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From 10 July you can tune into BBC Radio 3.

Monday: Simon Callow on Micheál MacLiammóir and Hilton Edward

In 1969, while the actor was performing his one man show in Dublin, a young Simon Callow was Micheál Mac Liammóir’s dresser. Callow pays tribute to the 50-year relationship of Micheál MacLiammóir and his partner Hilton Edward, who were the founders of Dublin’s influential Gate Theatre.

Airs Monday 10 July 10.45pm-11.00pm BBC Radio 3

Tuesday: Stella Duffy on Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas
In a heartfelt meditation on the (in)visibility of gay women, writer and theatremaker Stella Duffy describes growing up a lesbian in New Zealand in the 60s and 70s and considers what the 40 year expatriate relationship of Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas means to her.

Airs Tuesday 11 July 10.45pm-11.00pm BBC Radio 3

Wednesday: Gregory Woods on WH Auden and Chester Kallman
Academic and poet Gregory Woods, author of Homintern: How Gay Culture Liberated The Modern World, explores the tumultuous but enduring relationship of poet WH Auden and librettist Chester Kallman, lifelong companions and collaborators.

Airs Wednesday 12 July 10.45pm-11.00pm BBC Radio 3

Thursday: Neel Mukherjee on Lota de Macedo Soares and Alice Methfessel
Novelist Neel Mukherjee on the abiding reticence that characterises the work and the life of American poet Elizabeth Bishop, particularly in relation to her sexuality. Mukherjee explores the two great loves of Bishop’s life: the Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares and American student Alice Methfessel, who was 32 years her junior.

Airs Thursday 13 July 10.45pm-11.00pm BBC Radio 3

Friday: Louise Welsh on Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde
Novelist Louise Welsh on the life, love, the rise and the fall of Scottish artists Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde. The two Roberts, as they came to be known, met in 1933 as students at Glasgow School Of Art, and were together until their early deaths. Their relationship endured their meteoric rise as fashionable artists and their eventual fall from grace as post-was tastes in art began to change.

Airs Friday 14 July 10.45pm-11.00pm BBC Radio 3

This programme is part of Gay Britannia, a season of programming across the BBC marking the 50th anniversary of The Sexual Offences Act 1967, celebrating the LGBTQ community, challenging existing preconceptions and prejudices, casting a fresh light on the history of gay Britain, and exploring what it means to be gay in Britain today.

Producer: Simon Richardson

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Publishes press/media releases of interest for the LGBTQ community.