History Archives - Antony Simpson is an Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.

History: Lesbians & Gays Support The Miners (LGSM)

Saturday 3 October 2026 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The Miners Strike

In the UK, in the 1980s (1984 to 1985 to be precise) Miners went on a strike that would last for a whole year, organised by National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The Union was opposed the announcement of plans to close 20 pits/mines, starting with Cortonwood Colliery in South Yorkshire. The Union predicted that these 20 pits/mines closures would just be the start. Union Leaders suspected that there were plans to close up to 75 pits/mines and that this could lead to more than 20,000 people loosing their jobs.

Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government were in political control at the time of the strike. The Government felt that the Union had too much power and that the industry needed to become economically more efficient. Thatcher and her Government felt it was their duty to dilute the power of the Union and that efficiency could only be achieved through privatisation.

It wasn’t just the coal mining industry Thatcher and her Government wanted to dilute union powers and implement privatisation in. There were others too. Thatcher and her Government used the Police as their state enforcement arm, using the Police to aggressively reduce picketing, crush civil disobedience and to protect workers willing to work during the strike. This did an unimaginable damage to the relationship and trust between mining communities and the Police.

The Lesbians & Gay Men Support The Miners (LGSM) Groups

Two Activists, Mark Ashton and Mike Jackson, attended a talk by a striking miner and were inspired to set up the first LGSM group. Both Mark and Mike realised that the LGB community and mining community had a lot in common.

Both the LGB and mining communities were being vilified by the press, mistreated by the Government and Police, facing regular stigma and discrimination and were fighting for their communities. It made sense for both communities to support the other.

Mark and Mike started by collecting donations for the miners at London Pride. It should be noted, that in the 1980s, Pride events where not like they are today. They would be better described as Activist rallies, sometimes with a protest march. The community would come together and listen to speakers. Speakers would inspire and give hope – that things will get better for LGB people. Mark and Mike gave the money they raised to people in the mining community, helping them to survive with the very basics, such as food, housing and clothing.

Over time, the LGSM grew, with more LGB activists participating and higher amounts of donations being received. Both meant that the LGSM was able to support more miners and their families. The LGSM started in London, but soon, a further 10 LGSM groups were set up across the UK, by lesbians and gay men to support striking miners.

The Political Landscape

LGB people and striking miners may not seem like natural political allies. Even though, as I have written above, they had a lot of the same challenges (bad press, mistreatment by Government/Police and stigma/discrimination).

The are some reports that at the time many of the LGB community identified themselves as socialists, left wing or of similar views. This political leaning is not surprising really, given the daily challenges LGB people faced in the 1980s.

If you think about it, supporting the miners and their families would sit well and comfortably with LGB people’s believes and values.

What Happened Next?

The LGSM groups gave support and resources to the miners and their families freely and without any conditions or expectation of reciprocation. What happened next between the two communities was wonderful.

Members of the two communities got to know one another and develop meaningful connections. Prejudice and homophobia lessened. Lesbians and gay men gradually became not just tolerated, but accepted, fully, for who they are including their romantic and sexual attractions. For whom they love.

It is likely that societal attitude changes towards LGB people would have happened with or without LGB people supporting the miners. But supporting the miners likely massively increased the speed of this societal and cultural change in some parts of the Uk.

Why Is Knowing This History Important?

This history can remind us of the need to help one another, to be active within our communities and to reach beyond our communities for allies.

If we think about LGB people’s rights, we have only gained these due to having many straight allies. Rights including:

References

The Story of How the Discovery of the Rosetta Stone Led to a Better Understanding of the Ancient Egyptians

Sunday 6 September 2026 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Rosetta Stone. Image from & copyright ©, The British Museum, 2017)

Before 1799, Archaeologists, Historians and Linguists all had a problem.

Their problem was that they couldn’t work out how to translate and understand the many pictograms or hieroglyphics that had been drawn by the Ancient Egyptians.

