{"product_id":"the-light-of-day","title":"The Light of Day","description":"\u003cb\u003e''Your book is the \"really good book. Just one\" that Roger Butler would have wanted'' - Sir Ian McKellen\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e''Absorbing and often very moving'' - Peter Parker, \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e''Sir, we are homosexuals . . .''\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eSo began the letter penned by Roger Butler and sent to several British newspaper editors - some of whom were so shocked they thought it was a hoax - in June 1960. Writing such a letter seven years before the decriminalisation of homosexuality was a radical and dangerous move. \u003cb\u003eIt was a risk that set a major milestone in the fight for gay rights - one that has been almost entirely forgotten.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis is the story of the first man to come out voluntarily, using his own name, to the entire British public\u003c\/b\u003e, a decade before activists started petitioning gay people everywhere to ''come out proud''. Taking us through a criminalised underworld of gay pubs, parties and activist meetings, \u003ci\u003eThe Light of Day\u003c\/i\u003e charts how Roger helped bring about the legalisation of homosexuality, but soon found himself marginalised from the movement he kickstarted after losing his sight in his early 30s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEnter Christopher - a student asked to visit and read to an old, blind man at the beginning of a new century. As their intergenerational friendship bloomed, Roger came to trust Christopher with his most precious possession: memoirs of his revolutionary past, locked away in his home. After Roger''s death, Christopher opened a series of unsent letters, left in a pink folder, addressed to him. They contained Roger''s final wish, for Christopher finally to bring his remarkable, hidden story into the light of day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e''\u003c\/i\u003eRemarkable . . . a splendidly sprawling part biography, part autobiography, part history and part social commentary . . . the result, a true account, benefits greatly from a lightness, a candour untethered to any agenda or argument'' -\u003ci\u003e Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Faithfully and beautifully told'' - \u003ci\u003eMail on Sunday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483457790325,"sku":"9781035421541","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781035421541.jpg?v=1786178623","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/the-light-of-day","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}