LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 29th August - 4th September

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.

Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites.

Enjoy!

Owt on’t’telly?

A round up of LGBT progs and personalities on British TV.

TV
New
Come Dine with Me repeats on C4 Saturday from 5-7pm and Five shows The Guardian at 6.30. This weeks episode, imported from Five USA, features a gay teenager who is kicked out by his parents. On Sunday there’s The Unforgettable…Kenny Everett on ITV1 at 2pm. Will and Grace back on C4 at 8.40 weekday mornings. Stephen Fry in Whose Line is it Anyway? on Dave at 8.30 followed immediately by QI. Art of Francis Bacon at 8pm on Sky Arts 1 Tuesday at 8pm and Andy Warhol’s Factory People at 11.35.
Best of the week is First Cut on C4 Friday at 8pm. Featuring Jon, who was born and named Natasha, it promises to be a serious look at gender variance.

Ongoing
Final week of BB and not a single gay or lesbian kicked out. Come Dine with Me every weekday at 5 on C4. The Wire 11.20pm Tuesday, Wednesdayand Thursdayon BBC2. Ugly Betty on C4 at 10pm Wednesday and Skins at 11 on Wednesday. Usually there’s some LGBT content on The Big Questions on BBC1 on Sunday morning at 10am.

Films
Lots of Carry-ons. On Saturday, there’s Spying on Gold at 1.05pm, followed by At Your Service at 5.30 and Henry at 7.15. Cowboy, Screaming andCleo back-to-back on ITV3 on Sunday from 5.10pm.
Saturday there’s the X-Men on Action/Thriller at 10pm. Monday there’s La Vie en Rose at 10pm on Indie. Tuesday there’s Mean Girls starring Lindsay Lohan at 9pm on Film4. The inevitable Rocky Horror Show at 3.10pm and 12.40am on Indie and Hairspray on Comedy Thursday at 6pm. Camp Monroe classic Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on Classic 9pm Friday.

Radio
Please also note that Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour contains a lot of relevant content and is generally LGBT friendly, but a lot of its output is not available to us before we put this on the site. For the latest Woman’s Hour stuff, subscribe to the programme's newsletter here.

Saturday 29th
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops 64 and 73
BBC Radio 2 - 8: Paul Gambaccini’s US hits
BBC Radio 4 - 10am: Excess Baggage. Sandi Toksvig
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Weekend Woman’s Hour

Sunday 30th
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Elaine Page. Alan Cumming guests
BBC Radio 4 - 7.05am: Sunday. Religious programme that often deals with LGBT issues
BBC Radio 4 - 12.02pm: Just a Minute. Sue Perkins
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: Last Word. Weekly obituary that has included LGBT figures in the past

Monday 31st - Bank Holiday
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30: Just a Minute. Sue Perkins

Tuesday 1st
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30: Twice Ken is Plenty: The Lost Script of Kenneth Williams. Interesting concept. An unearthed, as yet unperformed script for Round the Horne from 1966 is brought to life by actors. Robin Sebastian plays Kenneth Williams and Jonathan Rigby Kenneth Horne
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Great Lives. With Matthew Parris

Thursday 2nd
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: At The Fringe. Content unknown

Friday 3rd
BBC Radio 2 - 5pm: Chris Evans. Live from Blackpool with Alan Carr
BBC Radio 2 - 8.30: Live at the Lights. The lights being Blackpool Illuminations. Lit up by Alan Carr
BBC Radio 4 - 2.15pm: Afternoon Play. Sons. By Nell Leyshon. Two mothers react very differently when their sons, Gabriel and Ryan, fall in love at school
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Last Word
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 7pm: Round the Horne

Local and online

For a global classification of queer radio on line:
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=gay&so=26,52,78 and
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=Lesbian
Gay Internet Radio Live (G.I.R.L.) is on the air 24 hours a day with dance music from the US at www.gayinternetradiolive.com.

Wythenshaw 97.2 FM, a community radio station, airs a lesbian and gay radio magazine programme once weekly, according to Out North West Magazine published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation in Manchester. Podcast http://www.tuesdaynightout.co.uk/

GayRadio-UK is a new online radio station in Blackpool and promises a variety of LGBT programming. The audio stream is at www.gayradiouk.com. Guests iunclude lesbian actress Amanda Barrie, gay icon Su Pollard and radical actor Richie Tomlinson. Daily programmes are uploaded at the most popular gay podcast site on the net, Feast of Fun www.feastoffools.net, with a speech based programme of LGBT guests, news digest and light-hearted discussion.

Galaxy North East
Monday-Friday 4-7pm: James Barr

BBC Radio Manchester - 95.1 and online
Every Monday 8pm: The Gay Hour, Ashley Byrne and Andrew Edwards

BBC London - 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm: Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio - Brighton, London DAB and online 24/7

Manchester’s gaydio www.gaydio.co.uk

FYI Radio (gay youth radio) - online (currently only podcast but soon to grow to a fully fledged station) www.fyiradio.net

www.pinkeradio.com

Last Tuesday of the month - 6pm
Out in South London - local LGBT radio show with Rosie Wilby and guests
Listen online at www.southcityradio.org

I'm From... Gay Stories Around the World

When Nathan Manske, a free lance editor and copywriter from Driftwood, Texas (although he has lived in Brooklyn, New York since 2003) saw the film Milk, he, like many others, felt inspired.

