A)nother victim of that conspiracy of respectable society to maintain its conventions... May God frustrate the police and deliver all their victims!.. It’s society that has turned you and every other queer into a hunted criminal, that has crushed you and driven you underground... It is galling to think that police who are so well paid out of our taxes to preserve life and property should devote themselves to the easier task of prosecuting harmless people." It's also striking how his life routinely brought him into contact with working class men, in spite of the endless attacks on yobbery: "For most people, counter assistants, barman and such like, are people with whom one can be on the most amicable terms, yet never meet elsewhere than in the particular ambience to which they belong. They remain, so to speak, on the wrong side of the counter – people with whom one passes the time of day and discusses the weather, but who cease to exist for all practical purposes, as soon as they are out of sight. With me, it is rather different – my inquisitive interest in people impels me to try to bridge the gap to get to know the bus conductors, fellow passengers, coffee bar attendants, I encounter." Mr Lucas did often try to help out a lot of the working class men he slept with financially, but this is the same man who could also write: "One thing I must take care of for the future, not to make friends with one’s social inferiors. Be friendly with them, yes, be helpful, listen to their troubles, advise them, have sex with them – what else are the lower classes for? – but not to be confined to them or to rely on them."

The compartmentalisation that occurs between the two Mr Lucases is not especially unusual in itself. Even now, most gay men will have experienced hiding themselves before feeling able to come out: at the time Mr Lucas was writing, self censorship was probably an unavoidable way of existing. But even so, the gap between the two Mr Lucases is a pretty extreme one and it seems remarkable that there is so little interrogation of wider social mores beyond just sexual ones.

[Meljennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The diaries of Mr Lucas I think would have been wonderfully interesting, perhaps with some kind of index to add context to the recurring people mentioned however I do think this book suffers as the author tries too hard and some times unsuccesfully to take the diaries and make them into stories and craft neater narratives e.g about long standing love interest Peter or his distant but curious relation to the Krays. These sections seem to swing forwards and backwards in time too much and feel a little underwhelming.
For me the most interesting sections were the longer sections of direct quotation and I wish I could have read the diaries in their entirety, the mundane such a contrast to the more historic 'characters' and places. There are a couple of chapters towards the end where the author visits Ireland and discusses his own personal history which felt rather irrelevant.
At the end is a postscript where the author considers Mr Lucas as being from his time rather than modern day attitudes which was very interesting and perhaps most moving to think of Mr Lucas as a product of his time, not easy to like but to instead to respect even for his idiocentrices and the most intimate details he preserved both of his own life but history too.

[JOSEPH OLIVER · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s hard to know who this book is written for really or who would benefit from it. The world has moved on so quickly that a lot of what is told of Mr Lucas’s life won’t mean a thing to anyone under 35 or thereabouts.

I think a lot of the background can only be filled in by people who experienced it. I imagine that this generation of gay men won’t understand why people could call this a lifestyle in the first place or why they had to live like this.

If you are reading this review, you will already know the subject of the book. It is largely excerpts from Mr Lucas’s diaries which he kept religiously and meticulously for about 60 years. The writer knew the man for about 20 years on and off. Mr Lucas answered an ad in a paper by a researcher. He was happy to oblige with this story.

The story itself is largely unremarkable. He was a gay civil servant in London when being gay would have got you sacked and socially ostracised. Even a mention of being a witness at a morally dubious court case (soliciting) would end your career or invitation to candlelight suppers. What is remarkable is that he did not deny his homosexuality but made the most of the situation he found himself in. Having parents who knew he was gay from an early age and considered him lower than a snake’s armpit was possibly not a good start in life. It didn’t get much better from there. He did not marry. That was the ‘solution’ to the predicament of a non-artiste or wealthy man at the time. Marry and have kids and no one will suspect a thing. Mr Lucas had no interest in that way out – possibly I suspect because his parent’s marriage was so loveless and his mother such a horrendous person that he had no intention of recreating that scenario.

Mr Lucas did not have a lot to offer ‘on the scene’. I don’t know what category he would fall into on a dating app these days. He was plain looking, short, went bald early on and had a rather non-descript job at the Board of Trade in London. Enough to live on but not enough to have many others live on it. He was not a member of any select group that would inspire envy. In short - he could be any one of us.

