This strange moment in history is bringing feelings of isolation and loneliness to so many of us. The coronavirus lockdown has even slowed the production of season 2 of The Log Books, as Tash and Adam are stuck at home. So let’s talk about it. We’ve based this special lockdown episode on untold stories from calls to Switchboard from the 70s and 80s, as usual. But the episode is also built around Adam and Tash’s reflections on the experiences of those LGBTQ+ callers’ from history and all of us to...
Apr 27, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 11
We’ve taken The Log Books out of the archive for LGBT History Month! We recorded this special episode in front of an audience at an event in London on February 5th 2020. You’ll hear fresh voices and familiar ones, including Tash and Adam. As ever, we are led by the handwritten notes made by volunteers in Switchboard’s log books from 1974 to 1982. The event was held at the Finsbury Library and co-organised by Islington’s Pride , a Heritage Fund project that aims to preserve, archive and cel...
Feb 24, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Hello listeners, thank you for joining us through the laughter and tears of queer life in Britain from 1974 to 1982. In this final episode of our first season, Adam and Tash reflect on the stories we’ve all heard. We love hearing your reactions to the stories we’re telling too. Please keep them coming! Transcript here. The handwritten notes in Switchboard’s log books continue through the difficult years of the 80s. So we are planning to make a second season, covering 1983 to the early 90s. If yo...
Dec 30, 2019•7 min•Season 1Ep. 9
The early log books open up a world before HIV, showing what it was like for LGBTQ+ people needing healthcare between discos in the 70s. A doctor and a patient are among those who tell Tash and Adam what it was like. Some of the same infections are on the rise again today, as explained by Dr Tristan Barber, a consultant in HIV and sexual health. Content warning: stories about transitioning and being intersex. Transcript here. The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations...
Dec 23, 2019•32 min•Season 1Ep. 8
People often make a phone call because they are lonely and isolated, as the log books at Switchboard show. Exploring this issue, Tash and Adam hear from Tony Whitehead and others who took such calls in the dead of night. Chryssy Hunter explains about the issue of loneliness among our LGBTQ+ elders today. Content warning: stories about racism, including slurs, and suicide. Transcript here. The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by ...
Dec 16, 2019•23 min•Season 1Ep. 7
In the 70s, there was no such thing as an “LGBTQ+ community”. The log books reveal how identities, labels and definitions have always been in flux among those with minority sexual and gender identities. Former Switchboard volunteer Diana James is among the contributors who explains all this to Tash and Adam. Transgender and non-binary activists Owl and Fox Fisher guide us through their thoughts on how identities form in today’s internet-focused world. Content warning: historic terms. Transcript ...
Dec 09, 2019•31 min•Season 1Ep. 6
The 70s was a hotbed of activism, from lesbians fighting for child custody to gay men demanding equal laws for the age of sexual consent. Tracking the movement through the log books, Tash and Adam hear from activists on the frontline, including Lisa Power and Ted Brown. Meanwhile, young activists in a resurgent Gay Liberation Front discuss the actions they plan for 2020... Content warning: stories about racism and stories with sexual content. Transcript here. The Log Books — stories from Britain...
Dec 02, 2019•39 min•Season 1Ep. 5
The log books are full of stories about raids on parties and arrests made in public toilets, as the police sought to stop men having sex with men in the 70s and 80s. Tash and Adam hear from the people who suffered through unfair laws and police persecution, a lawyer who defended them, and a retired police officer with regrets. Contributors include Terry Stewart, who is still seeking a pardon for his conviction today. Content warning: difficult stories of persecution by the police. Transcript her...
Nov 25, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 4
A quick glimpse into Switchboard’s log books from the late 70s might make you think that every caller wanted to know about sex. Tash and Adam hear from former volunteers such as Femi Otitoju on advising callers about how to do it, where to cruise, and importing sex toys. Contemporary poems from Michelle Mangal, Annie Hayter and Richard Scott put sex lives into modern words. Content warning: sexual content. The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer t...
Nov 18, 2019•30 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Pubs and clubs have brought LGBTQ+ people together for many years—to chat, plot, dance, and hook-up. Tash and Adam listen to stories from nights out in the 70s/80s, from the log books and new interviews. They hear how Elaine and Lyn’s lives changed forever in a pub more than three decades ago, and from the queer babes behind Aphrodyki, one of London’s hottest nights today. The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Ad...
Nov 11, 2019•32 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Runaways and rough sleepers, communes and flatshares, crashpads and catastrophes... Stories about home feature heavily in Switchboard’s log books. Tash and Adam listen to LGBT+ people who searched for somewhere to live in the 1970s, and hear about the persistent problem of homelessness in 2019. Content warning: stories of suicide and racism, and historic terms. Transcript here. The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivan...
Nov 04, 2019•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1
What if we told you that we could glimpse into LGBT+ life from decades ago? The Log Books are a unique set of documents tracking Britain’s queer history through the voices of people who have called for help. Since 1974 volunteers at Switchboard, the LGBT+ helpline, have written callers’ stories down in log books. Hosts Tash Walker and Adam Smith are re-opening these pages today, to hear worries and joys from Britain’s queer history. Episodes of The Log Books include untold stories from doz...
Oct 16, 2019•8 min•Season 1Ep. -1