Having seen a picture of Harvey Milk during a Pride march holding a sign stating “I’m From Woodmere, N.Y.” For Manske, the sign meant " that there are gay people in every small town and every big city across America and the world." His response was to create I’m from Driftwood, a website compiling the stories of LGBT people from all over the world in the hope that those that feel alone in this world, can see that they are not.

To read the stories and to share your own, visit www.ImFromDriftwood.com.

Kennedy Championed the fight against US Hate Crime

US Senator Ted Kennedy, who died this week age 77, was a champion of the battle against Hate Crime in the USA and a tenacious advocate of the proposed Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, according to Innokenty Grekov of Human Rights First.

Ted Kennedy was one of the Senate's earliest champions in the fight against hate crime. Since the early 1990s, Senator Kennedy has called for better government response to the growing problem of violence motivated by racism, religious intolerance, sexual orientation bias or other similar factors. For example, in one of his most courageous political moments, Senator Kennedy argued in favor of legislation protecting those who face violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. He spoke out after realizing that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, as well as those who seek to protect their rights, have been threatened by a particularly aggressive wave of bias-motivated violence.

Senator Kennedy later went to on to compare hate crimes to "acts of domestic terrorism" and worked tirelessly to pass hate crimes legislation in the Senate. In 2007, he joined Sen. Gordon Smith in a bipartisan effort to pass the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The bill failed to advance in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but that not deter Senator Kennedy. He continued to fight, and just this year, the Senate adopted this critical measure as part of the Defense Authorization Bill.

LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 22nd - 28th August

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.

Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites.

Enjoy!

Owt on’t’telly?

A round up of LGBT progs and personalities on British TV.

TV
New
Apologies that the advertised repeat of Have I Got News for You featuring Brian Blessed and Alan Duncan last Saturday on BBC2 was replaced at the eleventh hour. The intro suggested it was to do with Brian Blessed. You might be forgiven for thinking it had more to do with Alan Duncan. The man who can’t keep his foot out of his mouth was in trouble again over his expenses comments and Tory Central Office must have strings to pull. Just a thought. Gok Wan tells Ben Shepherd what’s wrong with him in Gok’s Fashion Fix on Saturday at 4.05pm on Channel 4. The X Factor is back (like secondary cancer?) on ITV1 at 7pm. BBC2 broadcasts the Edinburgh Festival round-up, at midnight.
ITV1 repeats Forbidden Love at 11.05pm Sunday. E4 repeats Ugly Betty on Sunday at 6pm.
The return of Countdown brings a brand spanking new series of Come Dine with Me at 5.30pm weekdays on C4. Choreographer Michael Clark on The Edinburgh Festival Show 7pm on BBC2 Wednesday.

Ongoing
C4’s BB continues to keep all its LGB housemates. Alan Carr’s repeated Chatty Man on 4 at 1.15am Saturday. The Wire 11.20pm Monday, Tuesdayand Wednesday on BBC2. Ugly Betty on C4 at 10pm Wednesday and Skins at 11 on Wednesday.
Usually there’s some LGBT content on The Big Questions on BBC1 on Sunday morning at 10am. Ellen is on Fiver every weekday morning at 6.

Films
Full Monty on Film4 Saturday. Boys Don’t Cry on Indie at 10pm. On Sunday Sky Screen 1 airs Hairspray at 6pm and Mamma Mia at 8, while Screen 2shows The Bourne Ultimatum at 10.40pm.
The Bourne Identity 11pm ITV2 on Tuesday. Boys Don’t Cry on Indie at 10pm. The gorgeous Roddy McDowell in Planet of the Apes 1.30pm C4 Wednesday. The Bourne Ultimatum on Modern Greats at 6pm.
Almadóvar’s Volver on Film4 at 9pm Thursday. The Bourne Supremacy ITV2 9pm Friday.

Radio
Please also note that Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour contains a lot of relevant content and is generally LGBT friendly, but a lot of its output is not available to us before we put this on the site. For the latest Woman’s Hour stuff, subscribe to the programme's newsletter here.

Saturday 22nd
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops 70 and 84
BBC Radio 2 - 8: Paul Gambaccini’s US hits
BBC Radio 4 - 10am: Excess Baggage. Sandi Toksvig
BBC Radio 4 - 10.15pm: The Atheist and the Bishop. Self-explanatory prog with a gay agnostic as witness

Sunday 23rd
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Elaine Page. Cast of Hairspray
BBC Radio 2 - 5: Paul O’Grady
BBC Radio 4 - 7.05am: Sunday. Religious programme that often deals with LGBT issues
BBC Radio 4 - 12.02pm: Just a Minute. Kit Hesketh-Harvey guests and is as camp as a row of tents
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: Last Word. Weekly obituary that has included LGBT figures in the past

Monday 24th
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30: Just a Minute. Sue Perkins

Tuesday 25th
BBC Radio 4 - 9am: Fry’s English Delight. Stephen Fry on English usage
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30: With Great Pleasure. Clive Stafford Smith, activist on prisoners’ human rights and a gay man, chooses prose and poetry.
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Great Lives. Dervla Murphy on Freya Stark, who roamed the Middle East in the 1930s. With Matthew Parris

Wednesday 26th
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: The Odd Half Hour. Stephen K Amos

Thursday 27th
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: At The Fringe. Content unknown
BBC Radio 4 - 7.15: Front Row. Interview with Alan Cummings as he begins a tour as a stand up comedian

Friday 28th
BBC Radio 2 - 7.30pm: Friday Night is Music Night. John Barrowman stars
BBC Radio 2 - 11: In the Beginning. As part of the Beatles night special, Holly Johnson goes back to their roots
BBC Radio 4 - 2.15pm: Afternoon Play. The Last Tsar. Why did George V refuse asylum to Tsar Nicholas? Derek Jacobi plays the English monarch
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Last Word
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 7pm: Round the Horne

Local

For a global classification of queer radio on line:
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=gay&so=26,52,78 and
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=Lesbian
Gay Internet Radio Live (G.I.R.L.) is on the air 24 hours a day with dance music from the US at www.gayinternetradiolive.com.

