By law, gay men and women were banned from serving in the British military until the year 2000. Until that year, over 250 service personnel were thrown out of the military each year because of their sexuality alone. This week James is joined by Ed Hall, who was sacked by the Royal Navy for being gay before going on to found the Armed Forces Legal Challenge Group that campaigned successfully to abolish the ban just 22 years ago.

For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare newsletter here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to the Android or Apple store.