In the absence of any supporting social structure for gay men at the time he adopted the lifestyle of many closeted men at the time – a lot of casual encounters in toilets or parks in suburban London. He had a fixed journey home which involved visits to public conveniences where he rarely left without an encounter. That was one thing that did stand out about Mr Lucas, he liked sex and had lots of it. None of it developed into any sort of long (or even short) term relationship but that is to be understood as normal for the times. A couple of men living together in any sort of relationship was out of the question in the 1950’s and would have the police at your door and your feet in the cells as soon as it was discovered. Many did come to that end – with their names, addresses and jobs published in the papers for the delectation of the moral majority. No doubt the married men who enjoyed such numerous encounters with Mr Lucas would rather have died than see their name in the papers.

When what youthful looks Mr Lucas ever had begun to fade, he found that he had to resort to paying for ‘a bit of trade’ to make up any shortfall in what the public toilets of the time had to offer. He had enough disposable income to pick up a lot of the young men that were available at the public cruising grounds of central London – Marble Arch, Piccadilly and a few pubs here and there in between raids. As his mother was Irish, he had a lot of time for the Irish young men who were down on their luck and prepared to compromise themselves for a few shillings. In the absence of social welfare, it was that or starve. The author refers to this regularly throughout the book. He was not sure whether to portray Mr Lucas as a predator or not. Maybe he was just as much a victim of the whole social structure as the young men themselves. Maybe his voracious sexual appetite kept many a man in food for a week? Who knows. Either way, the encounters were quite tacky and didn’t always end well.

Mr Lucas writes very well of himself. He is witty, coming out with just the right retort to show up his friends. Whether any of this is true we will never know. The author did not find him particularly entertaining although he had an endless supply of stories of his encounters through the decades. What we don’t have is anyone else’s corroborating evidence of what he was actually like. Diaries are naturally one sided and the colourful part is all on Mr Lucas’s side – in the diaries at least. He had ‘ideas above his station’. In other words, he was a snob. Although he was in the same position and used the same places as a lot of other men, he looked down on them as socially inferior. He was, after all, a civil servant and not some jobless youth or tradesman. In that sense he doesn’t come off very well, but he did reflect the social conditions of his time. If Mr Lucas had a first name, it could be Hyacinth.

The book is well worth a read. To the more mature reader it will be perfectly understandable with little need for context or explanations. To the less mature, social media savvy reader it may be an eyeopener and make them keep their complaints of social prejudice today to themselves. They live in good times.

[Carla Tate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started the book very interested in Mr Lucas, but I found myself increasingly annoyed by Greenhalgh's constant need to explain, opine, and interpret even the most obvious bits. I wanted to immerse myself in Mr Lucas's diary, helped along by footnotes, appendices, etc, but instead I got snippets of Lucas and running commentary from Greenhalgh. Not a great read for me. I would love to read a more traditionally edited diary, because Mr Lucas is an interesting character.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and absorbing look at the life of an ordinary man living during the 20th Century through his meticulous, well constructed diaries. There is a Kray Twins connection for those interested in such things, but that aside it is just a fascinating look at a life that was lived through a period of great change for gay men. Very highly recommended.

[Mike Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pootering on: George Lucas was a nobody in every sense, an almost invisible man, a living platitude. Except that, while by day he was a mild-mannered and unpreposessing civil servant at the Board of Trade, and by night he combed the gay scene of London for sex (the more the merrier), he, distinctively, wrote about it, compulsively and obsessively. Every urge, every hook up, every encounter whether satisfactory or disappointing, was noted down in a diary written daily for six decades.

The interest comes not so much from the intercourse (others such as Orton and Williams have written better about that) as the background against which it happens - the relatively free and easy war years, the repressive 50s and then the 60s in which, unconsciously paralleling Larkin, whom he somewhat resembles, Mr Lucas begins to feel a mite left behind. There is a rich cast of characters, some of whom appear only briefly, but Mr Lucas was non-discriminating (in the modern sense) in whom he consorted with, so VIPs mingle with criminal lowlife, on the page at least.

What this conjures is the fear, desperation and occasional euphoria of urban gay life in Britain both before and after partial decriminalisation. It’s a lost world of clandestine bars, cottaging and cruising, blackmail and petty crime, only somewhat changed by the change in the law - it took a much longer term shift in public attitudes, and then the arrival of social media to sweep the last of it away.