Wythenshaw 97.2 FM, a community radio station, airs a lesbian and gay radio magazine programme once weekly, according to Out North West Magazine published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation in Manchester. Podcast http://www.tuesdaynightout.co.uk/

GayRadio-UK is a new online radio station in Blackpool and promises a variety of LGBT programming. The audio stream is at www.gayradiouk.com. Guests iunclude lesbian actress Amanda Barrie, gay icon Su Pollard and radical actor Richie Tomlinson. Daily programmes are uploaded at the most popular gay podcast site on the net, Feast of Fun www.feastoffools.net, with a speech based programme of LGBT guests, news digest and light-hearted discussion.

Galaxy North East
Monday-Friday 4-7pm: James Barr

BBC Radio Manchester - 95.1 and online
Every Monday 8pm: The Gay Hour, Ashley Byrne and Andrew Edwards

BBC London - 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm: Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio - Brighton, London DAB and online 24/7

Manchester’s gaydio www.gaydio.co.uk

FYI Radio (gay youth radio) - online (currently only podcast but soon to grow to a fully fledged station) www.fyiradio.net

www.pinkeradio.com

Last Tuesday of the month - 6pm
Out in South London - local LGBT radio show with Rosie Wilby and guests
Listen online at www.southcityradio.org

Gay Humanists Welcome Support for Alan Turing Campaign

The gay Humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) has warmly welcomed the decision of Richard Dawkins to back the campaign to win an official apology for Alan Turing, the code-breaking genius and father of the modern computer who committed suicide in 1954 after being prosecuted for being homosexual.

More than 2,500 people have now added their name to the on-line petition calling for the Government to recognise the "consequences of prejudice" that ended the life of the scientist aged just 41.

Professor Dawkins said that an apology would "send a signal to the world which needs to be sent", and that Turing would still be alive today if it were not for the repressive, religion-influenced laws which drove him to despair.

The author of The God Delusion, who is due to present a forthcoming television programme for Channel 4 on Turing, said the impact of the mathematician's war work could not be overstated. "Turing arguably made a greater contribution to defeating the Nazis than Eisenhower or Churchill. Thanks to Turing and his 'Ultra' colleagues at Bletchley Park, Allied generals in the field were consistently, over long periods of the war, privy to detailed German plans before the German generals had time to implement them.

"After the war, when Turing's role was no longer top-secret, he should have been knighted and fêted as a saviour of his nation. Instead, this gentle, stammering, eccentric genius was destroyed, for a 'crime', committed in private, which harmed nobody," he said. Professor Dawkins also called for a permanent financial endowment to support Bletchley Park, where Turing helped break the Nazi Enigma code.

The PTT secretary George Broadhead commented: "It is great to have such a prominent atheist and humanist as Richard Dawkins add his weight to the campaign. As a gay atheist himself, Alan Turing is a humanist hero and an apology for the appalling way he was treated for being gay is long overdue.

For more information, visit: www.pinktriangle.org.uk

"They Want to Exterminate us"

Harrowing reports about the torture and execution of LGBT people in Iraq are contained in a report by Human Rights Watch. The 67 page report, entitled They Want to Exterminate Us: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq, shows through first hand accounts that LGBT people and "the third sex" are threatened, robbed, tortured and murdered, both systematically and casually, in the newly 'liberated' 'democratic' republic.
To read more and download the report, go to www.hrw.org/node/85050

'Just Plain Sense' Interviews

A selection of recent LGBT-themed interviews of note in Christine Burn's podcast, Just Plain Sense.

- Half an Hour with Peter Tatchell

- Adopting – A trans perspective

- Half an Hour with Dr Stuart Lorimer

- Fascinating Adele: Part One and Part Two

Evelyn Waugh 'had gay affairs at Oxford'

A new biography of author Evelyn Waugh claims he had three gay relationships while studying at Oxford in the 1920s.

Waugh, whose most famous works were Brideshead Revisited and Scoop, was described as "one of the great bisexual authors" by biographer Paula Byrne. In the book, titled Mad World: Evelyn Waugh And The Secrets of Brideshead, Byrne says Waugh had an "acute homosexual phase".

You can read teh full PinkNews article here.

LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 15th - 21st August

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.

Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites.

Enjoy!

Owt on’t’telly?

A round up of LGBT progs and personalities on British TV.

TV
New
BBC1 maintains the tradition that there has to be a gay man on the Saturday night schedules with a new series called Walk on the Wild Side at 5.50pm. This comedy tries to re-invoke the days of Animal Magic and one of the voice-overs is Stephen Fry. Also on Saturday at 10.15 BBC2 repeats the Have I Got News for You episode in which Alan Duncan puts his foot into his own mouth and Brian Blessed is just plain frightening. Handel in The Proms at 8.45on BBC2. The same channel broadcasts the Edinburgh Festival round-up, at 11.55pm. Watch is besieged with Dr Who and Torchwood all evening. Biodoes Kenneth Williams and Frankie Howerd 7-8pm.
C4’s Chatty Man at 10pm guests Jack Dee. E4 repeats Ugly Betty on Sunday at 6pm.

