Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pearson,

the past brought to life by those who were there.

This week, Chang-Kai Shek's epic battles against Mao's communists in 1940s, China, the perils of deep sea diving in the early days of

North Sea oil, plus the excitement of getting your first apartment in the former Soviet Union.

Compared to that tiny room, our new flat was a delight.

It was on the fifth floor with no lift and no rubbish chute,

but no matter.

And the struggle for the heart of a nation's heritage.

A language is something more valuable than even the best that comes from the hand of the

painter or the sculptor and once lost kind of be put together again.

That's all to come, but we begin by taking you on a harrowing trip back into an age of bigotry.

This month marks 50 years since the British government passed the Sexual Offenses Act,

decriminalising homosexual acts between consenting men over the age of 21 in England and Wales.

Until then, gay men had lived in fear of imprisonment or discovery, often leading double lives

in order to avoid detection.

Louise Hidalgo has been talking to a comedian and radio presenter, Pete Price, who at the age of 18 was subjected to aversion therapy, which was

degrading, humiliating and is now discredited. People have no idea of the fear that people went through to live their life to try and be normal

because of the blackmail because of the queer bashes because of the suicides

there were so many people killing themselves because they couldn't accept who they were and they were frightened to go into prison.

It was horrendous.

Pete Price was 12 when he first realized he was gay. It was 1958.

At that age I didn't know it was a crime, but I knew it was apparent to most people and I also knew at school that if you got a reputation

...