LGBT History Month Special: Fighting Proud

Southwark historian, Stephen Bourne, will give an informative and engaging illustrated talk about some of the gay servicemen who feature in his best-selling book Fighting Proud – The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars.

First published in 2017, Fighting Proud includes the stories of Lord Kitchener, the most famous military leader of WW1; Ian Gleed, a hero of the Battle of Britain; Prisoner of War Dudley Cave, who later campaigned for the lifting of the ban on gay men in the armed services; Harry Daley, a Police Constable who served all through the London Blitz; and the legendary bandleader Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson. At the heart of the book is the story of Bermondsey’s Ralph Hall, who served in the RAF in WW2. Ralph's love letters to his partner Monty have survived and some of them have been published in the book. BBC History Magazine has…