Ongoing
4’s BB continues to keep all its LGB housemates. Alan Carr is repeated on Chatty Man on C4 at 12.50 Saturday. The Wire 11.20pm Monday, Tuesday and Thursday on BBC2. Ugly Betty on C4 at 10pm Wednesday and Skins at 11 on Wednesday. A repeat of Kingdom, with Stephen Fry, is on ITV1 at 9pm Friday.
Usually there’s some LGBT content on The Big Questions on BBC1 on Sunday morning at 10am. Ellen is on Fiver every weekday morning at 6. Come Dine with Me at 5.30pm on C4. Dr Who on BBC3 every evening at 7, QI on Dave and Will & Grace onLiving every day.

Films
<Hairspray on Comedy at 6pm Saturday. Campness reins in Clash of the Titans on Five at 5.45pm Sunday, plus The Bourne Ultimatum at 9.40pm onModern Greats and Psycho on Classics at 10.50pm. The gruesome Deliver Us from Evil on More4 at 10pm Tuesday, plus James Dean in Rebel without a Cause on TCM at 6.55pm. Mamma Mia! on Comedy at 8pm Wednesday.

Radio
Please also note that Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour contains a lot of relevant content and is generally LGBT friendly, but a lot of its output is not available to us before we put this on the site. For the latest Woman’s Hour stuff, subscribe to the programme's newsletter here.

Saturday 15th
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops 66 and 74
BBC Radio 2 - 8: Paul Gambaccini’s US hits
BBC Radio 2 - 10: The 40th Anniversary of Woodstock. It’s the 40th anniversary of everything this year isn’t it?
BBC Radio 4 - 6.15pm: Loose Ends
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30: Tennyson: Poetry Please

Sunday 16th
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Elaine Page
BBC Radio 2 - 3: Sounds of the 70s. Johnnie Walker on T Rex
BBC Radio 2 - 9: Russell Davies. Wizard of Oz
BBC Radio 4 - 7.05am: Sunday. Religious programme that often deals with LGBT issues
BBC Radio 4 - 12.02pm: Just a Minute. Stephen Fry
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: Last Word. Weekly obituary that has included LGBT figures in the past

Monday 17th
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30: Just a Minute. Kit Hesketh-Harvey guests
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale

Tuesday 18th
BBC Radio 4 - 9am: Fry’s English Delight. Stephen Fry on English usage
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Great Lives. George Galloway on Spanish Civil War hero John Cornford. With Matthew Parris
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale

Wednesday 19th
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: The Odd Half Hour. Stephen K Amos
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale

Thursday 20th
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30am: Henry Cyril Paget: Lord of the Dance
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45pm: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale

Friday 21st
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Last Word
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30: The Film Programme. Almadóvar and Broken Embraces
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 7pm: Round the Horne

Local

For a global classification of queer radio on line:
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=gay&so=26,52,78 and
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=Lesbian
Gay Internet Radio Live (G.I.R.L.) is on the air 24 hours a day with dance music from the US at www.gayinternetradiolive.com.

Wythenshaw 97.2 FM, a community radio station, airs a lesbian and gay radio magazine programme once weekly, according to Out North West Magazine published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation in Manchester. Podcast http://www.tuesdaynightout.co.uk/

GayRadio-UK is a new online radio station in Blackpool and promises a variety of LGBT programming. The audio stream is at www.gayradiouk.com. Guests iunclude lesbian actress Amanda Barrie, gay icon Su Pollard and radical actor Richie Tomlinson. Daily programmes are uploaded at the most popular gay podcast site on the net, Feast of Fun www.feastoffools.net, with a speech based programme of LGBT guests, news digest and light-hearted discussion.

Galaxy North East
Monday-Friday 4-7pm: James Barr

BBC Radio Manchester - 95.1 and online
Every Monday 8pm: The Gay Hour, Ashley Byrne and Andrew Edwards

BBC London - 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm: Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio - Brighton, London DAB and online 24/7

Manchester’s gaydio www.gaydio.co.uk

FYI Radio (gay youth radio) - online (currently only podcast but soon to grow to a fully fledged station) www.fyiradio.net

www.pinkeradio.com

Last Tuesday of the month - 6pm
Out in South London - local LGBT radio show with Rosie Wilby and guests
Listen online at www.southcityradio.org

Support for Ezra Nawi

Ezra Nawi, a Jewish gay Israeli, helps poor locals who love him, and thwarting settlers and soldiers who view him with contempt. It is perhaps best to think of him as the Robin Hood of the South Hebron hills.

The full article from the New York Times is available here.

Ezra Nawi is to appear in Court on 16 August for trying to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the South Hebron region. A campaign, www.supportezra.net, supported by Naomi Klein, Neve Gordon, Noam Chomsky and thousands of others has been set up to support Nawi and call for his liberation. The campaign also has a website, http://www.FreeEzra.org/, where people are asked to sign a petition.

Bulletin No 63

The latest edition of the LGBT History Month bulletin is now available, as usual packed-full of news, information, notices of upcoming events and quotations.

To access the latest bulletin please click on one of the links below:
word document
pdf file

You can view all previous bulletins here or register to our mailing list here.

