‘Countless lives damaged’: UK’s dark history of gay conversion practices

New book covers period from 1950s to 1970s, but its author highlights continuing lack of full ban

Bill was 24 when he had electric shock therapy for the first time. It was 1971, and he had known he was gay since he was 11, but had never told anyone, before going to his doctor for help".

In a darkened hospital room he was told to choose 40 images of men he found attractive and 40 images of women. When the images of the men flashed up, electricity surged through his body; with the images of the women, he was given respite. He went through the images three times, every Friday, for months. I wanted to be straight because I thought it would make life easier," says Bill, now 74. But it was just a total waste of time."