The Story About Peter Wells, audiobook read by Tom Robinson

Who was the man to whom Tom Robinson devoted a whole verse of Glad To Be Gay?
Peter Wells was 26, his partner was 18. Because this was England in 1974, when the gay age of consent was 21, Wells was sentenced to two and a half years in jail. There, he was assaulted and abused by guards and inmates alike. On release from prison he was interviewed by Gay News just as Tom Robinson was composing Glad To Be Gay, and the case made it into the song.
Living in an affluent village in the late 1970s, behind his ostentatious social veneer Wells launched an anonymous case at the European Courts of Human Rights challenging the British government’s age discrimination against gay men. It was pioneering work that paved the way for eventual equality. But, scarred by his abusive background, his life veered and he would not live to taste the liberty he initiated.
Trawling archives, speaking to many people who knew Wells - including the only interview his partner has ever given - The Story About Peter Wells uncovers the man and the times.
00:00 Opening credits and narrator's note
00:43 Introduction
08:07 Family Background & Early Life
20:46 Back to Sanderstead
39:29 Into Prison
51:02 Release
1:08:46 Death
1:19:42 End credits
See Tom Robinson perform Glad To Be Gay with the Peter Wells verse in 1979:
• Tom Robinson - Glad To...
The book is also available as a paperback and CD audiobook. You can order it, and find a wealth of background material about Peter Wells, on the Glad To Be Gay site:
gladtobegay.ne...
#freeaudiobooks #audiobook #audiobooks #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbthistory #lgbtqhistory #humanrights #gayrights #biography