Hope for LGB people in Zimbabwe

The Guardian today reports that lesbian, gay and bisexual Zimbabweans are hoping for the kind of changes that South Africans enjoy. Following years of oppression and brutal attacks under Robert Mugabe, who once described gay men as being worse than dogs and whose henchman beat up Peter Tatchell openly in the streets of London, the Movement for Democratic Change is thought to be more open to supporting LGB people.

The full Guardian report is available here.

LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 8th - 14th August

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.

Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites.

Enjoy!

Owt on’t’telly?

A round up of LGBT progs and personalities on British TV.

TV
New
Boo hiss to ITV last week for That’s What I Call Television: the repeated show about our TV past. It featured the remaining bits and pieces of the cast of the original Crossroads and said loads about Noele Gordon without once mentioning that she was a lesbian. This Saturday we have a basinful of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 in B Flat minor in The Proms at 7pm on BBC2. The same channel broadcasts The Culture Show, which deals with Almadóvar’s Broken Embraces, at 11.40pm. ITV repeats An Audience with Neil Diamond at 7.20pm. Watch is besieged with Dr Who and Torchwood all evening and Sky Arts 2 repeats Francis Bacon at 6pm.
E4 repeats Ugly Betty on Sunday at 6pm.
Stephen K. Amos guests on Daily Cooks Challenge on ITV1 at 3pm Wednesday. Su Pollard is on the same show at the same time on Thursday, and Christopher Biggins guests on As Seen on TV on BBC1 at 8pm.

Ongoing
C4’s BB is airing its first gay romance, forming between Charlie the Geordie ex-Mr Gay UK entrant and Rodrigo, the devout Christian bisexual from Brazil. They’re both seriously cute and at least one of them seems to be on his way to victory. Charlie’s even-temperedness when everyone is fighting around him is endearing, as is Rodrigo’s sense of fair play. In the meantime, Lisa the Birmingham lesbian and David the Bradford gay have bonded as best mates. Alan Carr interviews Frank Skinner and Peter Andre Chatty Man on C4 at 10pm Sunday. The Wire 11.20pm Tuesday andWednesday on BBC2. Ugly Betty on C4 at 10pm Wednesday and Skins at 11 on Wednesday. A repeat of Kingdom,with Stephen Fry, is on ITV1 at 9pm Friday.
Usually there’s some LGBT content on The Big Questions on BBC1 on Sunday morning at 10am. Ellen is on Fiver every weekday morning at 6. Come Dine with Me at 5.30pm on C4. Dr Who on BBC3 every evening at 7, QIon Dave and Will & Grace on Living every day.

Films
Rupert Everett in Best Friend’s Wedding on E4 at 9pm Saturday (and Wednesday 9pm), plus Mamma Mia onScreen 1 at 8pm and Rocky Horror Picture Show on Indie at 11.55pm.
On Sunday there’s Carry on Doctor at 11am on Film 4. The Bourne Ultimatum on Modern Greats Monday at 8pm.New adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, with Waugh’s homosexual relationship made explicit rather than implicit, is on Premiere, 10.35pm on Tuesday.
St Trinians on Wednesday 8pm on Comedy. Philadelphia on Fiver at 8pm Thursday, plus La Vie en Rose on Indie at9am and 5.05pm. Cary Grant in I Was a Male War Bride on Film 4 3.10pm Friday.

Radio
Please also note that Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour contains a lot of relevant content and is generally LGBT friendly, but a lot of its output is not available to us before we put this on the site. For the latest Woman’s Hour stuff, subscribe to the programme's newsletter here.

Saturday 8th
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops 69 and 85. How many years are there?
BBC Radio 2 - 6: Going out with Alan Carr
BBC Radio 2 - 8: Paul Gambaccini’s US hits
BBC Radio 2 - 10: The G-Word. On gothic rock
BBC Radio 4 - 10am: Excess Baggage. Sandi Toksvig

Sunday 9th
BBC Radio 4 - 7.05am: Sunday. Religious programme that often deals with LGBT issues
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Poetry Please. Tennyson
BBC Radio 2 - 8.30: Last Word. Weekly obituary that has included LGBT figures in the past
BBC Radio 4 - 9: Face the Facts. Beaten by the Bullies. John Waite on people who won’t go to school because of the bullying.

Monday 10th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Dale Winton
BBC Radio 2 - 11.30: Dave Pearce’s Disco Anthems
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45am and 12.30am: Bluestockings. Miriam Margolyes reads the account of women who determined that they should have a university education in the 19th century
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30: Just a Minute. Stephen Fry guests
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30: Hairspray and Harmonies. Kit Hesketh Harvey stalks the Ladies Barbershop Quartet contest

Tuesday 11th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Dale Winton
BBC Radio 2 - 10.30: The Art of Laughter. Analysis of comedy with Stephen Fry and Matt Lucas amongst others
BBC Radio 4 - 9am: Fry’s English Delight. Stephen Fry on English usage
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45am and 12.30am: Bluestockings. Miriam Margolyes reads the account of women who determined that they should have a university education in the 19th century
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale
BBC Radio 4 - 11pm: Heresy. With Su Perkins

Wednesday 12th
BBC Radio 4 - 9.30am: Very Amazing: Behind the Scenes at the V&A
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45am and 12.30am: Bluestockings. Miriam Margolyes reads the account of women who determined that they should have a university education in the 19th century
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale

Thursday 13th
BBC Radio 2 - 10.30: Does the Team Think? Rhona Cameron guests in the panel query show
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45am and 12.30am: Bluestockings. Miriam Margolyes reads the account of women who determined that they should have a university education in the 19th century
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale

Friday 14th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Dale Winton
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45am and 12.30am: Bluestockings. Miriam Margolyes reads the account of women who determined that they should have a university education in the 19th century
BBC Radio 4 - 4: Last Word
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 7pm: Round the Horne
BBC Radio 4 - 10.45: Book at Bedtime: The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale

Local

For a global classification of queer radio on line:
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=gay&so=26,52,78 and
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=Lesbian
Gay Internet Radio Live (G.I.R.L.) is on the air 24 hours a day with dance music from the US at www.gayinternetradiolive.com.

