Twenty Firsts Meme

Via Iain Dale

First Job
Hiring out deckchairs on Saltcoats beach in 1976

First Real Job
Coordinator of volunteers, YWCA, Edinburgh.
First post Ph.D. Job; Asst. Prof. Brooklyn College.

First Role in Politics
Joined Labour Party in Edinburgh Central, 1983.
Active in London Pride, Act-UP/NYC, and Queer Nation/NY

First Car
A horrid Honda Prelude that blew three cylinders within 3 months. Extra fact: first ever control of a car by myself, was after buying said car at Madison Avenue and 36th St.

First Record
Andre Previn's recording of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony.

First Football Match
Manchester Utd v Huddersfield, circa 1972. At Old Trafford (walkable from where I lived). I saw George Best, Bobby Charlton, and Denis Law play

First Concert
Either Leonard Cohen in Edinburgh or Joan Baez in Caesarea Israel.

First Country Visited
USSR (Now Ukraine) [We saw Kiev, Leningrad and Moscow]. On a High School trip from Ardrossan Academy in 1977. The USSR under Brezhenev did not look especially bad, and from then on I opposed any notion of dropping nuclear weapons on these people.I enjoyed the day trip to a Komosol camp and singing Kalinka. I was also cruised in an art gallery in Kiev, although, alas, I did not realise what was happening at the time.

First TV Appearance
On a conflict-style debate show, representing Queer Nation, in Detroit, 1988

First Political Speech
Attacking abortion in a debate at High School

First Boyfriend
Leo A. Who I met in 1992, and lived with for 4 years; and with whom I am still best friends.

First Encounter with a Famous Person
Meeting Chris Smith MP, on a Pride London march.

First Brush With Death
Testing HIV Positive in 1990

First House/Flat Owned
Never owned a house or flat.

First Film Seen at a Cinema
Sound of Music at Gaumont Manchester. Saw Batman and Robin the week after. Then Dumbo. My Mum was training me to be queer.

First Time on the Radio
Defending Pope John Paul II as a an economic radical on WBAI in New York

First Politician I Met
Michael Ancram MP, Robin Cook MP, or Chris Smith MP. I recall one of them was gay.

First Book I Remember Reading
Something about helicopters by Enid Blyton

First Visit to the London Palladium
Sneaked in to see La Cage au Folles, 1986

First Election
1979. I voted Conservative vs. Robin Cook in Edinburgh central on the abortion issue. Thinking that through moved me left. Far Far Left. I liked the Bennite book MANIFESTO in 1982. I still do. Except I would keep the Queen.

First Political Speech
When I told my Mum, Harold Wilson's "White Hot Technology Speech" was hot shit.