Hugo Greenhalgh, tv researcher and writer, who befriended Mr Lucas for the last two decades of his life, acts as our guide and curator, and one doesn’t envy him the years of wading through the millions of words this Pepys de nos jours churned out. Occasionally, Greenhalgh can come across as a deus ex machina, his tone a little condescending towards the subject when we bear in mind the constraints and restrictions (some of them self-imposed) that people like Mr Lucas operated under. Whilst appreciating this desire to place erratic memoir in context, it can become distracting and the story of Greenhalgh’s own brief foray into sex work adds little to proceedings.

Mr Lucas was keen for his diaries to be published posthumously. He was a timid, if resilient warrior, battling on every day amid declining health, money worries and an only gradually-reducing fear of exposure, arrest, disgrace. His is a lost world but one on which modern gains have very much been built, and we should be grateful to him for this.


Three stars for Mr Greenhalgh, four for Mr Lucas!

[Ian B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

George Lucas, civil servant by day, habitué of London’s gay scene by night, kept a diary for sixty years, all through the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty first. He left them to the journalist Hugo Greenhalgh, who, rather oddly, has written a book about the diaries rather than editing them for publication as Russell Davies did, for example, with the journals of Kenneth Williams. I wonder why? Roughly half the text here comes from Lucas’s diaries, with the rest made up of Greenhalgh’s contextualizing. Maybe his publishers felt that few readers would be interested in the outpourings of an unknown figure. Maybe the diaries, unadulterated, would simply have been too depressing and repetitive – or their style too fussy and affected – or their politics too reactionary? Maybe Greenhalgh, as a first time author, was keen – understandably – to try to make a name for himself as more than ‘just’ an editor. Mr Lucas wrote millions of words; it would be a daunting task to boil them down to a single volume. Editing, I imagine, requires a very particular skill set, including self-effacement and diligence.

As the book continues, it becomes more of a Greenhalgh memoir (Chapters 9 and 10 especially), some of which is interesting, some of which isn’t, and the best of which, if he ever gets to write a full memoir, he may wish he hadn’t used up here. Regardless, I wanted to hear about Mr Lucas not Hugo Greenhalgh.

The author originally encounters Mr Lucas when working as a junior TV researcher, and thereafter maintains a friendship with him, ‘Cynically at first with an eye to eventually getting my hands on the diaries.’ Hmm to that (although at least he’s honest about it). And he does get his hands on them, although I wasn’t always convinced they were a good match: ‘What are they [diaries],’ he asks, ‘at times other than the extended whines of the misunderstood?’ Greenhalgh describes a particular section from the last day of 1969 as one of Mr Lucas’s ‘most moving and memorable passages – worth quoting in full.’ Well, yes: and this was the problem for me: no doubt quite a lot of what Mr Lucas wrote was worth quoting in full, but so often we don’t get it.

[Vicuña · Rating 5 out of 5]

This diary is truly astonishing and a valuable slice of social history. It’s unlikely that it will ever be matched. It’s packed with detail about life as a gay man, predominantly in the 1960s, when homosexuality was a crime and men lived in fear of being outed or discovered. Mr Lucas was a respected civil servant at the Board of Trade.. I can picture him; meticulously dressed, a stickler for time keeping and keeping to the rules. But out of office, he frequented notorious gay bars and clubs looking for other a succession of one night stands with labourers, guardsmen, criminals, dockers and more.

He kept voluminous diaries and its thanks to his documentation that we have this remarkable record of a completely hidden life. Hugo Greenhalgh promised to edit and publish the diaries after Mr Lucas’ death and by all accounts, has undertaken a mammoth task in pulling together such a remarkable narrative which allows such a singular insight into a double life. Lucas is under no illusion about the dangers he faced, almost daily, and the lack of support from the authorities if there’s violence. This is a compelling read. There are few judgements and from beyond the grave, Mr Lucas has given a detailed and lively account spanning some sixty years. It’s fascinating and frightening in equal measure, the more so given the recent rise in hate crimes and there’s plenty of food for thought as the veil over a secret life is lifted. Genuinely remarkable.

[Trevor Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review contains spoilers.

It is salutary to read these diaries from the perspective of a society that has become more accepting of homosexuality and then to go back to the 1950s and 1960s in the UK when gay men in the eyes of the law were criminals living in fear subject to blackmail and violence.

This book consists of selections from Mr Lucas' diaries with commentary by editor Hugh Greenhalgh.

I would have preferred to read more of the diaries, particularly as Mr Lucas writes so well (see, for example, the entry for 31 December 1969) and to hear less from Greenhalgh who intrudes too much of himself into the book, especially in the sections when he visits Ireland. I would have particularly liked more diary entries from the time when Lucas was growing up. The few entries we have show that his mother was a homophobic bigot.