Wythenshaw 97.2 FM, a community radio station, airs a lesbian and gay radio magazine programme once weekly, according to Out North West Magazine published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation in Manchester. Podcast http://www.tuesdaynightout.co.uk/

GayRadio-UK is a new online radio station in Blackpool and promises a variety of LGBT programming. The audio stream is at www.gayradiouk.com. Guests iunclude lesbian actress Amanda Barrie, gay icon Su Pollard and radical actor Richie Tomlinson. Daily programmes are uploaded at the most popular gay podcast site on the net, Feast of Fun www.feastoffools.net, with a speech based programme of LGBT guests, news digest and light-hearted discussion.

Galaxy North East
Monday-Friday 4-7pm: James Barr

BBC Radio Manchester - 95.1 and online
Every Monday 8pm: The Gay Hour, Ashley Byrne and Andrew Edwards

BBC London - 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm: Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio - Brighton, London DAB and online 24/7

Manchester’s gaydio www.gaydio.co.uk

FYI Radio (gay youth radio) - online (currently only podcast but soon to grow to a fully fledged station) www.fyiradio.net

www.pinkeradio.com

Last Tuesday of the month - 6pm
Out in South London - local LGBT radio show with Rosie Wilby and guests
Listen online at www.southcityradio.org

History of Gay Surrey Enters Surrey History Centre

The charity Gay Surrey have deposited their archives with Surrey History Centre in Woking.

Gay Surrey started out as a group of friends in 2005. It has now developed into a charity providing help, support and information in and around the Surrey area. Building on the huge success of the recent local IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia) awareness campaign, plans are afoot for the first ever Surrey LGBT History month in February 2010. Volunteers will be researching the archives to uncover aspects of Surrey's gay past and highlight both the life of the gay community in the county and the work of Gay Surrey. Research has already revealed a scandal in the Onslow family in the 18th century and the memoirs of Harry Daley, the lover of E.M Forster, author of A Room with a View and Maurice and a resident of Abinger Hammer.

The Surrey History Centre holds 5 million archives dating back to the C12th and the charity's records are the first of their kind to be deposited in its collection, as Di Stiff, Collections Development Archivist, explains, "As the official custodians of Surrey's history we feel it is important to preserve all areas of the county's written heritage and the records of Gay Surrey are a vital part of this. We want our archive collections to develop in a way that reflects Surrey’s diversity and encourage the public to explore wider aspects of the county’s rich heritage."

The centre welcomes further material relating to the Gay community in Surrey and letters, diaries, poems, stories, personal experiences or film are all ways in which the collections here can be developed to celebrate Surrey's Gay history.

For more information, visit www.gaysurrey.org or www.surreycc.gov.uk/surreyhistorycentre. For information on volunteering to help with LGBT research please contact Di Stiff on 01483 518737 or email: di.stiff@surreycc.gov.uk

Berta Freistadt Dies

Berta Freistadt

1942 - 2009

The playwright, tutor, poet and short story writer Berta Freistadt MA has died. According to Women's Words, her work has been published in anthologies, journals and magazines in the UK, Israel and the USA. It has also been seen on buses in outer London.

During the 80s, her plays were performed in London, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands & Australia.
She was also co-editor of a book of lesbian & gay poetry,Language of Water, Language of Fire: A... (pub. Oscars Press '92).
A short film script she wrote, The Wall, won a Fiji filming bursary and was short listed for the BAFTA short film awards in 1996.
In 1998, her poetry was highly commended by the Houseman Poetry Society and Martello Writers.
In 1999, she was a winner in the Blue Nose/Museum of London Millennial Poetry Competition and in the Lexikon poetry competition.

In the spring/summer of '00 she performed her work from the art of dis/appearing (ed. Leah Thorn. Inspire Production '00) at Smithfield's Festival and for Apples & Snakes at Battersea Arts Centre.Berta Freistadt MA
Her writing has also been used by artist Joanna Bird who makes hand-made books and displayed at the Barbican Artist Book Fair in London, November '00.

In 2001, she was highly commended in the Blue Nose Poet of the Year Competition for her long poem Question of Maps. She was also awarded a special honorarium for artistic excellence from Mother Tongue Ink. USA. In early 2004, Five Leaves of Nottingham published a book of her poetry - Flood Warning: A...

She exhibited her work at the Half Empty Bookcase - a Jewish Women's Conference and performed at Centerprise, the Poetry Cafe in London and the Jewish Museum. Berta taught Autobiography for Women at Birkbeck College of London University. She also taught Creative Writing, Life Writing and Beginner's Poetry at the Mary Ward Centre. In her teaching, she aimed for a balance of enjoyment and discipline for both herself and her students. The enjoyment of the act of writing that came from the students' growing self confidence as they learnt skills and appreciated their talents and the discipline of committing to the task of learning to be a writer with all the pleasures and conflicts that are involved.

