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This article is about the English author and playwright. For the English saxophonist, see Alan Wakeman (Musician).

Alan Wakeman (born 19th June 1936, London, England) is a poet, author, playwright, lyricist, translator, photographer, graphic designer, illustrator, chef, pioneering gay activist and environmental campaigner. Wakeman was an early member of London Gay Liberation Front who was arrested on Remembrance Sunday in 1970 for placing a gay cross in the memorial gardens of Westminster Abbey. This led to his conviction in 1972 for “insulting behaviour whereby a breach of the peace may have been occasioned … Contrary to section 54 (13) Metropolitan Police Act 1839”. In 1972 he took part in the first London Gay Pride march. Also in 1972 he wrote and produced the world’s first proud gay song “A Gay Song” and was a founder member of the Save Piccadilly Campaign, the Soho Society and in 1973 of the Soho Housing Association. In 1974, he was a founder-member of the Gay Sweatshop Theatre Group which, in early 1975, staged the world's first season of proud gay plays, including Wakeman’s own Ships. His fund-raising poster for the group “What exactly is heterosexuality and what causes it?” still regularly appears in gay activist displays all over the world and was quoted in the House of Lords during their lordships’ debate on the Local Government Act 1986 (Amendment). Wakeman was an early theorist of language laboratory use in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and in 1966 was appointed Director of Language Laboratories for the International House group of language schools. During the course of 1968 he gave lectures on language laboratory techniques for the British Council, the English Teachers' Club and the International Teacher Training Institute in venues ranging from London’s National Audio-Visual Aids Centre to Tokyo’s Chiba University. During this same period his EFL classroom and language laboratory course, English Fast, sold over 500,000 copies. In 1976 his EFL science series Technology in the News was broadcast on the BBC World Service followed in 1980 by a second series Technology Tomorrow. His journalism has appeared in Gay News, The Soho Clarion and Time and Tide, where, from 1986 to 1987, he wrote the computer pages. In 1995 his new translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince was published by Pavilion Books.

Publications

 * 1966-72 English Fast – a comprehensive, audio-visual course for the teaching of English as a foreign language (Hart-Davis Educational).
 * 1968 Common Teaching Mistakes in the Language Laboratory (OUP/British Council, Japan).
 * 1968 Pace in Language Laboratory Programmes (Hart-Davis Educational, London, printed lecture given on behalf of the British Council to the Language Laboratory Association of Japan at Chiba University, Tokyo).
 * 1968 The Use of Film for English Language Teaching (Ford Foundation, Japan).
 * 1969 Getting on in English, 40 15-minute dramatised sound recordings for an intermediate English course by John Haycraft (BBC English by Radio).
 * 1969 Londoners' London, a photographic essay, in collaboration with Michel Arnaud (Rapp and Whiting).
 * 1970 Motor Car Madness, a short film about the destructive effect of cars on cities (BBC TV).
 * 1971 Are Language Laboratories Worth the Money? (Education Today).
 * 1972 A Fairy Tale About Profit, a radio drama based on the history of Piccadilly Circus (BBC Radio London).
 * 1972 Either/Or, an album of environmental protest songs, performed by Everyone Involved (Arcturus Music).
 * 1972 Goodbye Piccadilly, a tape and slide show (Save Piccadilly Campaign).
 * 1972-83 Occasional articles, book and theatre reviews, (Gay News).
 * 1974 Getting It Taped, 17 short talks on the use of tape recorders in language teaching, (BBC World Service).
 * 1974 Jabberwocky, an English language teaching game, (Longmans).
 * 1975 Ships, directed by Gerald Chapman, part of the world's first season of proud gay plays at the Almost-Free Theatre, (Gay Sweatshop/Inter-Action Productions).
 * 1975 Ships playscript (Inter-Action Inprints).
 * 1975 What exactly is heterosexuality and what causes it?, fund-raising poster (Gay Sweatshop).
 * 1976 Technology in the News, EFL radio series, (BBC World Service).
 * 1976 Tim, Willie and the Wurgles, children's stories. (Abelard Schuman).
 * 1978 Hamun & Giben and other stories, (Wildwood House).
 * 1979 Hamun & Giben and other stories, translated into Dutch, (Mirananda Uitgevers).
 * 1980 Capsize in a Trimaran, by Nicolas Angel, translated from the French, (Stanford Maritime).
 * 1980 Mr Angel, a short story, (BBC Radio 4).
 * 1980 Nerve, a short story, (BBC Radio 4).
 * 1980 Technology Tomorrow, EFL radio series, (BBC World Service).
 * 1981 Alone in the House, a short story in Cracks in the Image, (Gay Men's Press).
 * 1981 Exhibition of drawings and paintings, (Gay's the Word Gallery).
 * 1981 Doors of Perception, exhibition of drawings and paintings, (Seven Dials Gallery).
 * 1983 Covent Garden Art Show, one of seven artists, (Seven Dials Gallery).
 * 1984 Lingo, an English language computer game for the BBC B, (Complete Microcomputer Services).
 * 1984 What Do You Think? (BBC World Service).
 * 1985 Kinetic Computer Graphics, (Second International Contemporary Art Fair, Olympia).
 * 1986 The Vegan Cookbook, in collaboration with Gordon Baskerville, (Faber & Faber).
 * 1986-87 Time & Tide, regular computer page.
 * 1987 Love & Hate in Soho, London Scene, (GMP).
 * 1988 Soho pages for City, the Paris-based magazine.
 * 1989 Beloved Friend & Other Love Poems, (Gemini Press).
 * 1989-99 Alan Wakeman's Green Piece, regular environmental column, (Soho Clarion).
 * 1995 The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, translated from the French, (Pavilion Books).
 * 1996 Where The Heart Is, award-winning play, directed by Phil Willmott, (The Drill Hall). (award photo link?)
 * 1996 The Vegan Cookbook (2nd Edition), in collaboration with Gordon Baskerville, (Faber & Faber).
 * 1999 Car-Free London? Exhibition of practical proposals, (Architecture Foundation).
 * 2000-02 Soho Seen and Heard, regular column, (The Soho Clarion).
 * 2007 Innocence, staged public reading, directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair, (Tristan Bates Theatre).
 * 2007 Unzipped, poetry selection, (Gemini Press).
 * 2010 About Time Too, reflections on forty years since GLF, (Pride London).
 * 2010 A Hopeless but Heartfelt Gesture, (Pride London).
 * 2011 99 Words, (Darton, Longman and Todd).
 * 2012 A Transport of Delight (Carbusters)
 * 2012 The Living Planet, (Nothing at the End of the Lane).