Memories by Trevor Hall
Meeting other men
Trevor talks about meeting men in cinemas. “I used to go to the cinema a lot, I’d left school, and although I was friendly with the girls round where I lived, it was as though I didn’t exist in that world, it was just a feeling I had. I went to the c...
Sex was illegal in the 1940s
In the 1940s Trevor recalls “You knew that it was (a criminal offence) but being young you just didn’t think about the dangers, you just went ahead and got your rocks off, I suppose you’d call it.” ...
Cruising in the Bull Ring 1950s
Trevor talks about meeting other gay men in the historic Bull Ring area, early 1950s "You think, where can this happen, I’d moved back home, and come the weekends I used to go into town, wander round, and most of my time was spent in the Bull Ring, t...
it was like a Poofs Parlour
“I got to know people, and then they said ‘Why don’t you come and have a drink, and I remember we went to a bar called Howards Bar by Snow Hill Station, around 1950. It was a perfectly normal bar downstairs, but upstairs was like a ‘Poofs’ Parlour’ –...
A very ornate and beautiful pub
Trevor recalls The Woodman on Easy Row, “I still didn’t meet people you could become friendly with, and then I remember we went to a pub by the West End Cinema, called The Woodman, very ornate, beautiful tiled place, absolutely lovely, pulled down no...
Meeting men in Kent Street Baths
“Then I found out that there was a Turkish Bath in Kent Street which I used to go to of a Saturday, going into the fifties, and that bath is still there by The Fountain, they’re empty and closed now. I got to know quite a few people in there, and I m...
Wolfenden Report didn't really change things
“When the Wolfenden Report came out (in 1957) – that seemed to ease things, although things didn’t change really.”...
The Cofton Park Murder and Police Attitudes
Trevor talks about the murder of David Leonard Palmer, a young gay man, on 17th May 1964 and the repercussions it had for the still underground gay community. “I was coming back from London (after the May Bank Holiday) and a friend of mine had broken...
Laurie was mixed up with everything
“I remember the time Laurie Williams opened a club, which was upstairs in Victoria Square, it used to be called Galloway’s Corner, Lyons Corner House, and we were upstairs there. Laurie’s been going back quite a while, his first one was in Handsworth...
A typical 60s night out
Trevor recalls a typical gay night out in the 1960s. “After that there was always parties, because there was no clubs, you were asked here and you were asked there, and you got to know a lot of people in the bars by their first names, and it was like...
Wild times at the Silver Slipper
“There was the toilet in St Stevenson’s Place, which used to go down and round and up again, the steps, and the most notorious one of course was the Silver Slipper in Station Street, which is now demolished and filled in. But also, at the other end o...
1960s terms and Polari
Trevor talks about the names gay people were called in the 1960s.“I don’t think we used the word ‘gay’ till the sixties, you were queer or a puff, shirtlifter, which was not very nice really. I think during the sixties that came out being ‘gay’, I’m ...
Picked up by a policeman 1960s
Trevor talks about the time he unknowingly picked up a Policeman. “I was always called Trevor (not a nickname). You used to worry whether to give your name, ‘Shall I tell him?’, but you never gave your name in writing, you didn’t write letters. We ca...
Trips to the Ex Servicemens Club
“We used to go down to London for the weekend and stop at the Ex-Service Men’s Club, which was absolutely wild, you met people and things happened, you went to bed and what have you, a lot of people went there, but at night, along the corridors, ther...
Joining the Army 1949
Trevor discusses his time in the army in the late 1940/early 50s. “I went in the Army, but I didn’t get much sex in the Army, I just had one bombardier, a corporal, who I was quite friendly with, that was the only person in the Army I had connections...
Police attitudes 1960s
Trevor recalls a friend having a brush with the Police - “I had a friend who was having sex just off New Street and a copper came along and didn’t do anything, just gave him a clout with his truncheon and said ‘bugger off!’ A lot of Policemen were li...
No change in attitudes 1967
Trevor talks about the lack of change in peoples attitudes after decriminalisation in 1967. “Nothing really changed, I don’t think people grasped it at first, if you were caught cottaging you were still in trouble, so really the law didn’t change tha...
No Drag in Birmingham in the 60s
Trevor talks abut the lack of drag queens in Birmingham in the 1960s. “We used to go down to London in the sixties, and that is the only place we saw drag, we used to go into the East End, the pubs, and there was all drag acts, but never in the Midla...
The scene in the 70s
Trevor discusses the attitudes of gay men and the gay scene in the 1970s. “They got more bolder and it was more accepted but there was no such thing as a gay village, it was the odd pub every now and again, and nothing in the outskirts, it was just i...
How it started
Trevor talks about the Mature Gay Men's Group. “We had friends in Bearwood and we used to go to town a lot but really there was nothing for us, most of the gay crowd from my day had stopped coming into town, it was all kids, all loud music, we used t...
Parties in the 60s
Trevor talks about parties in the 1960s. “It was drinking and dancing, you’d go and have a drink and take a bottle back or some beer and there’d be music playing on the record player and you’d dance, or go into a corner and cuddle up, or talk, it was...
No women on the scene in the 60s
Trevor talks about the absence of women on the scene in the 1960s. “There was ladies there as well, but in those days, not so many ladies used to come out, but one or two used to come out. Why was that? There were no ladies in the bars, I find that s...
Wolverhampton Scene and Bill Gavan
“Wolverhampton was never a gay scene at one time, we all used to go into town, then suddenly a bar opened in Chapel Ash called the Alexandra, Geoffrey Bangham opened it, and it became very popular – in the seventies, everyone used to go and that took...