Episode 53:

This week on Atypical Daydream, teacher, student and academic Matthew Roberts reflects on a life of travel, and the winding road that took him from tour manager to scholar.

Bluesky: @matqbritholiday.bsky.social

Queering the British Holiday - Society of Antiquaries of London by Matthew Roberts

January 27, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm (lunchtime lecture)

2026 marks key anniversaries in British travel history, from Gulliver’s Travels to Butlin’s first holiday camp. This lecture traces the often-hidden presence of LGBTQ+ lives in the British holiday, revealing how liberation, desire, and surveillance shape three centuries of leisure. Through the Grand Tour, Music Hall coastal culture, Butlin’s camps, and Club 18–30, we explore travel as both method and metaphor—a queer pilgrimage into the liminal spaces of pleasure.

Matthew Roberts is a writer in his fourth year of a part-time PhD in Text, Practice as Research at the University of Kent, examining Queering the British Holiday. His critically acclaimed plays have appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and been featured in The Guardian, The South Bank Show, BBC 5 Live and LBC. After a decade in the tourist industry, he taught English in China, Liverpool, Manchester and London, and has presented research at major national and international conferences. He also volunteers at Queer Britain: The National LGBTQ+ Museum.

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