The Log Books

Season 2 of The Log Books is coming soon... Our unique exploration of the UK’s queer history through the pages of Switchboard’s log books will be strong, reflective and antiviral!

If you’d like to support our work in bringing season 2 to life, you can contribute financially at supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

In this preview episode, Tash, Adam and Shivani welcome you into their production process for their next full season. The behind-the-scenes glimpse features old and new voices talking about the stories they want to share from 1983 to 1991. The season will cover HIV/AIDS, Section 28, the media — and the countless colourful stories from LGBT+ life that flowed through Switchboard.

Transcript here.

If you have a story to share, please contact us here: www.thelogbooks.org/your-story. 

This preview episode was recorded during the Covid-19 lockdown in May and June 2020. We’ll be back in the autumn with the full season 2!

Excerpt from "Gay Rights (The London Programme)", first broadcast by London Weekend Television 10/04/87. With thanks to the BFI National Archive. 

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 today. We remain physically distant while trying new ways to be socially connected.

Thanks to everyone who read log book entries for this bonus episode: Luis Amália, Frances Lubbe, Rhian Petty and Amy Spiller.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

For more information about the themes in this episode, take a look at: 

London LGBTIQ+ COVID19 Mutual Aid

COVID-19 – How LGBT-inclusive organisations can help

Covid-19 Information and Resources

NHS: Mental wellbeing while staying at home

Rethink: Covid-19 and mental illness

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Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 celebrate Islington’s LGBT+ heritage. 

Transcript here.

Here are the voices you’ll hear:

Julian Hows, LGBT+ rights activist and former Switchboard volunteer 

Marlin Khondoker, project archivist with Islington's Pride

Seán McGovern, project manager with Islington's Pride

Femi Otitoju, former Switchboard volunteer

Adam Smith, co-producer of The Log Books

Tash Walker, co-producer of The Log Books and co-chair of Switchboard

...and members of our live audience 

Special thanks to everyone who helped with the event and this bonus podcast episode: Luis Amália, Scott Flashheart, Helen MacKenzie, Egle Rutkauskaite and Eliot Smith.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 you can help with funding, ideas or would like to share your story from those years, please email us on [email protected]. 

— Shivani, Tash and Adam

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

For more information about LGBTQ+ health, take a look at:

Unexpected fluids 

SXT: Sexual health information 

GMFA — the gay men’s health project

Beating about the bush 

Lesbian Sex 101

Mens R Us

CliniQ

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

For more information about loneliness among LGBTQ+ elders, take a look at:

Opening Doors London

Tackling loneliness and isolation can help older LGBT people’s health

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

For more information about identities and labels, take a look at:

Why We Need More Queer Identity Labels, Not Fewer

Stonewall’s glossary of terms

A Brief History of the LGBTQ Initialism

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

For more information about LGBTQ+ rights, take a look at:

Blowing the Lid by Stuart Feather

No Bath But Plenty of Bubbles by Lisa Power 

A short history of LGBT rights from the British Library 

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

For more information about pardons and disregards for old crimes, take a look at:

Alan Turing law: Gay, unjustly convicted - and now denied a pardon

Don’t fall for the myth that it’s 50 years since we decriminalised homosexuality

Information on previous convictions, from Galop

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Adam Smith and Tash Walker, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline.

Transcript here.

Poems:

Mooncup by Michelle Mangal

Public Toilets in Regent's Park by Richard Scott, reproduced with the kind permission of Faber and Faber

God-birth by Annie Hayter

For more information about the items in this episode, take a look at:

Mens R Us info for men having sex with men

Unexpected Fluids podcast

Beating about the bush sexual health guide for lesbians

Lesbian Sex 101 

Back Pocket Guide Trans Men 

Juno Roche on her book Queer Sex

Risk Aware Consensual Kink 

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.