She recently finished writing a collection of connected speculative-fiction stories, Mass Dreams of the Future - a chap book of visions and fairy-tales set in a post cataclysmic landscape.

Berta was a typical Londoner - father, Czech/Jewish; mother, Irish/Scots who lived in North London next to a cemetery where the neighbours were quiet and where her cat Bluebell could do unspeakable things to other cats.

Kirsten Hearn writes a personal appreciation after the picture.

Berta Friestadt - a goodbye

The bus swings along the road that skirts the top of Hampstead Heath. We pass a necklace of lesbian associated landmarks which speed by like memories calibrating the past. It is sunny and the bus is quiet.

my companion and I eat deliciously moiste and succulent home made vegan chocolate cake in honour of Berta. We talk of how we knew her and as usual discover a spider's web of connections.

We're a bit late. It has proved almost impossible to get out of East London on a Sunday, gammy knees have impeded the ability to run for the bus, and the twists and turns of relationships and banc accounts have served to unsettle our sometimes volatile tempers. We share our woes and resolve to be kind to each other.

At Golders Green bus station, other formally dressed older women with sensible hair and shoes recognise each other as funeral guests. There is apparently a "look" although all are neat according to our own style and inclination. I am resplendent and coordinated in anarchist red and black. My companion, ever elegant if a little crumpled this morning, still wears last night's dinner outfit with her usual aplomb. She worries weather her low cut top will be deemed as appropriate to the occasion and, despite the sunshine, buttons up her jacket.

Apparently, the crematorium yard is a sea of familiar faces. Darn me if any of my companions can remember anyone's names though. I make a mental note to instruct that for my funeral everyone will wear name badges! We stand in the sunshine, introducing strangers to each other and reuniting old friends.

I sense the familiar parameters of this space. With a sigh I realise how I am becoming increasingly more used to being here. How many times has it been now, I wonder?

I remember being absent on another sunny day as women gathered here to commemorate the ending of a life too soon taken. On that occasion, the life had been given up in despair, as a means of silencing pain. It's been just over eight years. This time, the life has been reluctantly given up and only death brings relief from pain.

The hall is packed. They are standing at the back. It is cool and musty. I smile as I hear the presiding Rabbi (Sheila Schulman), her voice deep and resonant invite us to pray to "god" or "goddess". The Hebrew is beautiful, fluid and solemn, old as time. The readings heart-warming and uplifting, the poems poignant.

One by one, friends and family reveal her to us. Daughter of a refugee, a patrilineal Jew, outspoken activist, cat lover, lover of women and powerful word crafter. Her own words, spoken by others, bring her to us anew. And I remember Berta, enthusiastically supporting our work at Feminist Audio books, reading her own work aloud to help us raise funds and our profile. And I remember too, crowded poetry evenings in venues across London, women from all parts of our community, solemnly, cheerfully, shyly, angrily, sharing their lives through the beauty of poetry. Words upon words, inexpertly flung together or perfectly crafted, lives that mirrored each other or lives that diverged so far we might as well have lived on different planets.

The beautiful words of the Prayer for the Dead are spoken in Hebrew. Brahms, liquid and lyrical ushers us gently out into the sunshine. As the courteous violins weave in and out of each other, so do the threads of Berta's life weave together in the memories of those who knew her.

We repair to an airy flat somewhere near the Finchley Road where a funeral collation has been thoughtfully laid out. "every dietary need is acknowledged, and thus everyone is honoured and included as equally important.

We fall to eating and talking; with friends, with strangers with old foes newly recognised, with sisters in struggle. For some, the water is firmly allowed to flow under the bridge, for others, it is perhaps not so easy. Together though, we connect and speak of Berta and of how she touched our lives.

Momentarily disengaged, I fall to thinking. Why is it that we only get together now at funerals? I chew thoughtfully on a cream cheese bagel. I wonder what it would be like if we met to eat and talk simply for the purpose of connecting and sharing? I park the thought and turn back to my neighbour.

In time, it is time to go. With some considerable difficulty, I prize myself from the soft and squashy sofa. There was a time when I could spring up from the floor with one fluid move. Now I grumble and groan as I rise unsteadily to my feet.

"when will we meet again?" I wonder, stumping off to the loo.

Kirsten
Sunday august 2, 2009

See also the Guardian's obituary, here.

LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 1st - 7th August

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.

Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites.

Enjoy!

Owt on’t’telly?

A round up of LGBT progs and personalities on British TV.

TV
New
Christmas’s Dr Who Special is repeated on BBC1 on Saturday at 6pm. Five’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit at 10.55 picks up on the possibility that two gay murder victims might have been targeted because they had contracted a new virulent strain of HIV. How nice. Loads of Torchwood on Watch and Dan Snow’s Hadrian repeats on Yesterday at 9pm. Sundayevening’s dollop includes a repeat performance of Britain’s Most Embarrassing Parents onBBC3. Screened at 8pm, it precedes the delightful Young, Dumb and Living off Mum. Number 2 (it’s a top ten) embarrassing parent is a Leeds father whose transvestite alter-ego Sue takes out the youngest son and parades him around the city’s gay bars. Methinks this leaves some questions unanswered. At 9 on 4 on Monday, Rupert Everett follows the trail of the revolutionary bisexual romantic Byron in the second part of The Scandalous Adventures of Lord Byron. Come Dine with Me repeats are splattered all over the listings on C4 and its satellites. At the moment its on where Countdown used to be on Monday to Friday. Homoerotic overtones (or at least there were last week) in Desperate Romantics on BBC2 at 9 on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Sky Arts 1 starts Theatre Live! with an intro by Sandi Toksvig at 9pm. Torchwood repeated on BBC3 at 9pm Friday. Double helpings of Stephen Fry repeated on Friday with Kingdom on ITV1 at 9pm and QI on BBC2 at 10pm. More4 repeats the Cutting Edge doc of m-f gender reassignment of RAF paratrooper Jan Hamilton at 11pm.

