I have wanted – too long wanted, as I unfortunately discover today – to send him a picture of the old teapot that Alan Batty, Ric Davies, Penny Teather and I shared in our digs along Church Road, Hove in 1970.
We had inherited it from him and his flat mates living there the previous year. Battered and bruised, with areas of its silver plating missing, tanin thick inside and a spout that drips if you pour too quickly, it still serves tea, at least once a day at the Trescols. A sentimental item that I will not throw away and my wife has learnt to live with this idiosyncrasy.
Each time we have tea I think of him. Not just because of this small teapot but because I followed in his steps as Secretary of the Students Union at the University of Sussex. I was probably encouraged by him that I first set foot in the studios at Malborough Place and contributed to “Contact“, BBC Radio Brighton‘s monthly students programme – which proved to be a cardinal point for my life. We were also, with Ric Davies, initiators with him, of “In Camera“, the closed-circuit campus TV channel.
I remember a very warm, likeable person, always ready to help, methodical, and enthusistic in all he did. Although two years older than I, he was, of sorts, an example in my first years at University. Some where in a cardboard box of archives of that era I must have a photo of him… I remember a smiling, very active but calm, stressless student.
Several years ago, I scanned Facebook, but had not found him. But today – yes, after an afternoon ‘cuppa’ – I again searched for his presence on Google, only to stop in my tracks with my answer – in an article from the Independent, dated 11th May 1999.
Obituary: Barry Jackson
• by David Baker, Tuesday 2 November 1999 00:02 GMT
BARRY JACKSON combined a high-profile career in public affairs with ceaseless voluntary work in the arts, and in lesbian and gay campaigning. He was instrumental in establishing the UK’s response to Aids and HIV in the early Eighties, and played a important part in reorganising and refocusing Gay Pride.
Born in Greenwich, Jackson grew up in south London and went to Sussex University in 1966 to study mathematics, throwing himself immediately into student politics. He was sabbatical secretary of the students’ union from 1968 to 1969 and his level-headedness was able to calm many a fraught situation – not least when a visiting US diplomat was covered in paint and the American flag burnt by angry protesters.
He left Sussex without taking up his degree but having gained an extensive journalistic experience on the university’s student television service, “In Camera“, and on the campus newspaper Wine Press. His first job was as marketing officer for British Student Travel in London, followed by a stint as marketing manager for National Travel. But in 1975 he moved to Manchester to work for North West Arts and began a career in the arts that would take him eventually to the role of development director for the Arts Council of Great Britain.
It was in Manchester that he first came into contact with the fledgling Campaign for Homosexual Equality, the first national pressure group to push for lesbian and gay rights. The partial decriminalisation of homosexual acts had taken place in 1967, but gay men and women still faced enormous prejudice and intolerance. Jackson proved a forceful campaigner for CHE and he became the organisation’s national treasurer.
In 1978 he moved back to London to take up a job at Greater London Arts and to become first administrator of the experimental theatre group Gay Sweatshop. The Gay Pride marches had been taking place annually in London since 1972, but they were still attracting only a few hundred marchers and were met with hostility both from anti-gay observers and from some gay men themselves who felt it was unwise, as they saw it, to rock the boat. Other activists were arguing for a more confrontational approach. Jackson favoured an even course between these two extremes. He believed in greater visibility for gay men and women and in the benefit the Pride marches would bring. But he also cultivated influential people in politics with a view to changing both the law and attitudes to homosexuality.
In 1980 he joined the Arts Council as public relations director and volunteered for London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard which was, at the time, the only 24-hour telephone advice service for lesbians and gay men in the world. Among the countless other organisations he would volunteer and fund-raise for, Switchboard took pride of place. The organisation, at its peak, was taking 250,000 calls a year despite being staffed entirely by volunteers and running on an annual budget of pounds 25,000.
By the early Eighties, an increasing number of men on both sides of the Atlantic were dying from Aids-related illnesses and, in 1983, Jackson helped set up the UK’s first national conference on Aids, an event that was to lead to the re-establishment of the Terrence Higgins Trust, which had been set up on a less formal footing the previous year. At the time, Aids was little understood either by medical specialists or by the wider population and Jackson was instrumental in setting up the National Aids Helpline which, along with Switchboard and the Terrence Higgins Trust, became a primary source of Aids-related information and advice.
In 1991, just after he took over as development director at the University of Westminster, Jackson’s closest friend Mike Rhodes died and he helped set up the Mike Rhodes Trust which makes an annual award to an individual who has “contributed most to promoting an understanding of lesbian and gay life”. In many ways, Switchboard and the Mike Rhodes Trust sum up Jackson’s approach to campaigning – quiet but assertive; founded on the dedication of volunteers rather than relying on a paid staff; and focused on the individual rather than committees or pressure groups.
Jackson continued to build on his interests in higher education and, in 1993, took up the post of corporate affairs director for the higher education lobbying group the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals. At the same time he became a European trustee of the Council for Advancement and Support for Education. His support of the arts never wavered, however, and, in 1994, he joined the board of the internationally renowned Actors Touring Company and became its chair a year later. One of his proudest moments was travelling with ATC to Greece where the company was touring simultaneous productions of Euripides’ Ion in English and Greek.