Most entries are from the 1960s when Lucas becomes obsessed with a rent boy, Irish Peter, who had links with the Kray twins. It is useful to be reminded of that era when the two worlds, criminal and gay, often overlapped.

Lucas comes over as a sad individual; he ended his days in a squalid flat. Just three mourners attended his funeral.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished reading The Diaries of Mr Lucas by Hugo Greenhalgh.
I enjoyed reading this although I struggled a little structurally with the book. Either give me more day by day writing from the diaries (and risk losing me with people and events I don’t know about) or give me more social context and less diary entries (and risk losing sight of Mr Lucas in the process). I wasn’t a huge fan of the sections where Greenhalgh allows himself to take centre stage. It’s the diaries of Mr Lucas not Hugo’s adventures in Istanbul…
Mr Lucas took me some time to warm to. He could be waspish and judgemental, and I didn’t agree with some of his views on class and social mobility.
Then in the mid-sixties it turns out he’s friends of friends with some interesting people. (Not a spoiler)
I’d say I’ve never been a diarist and never tempted by it but then I’ve documented my life pretty comprehensively between twitter (I’ll dead name that website), insta and Facebook. Even then that’s a mediated and censored version. It’s not really something I have any desire to start doing, but I’m glad Mr Lucas documented his life & gay life in London. It’s a fascinating window into life.

[Callum Morris-Horne · Rating 3 out of 5]

In ‘The Diaries of Mr. Lucas’, we become privy to the duality of the titular diarist’s life, his respectable profession as a civil servant alongside his more disreputable escapades within London’s underground gay scene, cottaging around and procuring many a rent boy. Mr. Lucas was an obsessive diary keeper, writing every day from the early 1960s till his death in 2014. As a result, the archival value of the changing times and queer progress Lucas chronicles, before and beyond the partial decriminalisation of gay sex in 1967, is appreciable. And his editor, Greenhalgh’s—not uncritical—commentary is helpful in rooting the ramblings to their sociohistorical significance. However, while some of the anecdotes are poignant and amusing, I just didn’t find them to be terribly interesting and, overall, found Lucas’ voice to be affected and pompous; a product of its period, no doubt, but this didn’t make for particularly enjoyable reading.

[David Cutler · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important and honest book. The diaries of Mr. Lucas, mainly from the 1960s, are a treasure trove of information and insight into the life of a homosexual civil servant - as he would say - with strong, mainly right wing views and a huge appetite for sex. He can be witty and humorous. He can also be mean and racist. And Greenhalgh, the journalist and friend for 20 years of Lucas, is also honest about himself including a brief foray into prostitution. He selects diary entries with skill to illustrate a broader history including the Swinging Sixties and the criminal underworld of the Krays that comes perilously close to the vulnerable civil servant. If I had to have a reservation about a very good book , it would be that some of Greenhalgh's commentary and episodes following the trial of Lucas, for instance a trip to Ireland are a tad less interesting.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

As another reviewer mentioned, this is mostly Hugo Greenhalgh talking about Mr Lucas rather than the diaries themselves. We have to take the author's word for certain aspects of Lucas's life, backstory and onward story beyond the 60s. It's actually quite annoying and feels like he's speaking for Lucas.

Greenhalgh describes himself as a friend of the diarist, presumably why he's written this, but he frequently criticises his subject without us really understanding why. Lucas makes terrible coffee, he smells, his house is a mess, he's morose, overly sentimental and a bit of a chump, and judgmental apparently. This mean spirited approach also extends to value judgements of others in Lucas's life too.

There are interesting nuggets about 60s gay life. But overall this is a strange, frustrating and misguided book.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rather think this book is mis-titled. Certainly it has "notes" from a Mr. Lucas's life in the form of his diaries, but as the book progresses it becomes dominated by Hugo Greenhalgh's recollections and experiences. I was expecting more of an annotated diary, along the lines of "Prick Up Your Ears" or the Kenneth Williams Diaries (which seem, outrageously, to be out of print.) This is not to say that it doesn't contain some revelatory information about the decades of Mr. Lucas's life, and his comments about the political and social situations around him are entertaining, yet I felt that we are skimming the surface here, as though there is another, much more involved, book lurking under the surface.

I certainly don't regret buying the book, but I have ended it unsatisfied.