Ongoing
One L and 2 Gs and 2 Bs on BB on C4. Alan Carr interviews Gok Wan in Chatty Man on C4 at 10pm Sunday. The Wire 11.20pm Tuesday and Wednesday on BBC2. Ugly Betty on C4 at 10pm Wednesday and Skins at 11 on Wednesday. Usually there’s some LGBT content on The Big Questions on BBC1 on Sunday morning at 10am. Ellen is on Fiver every weekday morning at 6. Come Dine with Me at 5.30pm on C4. Dr Who on BBC3 every evening at 7, QI on Dave and Will & Grace on Living every day.

Films
Boys Don’t Cry on Drama at 11.50pm Thursday. Transamerica on More4 at 9pm Friday.

Radio
Please also note that Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour contains a lot of relevant content and is generally LGBT friendly, but a lot of its output is not available to us before we put this on the site. For the latest Woman’s Hour stuff, subscribe to the programme's newsletter here.

Saturday 1st
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops 75 and 91
BBC Radio 2 - 6: Going out with Alan Carr
BBC Radio 2 - 8: Paul Gambaccini’s US hits
BBC Radio 4 - 10am: excess Baggage. Sandi Toksvig
BBC Radio 4 - 8: George Blake: The Confession

Sunday 2nd
BBC Radio 2 - 11am: Elaine Page. With West End show tunes and guests
BBC Radio 4 - 7.05am: Sunday. Religious programme that often deals with LGBT issues
BBC Radio 4 - 11.15: Desert Island Discs. Nicky Haslam
BBC Radio 4 - 12.04pm: Just a Minute. With Sue Perkins
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: Last Word.

Monday 3rd
BBC Radio 2 - 11.30pm: Disco Classics with Dave Pearce
BBC Radio 3 - 12noon: Composer of the Week: Tchaikovsky
BBC Radio 4 - 3pm: George Blake: The Confession. Rpt
BBC Radio 7 - 10.30pm: On the Town with the League of Gentlemen

Tuesday 4th
BBC Radio 2 - 10.30: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Kwame Kwei-Armah examines Tennessee Williams and the culture that surrounded him
BBC Radio 3 - 12noon: Composer of the Week: Tchaikovsky
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Tennyson: Great Lives

Wednesday 5th
BBC Radio 3 - 12noon: Composer of the Week: Tchaikovsky
BBC Radio 4 - 9am and 9.30pm: Between Ourselves. Olivia O’Leary interviews Shazia Mirza and Paul Sinha about being Islamic/Iranian/female/Asian/gay and a stand up
BBC Radio 4 - 9.3:0 Very Amazing: Behind the Scenes at the V & A
BBC Radio 4 - 11: In Living Memory. Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin. Jolyon Jenkins examines the book that began the chain of events leading to Section 28
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: The Odd-Half Hour. Stand up show based around modern life being rubbish. Includes Stephen K. Amos

Thursday 6th
BBC Radio 3 - 12noon: Composer of the Week: Tchaikovsky

Friday 7th
BBC Radio 3 - 12noon: Composer of the Week: Tchaikovsky
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Last Word
BBC Radio 4 - 4.3:0 The Film programme. Interview with Toby Young, who played Truman Capote in Infamous
BBC Radio 4 - 9: The Friday Play: The Enemy Within. Jon Sen’s play about blackmail over a gay relationship
BBC Radio 4 - 11: Tennyson: Great Lives. Rpt.
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 7pm: Round the Horne

Local

For a global classification of queer radio on line:
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=gay&so=26,52,78 and
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=Lesbian
Gay Internet Radio Live (G.I.R.L.) is on the air 24 hours a day with dance music from the US at www.gayinternetradiolive.com.

Wythenshaw 97.2 FM, a community radio station, airs a lesbian and gay radio magazine programme once weekly, according to Out North West Magazine published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation in Manchester. Podcast http://www.tuesdaynightout.co.uk/

GayRadio-UK is a new online radio station in Blackpool and promises a variety of LGBT programming. The audio stream is at www.gayradiouk.com. Guests iunclude lesbian actress Amanda Barrie, gay icon Su Pollard and radical actor Richie Tomlinson. Daily programmes are uploaded at the most popular gay podcast site on the net, Feast of Fun www.feastoffools.net, with a speech based programme of LGBT guests, news digest and light-hearted discussion.

Galaxy North East
Monday-Friday 4-7pm: James Barr

BBC Radio Manchester - 95.1 and online
Every Monday 8pm: The Gay Hour, Ashley Byrne and Andrew Edwards

BBC London - 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm: Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio - Brighton, London DAB and online 24/7

Manchester’s gaydio www.gaydio.co.uk

FYI Radio (gay youth radio) - online (currently only podcast but soon to grow to a fully fledged station) www.fyiradio.net

www.pinkeradio.com

Last Tuesday of the month - 6pm
Out in South London - local LGBT radio show with Rosie Wilby and guests
Listen online at www.southcityradio.org