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Peter William Burton (29 April 1945 - 7 November 2011) was an English journalist, publisher, editor and author, considered "the Godfather of gay journalism."

Personal life

Burton was born 29 April 1945 in Hackney, London.

In his first memoir, Parallel Lives, published in 1985, Burton wrote, "From about the age of 13, I had two ambitions: to leave school, and to leave home. Both were accomplished before I was 16 – and essentially, since then, I have been master of my own fate. And things have happened."

He was aware he was homosexual in his teens and shortly after began visiting gay pubs in London's West End. Although homosexuality was illegal at the time, Burton said he never worried about whether his sexuality was "'right' or 'wrong' – because it seemed perfectly natural." He continued, noting, "y the time I had become aware of society and the law’s attitudes, it was too late for me to change mine.”

Burton died of a heart attack at age 66 on 7 November 2011 in Brighton. Though Burton's "partner Ian predeceased him," he was "survived by his sister Pamela Hinchcliffe and her sons, his close companion, Torsten Højer."

Career

After dropping out of school at age 15, Burton took a position at the publicity department of Hamish Hamilton.

On 23 September 1965, Burton wrote his first piece of journalism, a review of The Marriage of Mr Mississippi.

From 1966 to 1968, Burton served as a manager at Le Duce, a local gay bar that operated despite homosexuality being illegal at the time.

In the late 1960s, Burton wrote and edited British gay news outlets, including Spartacus and Jeremy. He explained that at the time, "here was no gay press and although there were plenty of gay journalists, there was no gay journalism ... Those of us who were involved from the very beginning had to find our material and learn to write about it in a style our readers would not have previously encountered."

In 1968, Burton began working with Robin Maugham, helping him complete a number of books, including Conversations With Willie, which Burton is said to have written in total.

He began writing for Gay News in 1973 and in 1976, became the company's literary editor. During this time, Gay News published James Kirkup's poem “The Love that Dares to Speak Its Name,” which led Mary Whitehouse, a social conservative, to sue the newspaper, resulting in the Whitehouse v. Lemon trial for blasphemous libel. Whitehouse won the suit, and Gay News's founding editor, Denis Lemon, "was sentenced to nine months suspended imprisonment and fined £500." Gay News was fined £1,000. Lemon later referred to Burton as "the Godfather of gay journalism."

During the 1970s, Burton worked for Rod Stewart's manager, Billy Gaff, and handled the American Press for Stewart's tour with Faces, after which Burton published his first book, Rod Stewart: A Life on the Town, in 1977.

After Gay News ceased publication in 1983, Burton became the literary and features editor of Gay Times, a position he held until 2003.

In the 2000s, Burton regularly contributed to Brighton-based publications 360, One80, Daily Express, and The Independent. Beginning in 2006, he was also a literary programmer of Brighton's Clifton Montpelier Powis Festival.

Awards

Publications

• Rod Stewart: A Life on the Town (1977)
• Parallel Lives (1985)
• Talking To--: Peter Burton in Conversation with ... Writers Writing on Gay Themes (1991)
• Amongst the Aliens: Some Aspects of a Gay Life (1995)
• Somerset Maugham (2000)

Anthologies edited

• Vale of Tears (1992)
• The Mammoth Book of Gay Short Stories (1997)
• Bend Sinister: The Gay Times Book of Disturbing Stories (2002)
• Death Comes Easy: The Gay Times Book of Murder Stories (2003)
• Serendipity: The Gay Times Book of New Stories (2004)
• A Casualty of War: The Arcadia Book of Gay Short Stories (2008)
• What Love Is: The Second Arcadia Book of Gay Short Stories (2011)

Anthology contributions

• On the Line: New Gay Fiction, edited by Ian Young (1981)
• Play Hard, Score Big, edited by John Patrick (1999)

References

1. ^ Collis, Rose (19 November 2011). "Peter Burton: Writer and publisher who championed gay literature for". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
2. ^ Savage, Jon (8 June 2017). "You say you want a sexual revolution: why 1967 is the year pop came out". the Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
3. ^ Pulsifer, Gary (8 November 2011). "Peter Burton obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
4. "In Remembrance: Peter Burton". Lambda Literary. 13 November 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
5. ^ "The gay poem that broke blasphemy laws". PinkNews. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
6. Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (15 July 1998). "10th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
7. Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (10 July 2003). "15th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
8. Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (9 July 2005). "17th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
9. Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (18 February 2010). "21st Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 20 February 2022.

• 1945 births
• 2011 deaths
• 20th-century English male writers
• 21st-century English male writers
• English male journalists
• English gay writers
• English LGBTQ journalists
• Gay journalists