More and more tombs, artifacts and stone slabs were being discovered all the time in Egypt, all covered with these mysterious and unfathomable symbols.

More and more tombs, artifacts and stone slabs were being discovered all the time in Egypt, all covered with these mysterious and unfathomable symbols. Just imagine how frustrating it must have been, to have all this information recorded about and recoded by the Ancient Egyptian people, but not to be able to make sense of it.

This apparently reads: **Can you read this?** Made using a generator on LINGOJAM.

The story starts with Napoleon (a French General, who would at one point become the Emperor of France) deciding to invade Egypt in 1798. Napoleon did this to threaten the British Empire’s control of India. Likely due to the conflict and poor record keeping by the French army, details about the Rosetta Stone’s discovery are vague.

Historians seem to think that on 15th July 1799, French soldiers discovered the Rosetta Stone accidently whilst digging foundations for a fort. Historians suggest that when Pierre-François Bouchard, the Officer in Charge of the unit, he immediately understood the significance of what they had found.

What Did Pierre-François See and Understand About The Rosetta Stone?

The Rosetta Stone is a written/drawn decree, the same decree, repeated in three different languages. The first language was Egyptian hieroglyphics, suitable for groups of people in ancient times that could read that. The suggestion from Historians is that these people were either priests, wealthy or both. But we don’t know this for sure.

The second language was cursive Egyptian, which was thought to be ‘the language for every day people.’ The language that the majority of the people could read.

But it was the third language that Pierre-François spotted and made this stone slab special. The third language was Ancient Greek, which some scholars could still read.

This meant that well-educated people could possibly compare the passages using Ancient Greek passage like a the right key to a locked door. That they could decipher both the hieroglyphic and cursive Egyptian languages using the Ancient Greek passage.

At an earlier point in history, Alexander The Great (a Greek King) conquered Egypt with an army. Historians suggest that a group of people who could only read Ancient Greek existed in Egypt because of this past. That for whatever reasons these ancient Greeks opted to stay in Egypt, or perhaps, were instructed to stay, rather than going back home to Greece.

What Happened Next?

Jean-François Champollion, a French Egyptologist, was the first to successfully translate the meaning of different hieroglyphics in 1821. However, according to a number of different sources online, he had faced fierce competition from his former mentor Thomas Young, a British Scientist (I’m using the word Scientist here to describe a broad range of activities).

After this other people developed further understanding, but their works are all based on the foundations of Jean-François Champollion’s work. As the days have turned into months, and the months into years other stone slabs have been discovered with other decrees on them. A total of 29 Rosetta Stones have been found at the time this blog post was published.

Where is the Original Rosetta Stone Now?

At the time this post was published the original Rosetta Stone, the key to translating and understanding the ancient hieroglyphic language currently resides in The British Museum. How it ended up there…well that’s another story.

Blog soon,

Antony

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The Rainbow Pride Flag: Who designed it? What do the different colours symbolise? And how has the design evolved over time?

Saturday 8 August 2026 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 6 minutes

I remember the first time I saw the Rainbow Pride Flag (image left). I was a young gay man and it was at a local LGBT youth project I attended. I had recently come out to some close family and friends.

As I got a little older, I began to go to the gay pubs/clubs in my local city, meeting other Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) people. The Rainbow Pride Flag was prominently displayed on both the outside and inside of every gay pub/club/business there. In these settings, I felt safe. I felt free to be my whole self, with no fears about how other people might react. I felt I was with my tribe. With people that were the same as me.

Ordinarily, in the outside world, I would monitor my voice and behaviour closely. I’d be hypervigilant for danger, always noticing the people around me, the environment and constantly scanning for the subtle signs that I might be in danger. Often, I considered multiple exit routes and what I might say to someone if they became verbally or physically abusive towards me. I’d also consider who, out of the strangers around, might help me, if I needed it.

