The Sunday Times, 9 September 1989. This was a bit of a break for me - the splash that brought together Margaret Thatcher, sex, Aids and politics in one front page story. Thatcher was determined to prevent the Department of Health from commissioning a survey into what the British actually got up to in bed, our sexual habits and lifestyle, even though the Aids scare was at its height and it could have helped save lives. I got to hear about it, and the result was my story in the Sunday Times headlined "Thatcher Halts Survey on Sex". It led the broadcast news bulletins all day and was the story of the week.
It was a very easy story to write - everything was confirmed very quickly with the Department of Health and Number Ten, I did a couple of phone interviews with the main people, and then the story just wrote itself.
What subsequently became the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles was soon after funded instead by the Wellcome Foundation, and is still in business. My Sunday Times story of 1989 is now part of the 'Institute of Sexology' exhibition at the Wellcome Foundation gallery in London, and a copy of the paper is on display there in a glass case. Creepy! This is me with the exhibition catalogue today. Yay!
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