Swimming with the Goldfish

Nicholas Gasson grew up in 1950s-70s Kent, where his homosexuality gradually dawned on him, through his life as a child, a teenager and beyond. Swimming with the Goldfish is a candid memoir that depicts exactly what it was like to grow up as a homosexual in these times, reflecting on the social and political climate of these decades and the huge change in attitudes towards him and those like him. Weaving through this is the story of the loves of his life, from from 1973 through to 1986.

Full of anecdotes of the music, fashion and media of the time, the book charts Nicholas’s beginnings as a teenager in a rock band, followed by the early stages of his acting career. Finally it moves to his ten-year span working for MI5, including a two-year secondment to Belfast, then being unceremoniously ejected from that organisation solely because of his sexuality.

Swimming with the Goldfish is ultimately a book that considers Nicholas and the characters in his life in the context of the massive changes in attitudes to the gay community, from the middle ages through to the present day: a comprehensive summary of the history of gay rights in the UK and beyond.