Mr Lucas’s Diaries

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Archive on 4: Mr Lucas’s Diaries

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, Mr Lucas’s Diaries

Mark Gatiss delves into the diaries of George Leo John Lucas.

George Leo John Lucas was a civil servant who wrote about his extraordinary life as an openly gay man. Mark Gatiss delves into his diaries from the 1950s and 60s.

George Leo John Lucas spent almost 70 years paying for sex. An unremarkable man, he led a remarkable life. His life as a gay man on the margins of straight society was spent at the heart of queer Britain from the 1940s onwards. But not so much the bars and private clubs. His world was more in the twilight: the public lavatories, the late-night parks and beach promenades.

Mr Lucas died in 2014 at the age of 88, leaving journalist Hugo Greenhalgh his diaries in his will. Almost 60 in total, each covering a year, detailing not just the men he paid for sex, but the memories of a life spent sometimes literally in the shadows. Page upon page, millions upon millions of words, describing the life he led as society slowly came to terms with homosexuality.

Defined by his sexuality and trapped by his Catholic faith and upbringing with two viciously homophobic parents, Mr Lucas simply sought love and acceptance. And found neither.

The writer, actor and director Mark Gatiss explores Mr Lucas’s diaries from the 1950s and 60s as homosexuality in England was partially decriminalised and uncovers a time when Mr Lucas became romantically embroiled with an associate of the notorious Kray twins.

With thanks to Hugo Greenhalgh the owner of Mr Lucas’s diaries.

Presenter: Mark Gatiss

Producer: David Cook, BBC Audio North

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