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The men who predicted the arrival of Aids in the UK 鈥� and prepared for the worst before even knowing the virus鈥檚 name

In the early 1980s, Derek Ogg read an American newspaper article about a new illness affecting gay people. Immediately he was worried.

“Laker Airways could send people across to New York for £100 return,” he recalled on Our Story. “A huge number of gay people were going across. I knew that, if there was a virus over there, it had a fast track back here to Scotland.”

Derek remembers attending Edinburgh disco Fire Island: “The place was packed; everyone was having a great time. I thought, ‘this is all going to change and they can’t see this coming’.”

The unknown virus

Deciding he needed to help, Derek set up Scottish Aids Monitor (SAM) with some friends who were consultants in sexual health.

The charity aimed to spread information about the new disease and educate people into protecting themselves from it.

“In those days we thought it was just a gay thing,” said Derek. “We didn’t know what the virus was even called then.

“We set SAM up before we ever had a single case of HIV in Scotland — so we were ready for it coming.”

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