For a decade from 1976, Brian Hayes benefited as a broadcaster from having the calm, kind and wise Lawrie Douglas as his producer at LBC. Of the period when I took over, from 1986 to 1990, it is not the guests that I recall so much as the callers, especially those who rang in during the first part of the show, dedicated to the news of the day – the general calls hour.
Two major talking points of that era were HIV/Aids and Section 28, which limited the discussion of LGBT issues at local government and school level. This was something Brian – ever ready to debate bigotry and misinformation – was robust in taking on.
As we went down to the studio, he’d check that he had with him Susanne Bösche’s book Jenny Lives With Eric and Martin (1981), the story of a small girl living with her father and his lover, ready for calls on the topic of same-sex couples.
