Writers of Cambridge II

Stephanie Theobald (1966-) has been described as “One of London’s most celebrated literary lesbians.” Her family ran a chain of …

Stars of the Stage and Screen III

Derek Jacobi, Simon Russell Beale and Michael Redgrave – three of our foremost actors, all educated in Cambridge

Pride Heroes: Dr Pip Gardner

Dr Pip Gardner (they/them) is the Chief Executive of The Kite Trust. After growing up in Peterborough, they now live in Ely with their very affectionate cat, Pancake.

Cambridge’s Gay Venues

A look at some of the venues seen in Cambridge over the last fifty years… Which do you remember attending?

The Love Rivalry of Keynes and Strachey

John Maynard Keynes and Lytton Strachey were well known figures in 1900s Cambridge – intellectual, influential and very gay leaders of student life.

Cleaning up The Kingston Arms, 1977

Cambridge’s first LGBT+ venues and “gay nights” started to appear in the 1970s, when across the UK there was growing awareness and politicisation of homosexuality as an identity. However, discrimination remained widespread.

In January 1977 the Cambridge News reported on a dispute at The Kingston Arms, Kingston Street…

Poets of Cambridge

Thom Gunn and Siegfried Sassoon were both celebrated queer Cambridge-educated twentieth century poets: Sassoon writing on the horror of war, and Gunn on the horror of AIDS.

Alumni in Politics

As of December 2019, the UK’s Parliament had 56 LGB+ MPs[1], the highest tally ever – nine per cent of the total, and 21% of all MPs aged under 40. It hasn’t always been easy to be out at Parliament, and the stories of four LGB alumni show how far things have come: Matthew Parris, Chris Smith, Nick Herbert and Wes Streeting.

Cambridge Activists

Kim Friele, Antony Grey and and George Cecil Ives: all pioneers in fighting for the right to live and love as they pleased.

Burgess and Maclean: The Missing Diplomats

It was almost midnight on Friday 25th May, 1951. Two men stood at the dock in Southampton as the steamship to St Malo loomed into view. Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean had met at Cambridge University more than twenty years before; they had been friends, at one time lovers, but their paths had diverged. Maclean was serious and moralistic, an efficient diplomat with a young family. Burgess was charming and charismatic, but unreliable and infamous for his partying. This evening they were united with a single purpose: getting out of the country before Maclean was exposed as a spy.