By the late Nineties, the London Gay Pride festivities, although attracting up to 250,000 people, had lost sight of their original political purpose and Jackson became involved in a movement to replicate Sydney’s famous Mardi Gras celebrations in London. For him, the Sydney Mardi Gras represented the only way forward for Gay Pride: it was fully integrated into the life of the city; it carried a political message; it was fun; and it was profitable. Only weeks before his death, he was liaising with the organisers of the Sydney event.
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Barry Jackson, public affairs manager and gay rights campaigner: born London 17 October 1946; Publicity Manager, Greater London Arts 1978-80; Public Relations Director, Arts Council of Great Britain 1980-85, Development Director 1985-90; Development Director, University of Westminster 1990-93; Corporate Affairs Director, Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals 1993-99; died London 25 October 1999.
Article from the Guardian, 10th December 1999
It was fitting that Barry Jackson, who has died of leukaemia aged 53, was centrally involved in the staging of this year’s London Mardi Gras. The lesbian and gay festival brought together many strands in his life: activism with business acumen, politics with fun and style, an arts programme with a cutting edge and London with Sydney, two cities he loved.
Born in south London, Barry read mathematics at the University of Sussex from 1966-69. There he was active in the student union, quickly learning to defuse arguments, and in student journalism.
In 1975, he went to work for North West Arts in Manchester, and then became development director of the Arts Council of Great Britain. He joined the University of Westminster in this role in 1990, before moving to the committee of vice-chancellors and principals as director of corporate affairs. There he ran campaigns to increase public funding for university research, to stop planned cuts in other areas of funding and to enhance recognition of the contribution universities make to regional and international competitiveness.
In 1994 he joined the board of the Actors Touring Company, and toured Greece when it presented simultaneous productions of Euripides’s Ion in English and Greek.
While in Manchester, Barry became involved with the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, the first of a number of lesbian and gay groups which would benefit from his campaigning, communications and fundraising skills. His understanding and good humour in the often difficult circumstances created by prejudice and intolerance were later evident in his work at London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. Between 1980-98, Barry spoke to many thousands of lesbians and gay men, their families and friends who had phoned, often in fear and confusion.
He also helped organise the first national conference on Aids in 1983, encouraged and supported the development of the Terrence Higgins Trust, and went on to be involved in a number of Aids organisations.
Most of this he did with his closest friend, Mike Rhodes, who died suddenly in 1991. Barry helped set up the Mike Rhodes Trust, which makes an annual award to an individual who has “contributed most to promoting understanding of lesbian and gay life”.
Barry Jackson, gay activist and corporate and public affairs manager, born October 17 1946; died October 25 1999
From Circa-Club.Com (under Gay History, Gay Celebrities, Gay Icons)
BARRY JACKSON
Life Span: Born 17th October 1946, Greenwich; died 25th October 1999, London.
Famous As: British public affairs manager and gay rights campaigner.
Education: Education: Jackson was born in Greenwich, south London, and was brought up on the south coast of England.Jackson went to Sussex University in 1966 to study mathematics. While there he became active in student politics and became sabbatical secretary of the student union from 1968 to 1969. He was frequent contributor to the student television service In Camera and the campus newspaper Wine Press. He did not complete his degree.
Work: His first job was as marketing officer for British Student Travel in London. He then took a job as marketing manager for National Travel.
In 1975 he moved to Manchester to take up a job with North West Arts, this was the start of a long career in the arts world, and here he made contact with the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) and became an active campaigner. This led to him becoming the national treasurer. In 1978 he moved back to London to take up a job as Publicity Manager for Greater London Arts.
Jackson joined the London Monday Group of CHE and also took on the role of administrator for the experimental theatre group Gay Sweatshop. He was instrumental in the creation of one of the first gay television programmes, which was about the sacking of the British Home Stores worker Tony Whitehouse when it was discovered that he was gay. Barry Jackson and his friends picketed BHS which eventually caved in. Tony Whitehouse became the president of the Terrence Higgins Trust.
Barry Jackson was responsible for putting out the first record of the London Records founder and gay activist Colin Bell. This was a 500-issue of a version of Tom Robinson’s Glad to be Gay, distributed on the short-lived CHE Records record label. He changed his job in 1980 to become Public Relations Director for the Arts Council of Great Britain. From 1985 he became its Development Director.
Also in 1980 he volunteered for the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. It was one of the many organisations for which he would become a fund raiser. In 1983 he helped to set up the UK’s first national conference on AIDS, and also the National AIDS Manual publishing house, and the National AIDS Helpline. He was employed as Development Director for the University of Westminster from 1990 to 1993. In 1991 his closest friend Mike Rhodes died in a motoring accident and he helped set up the Mike Rhodes Trust which makes an annual award to an individual who has ‘contributed most to promoting an understanding of lesbian and gay life’.
Jackson was Corporate Affairs Director for the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals from 1993 to 1999. He also became a European trustee of the Council for Advancement and Support for Education. In 1994 he joined the board of the Actors Touring Company and became its chair a year later. In the late 1990s he became involved with the Gay Pride march and festival, and was part of the movement to make the London celebrations more like the Mardi Gras in Sydney. He was at the centre of the response to the bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho in April, 1999.
Jackson contracted pneumonia in October the same year, and died at St Thomas’s Hospital, London.
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Updated/maj. 12-05-2018
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