My fear was very real. I’ve had experiences in the past where the risk of harm from strangers, just because of my sexuality, was very real. These experiences, along with hearing experiences from others, made me very cautious. I felt that hiding my sexuality, rather than it being noticeable, kept me safer. This fear for my safety even influenced what I chose to wear and how I styled my hair.

Being gay has always been part of who I am. But sadly, not all people like or accept gay people.

The Rainbow Pride Flag quickly became a symbol to me that represented: safety and that I was free to be my full true authentic self. I knew that I could breathe, relax and enjoy myself in any setting that had the flag on display. I never took that for granted. When I was leaving these settings, I knew was going back into a potentially hostile world.

I recently realised that I knew practically nothing about the Rainbow Pride Flag. I have displayed it, using its symbolism to hopefully make others feel safe and welcome. So I made the decision to do some research and learn more about the flag. In this post, I share with you what I learned:

1. Who designed The Rainbow Pride Flag?

The Rainbow Pride Flag was designed by Gilbert Baker, Lynn Segerblom, James McNamara and other gay rights activists in San Francisco, USA. Gilbert Baker was friends with and influenced by Harvey Milk, a very famous gay civil rights activist.

The Rainbow Pride Flag first appeared in 1978 at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade and was quickly adopted as a symbol for and by the LGBT community. The original flag had 8 colours, including hot pink, like below:

Some people have suggested that Baker and the other designers used the rainbow colours due Judy Garland. Judy Garland played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz film and sung the song ‘Over The Rainbow.’ She later became somewhat of an icon in the gay community. Some in the LGB community would ask others: Are you a friend of Dorothy? This was a coded message, disclosing their sexuality and asking if they were also in the community.

However, Baker, in an interview in 1985 denied any association with Judy Garland, Dorothy or The Wizard of Oz. He reported that designers chose rainbow colours “because of its associations with the hippie movement of the Sixties.” Baker also noted that the use of this design dated all the way back to ancient Egypt.

The Rainbow Pride Flag was designed to be a symbol of the gay civil rights movement that was taking place in the USA at the time. The design has evolved over time, as has what the flag means to the LGBT community, allies and the general population. It is an extremely powerful symbol for the LGBT community.

It could be argued that the Rainbow Pride Flag has become much, much more than the original designers expected or could even have imagined.

2. What do the different colours on the flag symbolise?

Overall the flag was a symbol (and in some areas remains one) around equal civil rights and protections for LGBT people. The genius behind the deign of The Rainbow Pride Flag is that different individuals or community can attribute their own meaning to it. For example, as an individual to me it symbolises safety and being free to be my authentic self, as explained in my story above.

It is reported that each colour on the original 1978 Rainbow Pride flag symbolised something specific. The colours on the flag and are what they are reported to symbolise is well reported on the internet. The colours on the original 1978 flag are said to symbolise:

During my research, I could find no credible reference to confirm or deny that the designers had specific symbols in mind for the specific colours that make up the flag.

It could be that they did, equally that they did not. It could be that these symbols were created or decided on at a later date, by the designers or practically anyone else and at some point, they just started getting reported as fact. We just don’t know for sure and likely never will.

3. How has the design of The Rainbow Pride Flag evolved over time?

The first design change of The Rainbow Pride Flag occurred towards the end of 1978. Harvey Milk was assassinated and this led to a massive increase in demand for the Rainbow Pride Flag.

The customers were likely LGBT people who wanted to support the gay civil rights movement, knowing that they already faced discrimination, harassment and sometimes physical assault. Harvey Milk’s murder likely made people think that this could happen to anyone of them and that they need to be politically active for rights and protections.

Some sales of the flag may have also come from allies, people who identify as hetrosexual (straight), but agreed that LGBT people should have the same rights and protections as everyone else.

In November 1978, due to the increased demand, the manufacturer was struggling to get hold of enough hot pink material to make the flags and complete orders. So Baker, tweaked the design, removing the hot pink colour.

