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David was a daily diary writer, and barely missed an entry between 1920 and 1943. When he died of a stroke in 1969, these diaries – some 38 volumes and well over a million words – were deposited in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland along with his photo albums, newspaper scrapbooks and letters.
The diaries were catalogued briefly with barely a hint of the rich and exceptionally rare material they contain, and so have remained virtually unknown to the world. Over the last three years, Dr Tom Hulme has now transcribed these diaries as part of the Queer NI project.
As a diarist, David Strain was fastidious about recording not just his own feelings and thoughts about homosexuality, but also the many conversations he had with other gay men. The survival of these diaries thus gives a remarkable window onto a queer world that would otherwise be almost entirely invisible – limited to the sparse criminal records of men who were arrested for having sex in public. We may have expected to have found an intensely difficult and ultimately failed life, wracked with guilt and shame, but that is not the picture that David paints. Instead, the arc of his diaries depicts a journey of discovery: from isolation and ignorance to a vibrant queer world of sexual desire, love and community.

Hidden Belfast Forbidden Love by Hugh Costello
DAVID STRAIN ……………………Desmond Eastwood
MOTHER ……………………………Aine McCartney
GRAEME/Customer ……………Alan McKee
GILLIAN MCMURROUGH ……Ali White
SERGEANT MILLAR …………….Jonathan Harden
SUP’T TAYLOR ……………………Mark Lambert
MALCOLM…….. ………………….Michael Shea
RITA……………….. …………………Seana Kerslake
HARRY……………………..…………Chris Patrick-Simpson
Written by Hugh Costello
Directed by Eoin O’Callaghan
Executive Producer Andy Martin

Based on the diaries of David Strain, discovered by Professor Leanne McCormick and Dr. Tom Hulme
A Big Fish Radio production for Radio Ulster in association with Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast through their AHRC Impact Acceleration Accounts.