My name is Liam Liburd and I’m the Assistant Professor of Black British History at Durham University. I’m also the Department of History’s Public History Officer and am responsible for arranging history-related public events across the academic year.

You very kindly shared the details of our Black History Month event with your contacts in October last year. I’m now writing to bring our Pride Month event to your attention.

To mark Pride Month, we are holding a free lunchtime public talk by Dr. David Minto to mark Pride Month.

A Queer Tale for the Silver Screen: Projections from the Archive of a Gay WWII Movie Star
In the early 1940s Anton Walbrook was one of Britain’s most celebrated actors, famed for his key contributions to wartime films and stage plays. He was also technically an “enemy alien,” having fled from Nazi Germany, and an intensely private man who formed queer relationships at a time when Britain criminalised homosexuality.

Using newly revealed documents alongside film clips of Walbrook’s most dazzling performances, this talk explores the tensions and overlaps between the actor’s roles in Britain as foreign refugee, patriotic propagandist, and gay movie star. It casts him as an extraordinary but revealing presence in a world of queer entertainment as well as national interest.

When: 12pm, Monday 10th June
Where: Room PG20, Pemberton Building (next to the Cathedral)

Attendance is free, please register here.