[Mark Ludmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating peek inside the world of a gay man living in London in the 1950s and 1960s. It draws on the real diaries of George Lucas, a quiet civil servant, charting his complicated friendships and search for love and sex, especially from “rent boys”. Quoting diary entries from the late 1940s to the 1990s, it is an important record of the everyday experiences of a gay man’s life at a time of discrimination and oppression — something that has been rarely documented. Structuring it into a loose narrative, writer Hugo Greenhalgh provides insightful analysis, sometimes drawing on his own very personal experiences.

[Des Bladet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr Lucas's diaries record his gay life (and opinions) from the 1940s through to the early years of this century. Most of that time, he frequented the gay hotspots of Londontown, which makes the diaries historically valuable. Unfortunately, though, he was a fairly miserable bastard and a kind of gay Mr Pooter, so Greenhalgh takes the liberty of excerpting sparingly and weaving in his own accounts of things - as a young person he befriended an aged Mr Lucas, so he's within his rights.

(He also goes to Dublin to discover "what remains of the lost gay Dublin" of Mr Lucas's visits. The answer, we curtly observe, is nothing: the bits that remain are precisely the bits that *weren't* lost.)

[Keith Johnstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting snapshot into the gay life a civil servant spanning between the late 1940s up to the early 2000s but mainly focusing on the 1960s. The diarist life is rather mundane although he has a penchant for rough trade. The author, Hugh Greenhalgh, builds in some narrative around excerpts of the diary, sometimes these don’t flow so well as it is not always chronological and the author writes about his own life interspersed in which he met the diarist, which can be a little confusing sometimes but interesting all the same.

[Louise Hewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC Read by member of Coundon Library Book Club Coventry
We saw an intimate view of Mr George Lucas’ double life through the sharing of his diaries. It seems fitting to refer to him as Mr Lucas, a rather formal man conscious of his place in society. Hugh cleverly knitted together historical background in between the diary excerpts to give the reader context. I was left feeling sad that throughout his long life, Mr Lucas never found true relationship and love
A fascinating story with plenty of discussion points,I wonder what he would have been like to work alongside?

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting memoir, the diary of a man who had to live two lives: one as proper and prim civil servant, the other as a gay man looking for sex and relationships in hidden or seedy places as being homosexual was not legal.
The diary are mixed with observation by Hugo Greenhalgh.
An interesting and informative read.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating insight into 20th century London and the evolution of the gay experience following the life of a very ordinary civil servant. The wit and thoughtfulness of this flawed protagonist makes for an enthralling reading experience, even though I didn't always appreciate the overbearing intermissions by Greenhalgh (who must nevertheless be commended for the parsing and selection of the enormous amount of available material). Would definitely recommend 9/10

[Alex Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed learning about the life of Mr Lucas. Sections of his diaries were, at different times, hilarious, devastating, spooky. I lost some interest towards the end when the author spends more time talking about himself than the subject. The author could’ve also spent more time focussing on the diary extracts themselves rather than providing commentary. However, still definitely touching and interesting.

[Les White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to ‘love’ this book but the way it was written was confusing with the going back and forth. It didn’t flow how I thought a book about diaries would. I also thought that I would be reading the diaries of Mr. Lucas not snippets of them and then have the author interpret everything. Which was annoying.
The reason for four stars is that I loved the history of LGBTQI+ and of the London of the past.
I’m pleased I’ve read it but would love to read the actual diaries.

[Mark Allinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating glimpse of an everyday gay life in the mid twentieth century. Mr Lucas is not a very likeable guide but he is in good hands with his editor Hugo Greenhalgh who writes entertainingly and insightfully about his subject. I felt more material from the 1950s and 1970s would have been welcome and rather less detail about the Krays. But recommended as an unusually fulsome contemporary source of social history.

[Ambrogio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exceptionally interesting - incredible source material in the form of voluminous diaries. Unfortunately there could have been a bit more diary and a bit less reflection by Greenhalgh….but this is a gripping read and introduces a unique resource for understanding queer history in twentieth -century England

[Amory · Rating 1 out of 5]

Listening to the audio book was almost entertaining for the first thousand hours and then it became as entertaining as listening to someone reading the same page in an old telephone directory over and over and over and over and so on.
Just as tedious is the number of times the listener is subjected to being told the author is also gay. No one cares.

[James G · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ✨

Found this very interesting. Quite a few sections which stuck with me but this being the biggest ...

"The way trans people are being talked about now is very resonant with the way in which gay men in the fifties were talked about as a danger to children, as predatory, as treacherous, as damaging to the national fabric"