The new drama series sheds light on the lives of gay people living in Belfast in the 1930s
September 6, 2024 — A new drama starring Desmond Eastwood (Normal People) and Jonathan Harden (Blue Lights) sheds light on the forgotten diaries of a linen merchant who recorded the lives of gay people living in Belfast in the 1930s.
The diaries of David Strain were discovered by Dr Tom Hulme (Queen’s University, Belfast) and Professor Leanne McCormick (Ulster University). When David died of a stroke in 1969, his diaries – some 38 volumes and well over a million words – were deposited in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland along with his photo albums, newspaper scrapbooks and letters.
With support from Queen’s University and Ulster University, elements of the diaries have now been dramatized and will form a five-part series on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster.
David Strain’s secret diaries, compiled between 1920 and 1943, provide the background to a journey from isolation and ignorance to a vibrant world of sexual desire, love and community. He was fastidious about recording not just his own feelings and thoughts about homosexuality, but also the many conversations he had with other gay men. The survival of these diaries thus gives a remarkable window into a world that would otherwise be almost entirely invisible.
Listen to all episodes of Storytellers: Hidden Belfast, Forbidden Love from Saturday 7 September on BBC Sounds, with the first episode starting at 1.30pm on BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle on the same date.
Source
BBC Sounds