Some time in 1979, Baker decided to remove Turquoise as he needed an even number of colours (6 rather than 7) as part of his pride parade plans to places two colours on each lampost repeatedly along the parade route.

Baker then adjusted the design of the Rainbow Pride Flag in 2017, making it a nine stripped flag. The turquoise stripe was back, along with a lavender stripe. Baker is said to have added the lavender stripe to symbolise diversity and reportedly did so due to the election of a certain orange President the year before.

There have also been a large number of organisations across the world that have adapted Baker’s designs, adding to or changing the design slightly. There are too many variations to list them all here and I would no doubt miss some out. So I have only included details of the original Rainbow Pride Flag’s evolution here.

4. A Powerful Symbol

Over time, The Rainbow Pride Flag has become an extremely powerful symbol for LGBT people in a number of places in the world. It has helped the community to be acknowledged, listened to and in many places respected. Although this hasn’t happened everywhere.

Today, many public institutions, private companies and charities recognise Pride Month in June and actively promote celebration of their customers/staff/others who are part of the LGBT community.

In some places attitudes towards LGBT people have improved and we have definitely gotten more legal rights/protections in many places. But there is still more work to be done. Both from a civil rights persepctive and to help others to understand some of the challenges and difficulties experienced by LGBT people.

5. Other Content You Might Like

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Write soon,

Antony

The Story of Sir Alexander Fleming and his Accidental Discovery of Penicillin

Thursday 23 April 2026 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

(Image From & Copyright © Wikipedia, 2026.)

Sir Alexander Fleming was a Doctor and Microbiologist who discovered the first antibiotic, Penicillin, by accident.

In 1928, Fleming was studying the bacterial organism Staphylococcus. Fleming accidentally left some petri dishes containing Staphylococcus uncovered in his lab before going away on holiday.

When Fleming returned to his lab, he discovered one of the petri dishes had developed mold. On examination, he discovered that all the Staphylococcus bacteria had been eliminated. Fleming discovered that this mold had produced a substance that had eliminated the bacteria. He identified the mold as Penicillium notatum, which is where he got the name Penicillin from.

The following year, Fleming reported his discovery in a talk to a Medical Research Club and wrote a paper which was published in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology. But it took nearly a decade for the scientific community to realise the implications and potential of Fleming’s discovery.

Fleming later reflected on his accidental discovery:

One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.
– Sir Alexander Fleming

Discovering Penicillin was not Fleming’s only achievement, but his most notable one. He was knighted in 1944 and shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Knighted is when the reigning King or Queen bestows a knighthood, meaning that your title becomes Sir, rather than Mr or Dr.

Fleming was not exaggerating when he stated that he revolutionised all medicine. Antibiotics save many millions of lives across the world each year.

However, according to the NHS we are now seeing bacterial organisms that are resistant to some antibiotics. This means that some antibiotics no longer kill some harmful bacterial organisms. The NHS has been running a Keep Antibiotics Working campaign for a number of years, which has included this TV advert:

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Antibiotics don’t just save human lives. They can also be used to treat bacterial infections in animals too.

I find Fleming’s story incredible and inspiring. I hope you did too. If you enjoyed this post, you might like: The Story of Jonas Salk and The Polio Vaccine or Ida & Louise Cook: An Extraordinary & Inspirational Story.

Blog soon,

Antony

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History

The Miners Strike

The Lesbians & Gay Men Support The Miners (LGSM) Groups

The Political Landscape

What Happened Next?

Why Is Knowing This History Important?

References

Other Content

What Did Pierre-François See and Understand About The Rosetta Stone?

What Happened Next?

Where is the Original Rosetta Stone Now?

1. Who designed The Rainbow Pride Flag?

2. What do the different colours on the flag symbolise?

3. How has the design of The Rainbow Pride Flag evolved over time?

4. A Powerful Symbol

5. Other Content You Might Like

More Content From Antony