The Light of Day The first man to come out at the dawn of gay liberation

<p><b>''Your book is the "really good book. Just one" that Roger Butler would have wanted'' - Sir Ian McKellen</b><br><b><br>''Absorbing and often very moving'' - Peter Parker, <i>Spectator</i></b><br><i><b><br>''Sir, we are homosexuals . . .''</b></i><br><br>So 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. <b>It was a risk that set a major milestone in the fight for gay rights - one that has been almost entirely forgotten.</b><br><br><b>This is the story of the first man to come out voluntarily, using his own name, to the entire British public</b>, 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, <i>The Light of Day</i> 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.<br><br>Enter 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.<br><br><b><i>''</i>Remarkable . . . 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'' -<i> Times Literary Supplement</i></b><br><br><b>''Faithfully and beautifully told'' - <i>Mail on Sunday</i></b></p>