Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd (born 1949) is a biographer, novelist, and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London.

Ackroyd was born in London and raised on a council estate in East Acton by his single mother in a "strict" Roman Catholic household.[1][2] He first knew that he was gay when he was seven. He was educated at St Benedict's, Ealing, and at Clare College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with a double first in English literature. In 1972, he was a Mellon Fellow at Yale University.

Ackroyd had a long-term relationship with Brian Kuhn, an American dancer he met while at Yale. After a nervous breakdown in the late 1980s, Ackroyd moved to Devon with Kuhn. However, Kuhn was then diagnosed with AIDS, dying in 1994, and Ackroyd moved back to London. He has long been known for his abuse of alcohol, and in 1999 he suffered a heart attack and was placed in a medically induced coma for a week.

Peter Ackroyd was included in the 50 most influential LGBT people in the Pink List 2000, but in the Pink List 2010 he was included in the "Rogues Gallery", with the following explanation:
 * "Dazzling and prolific author Ackroyd qualifies for the list on all counts but the one that matters. "Is it some sort of gay thing? ... I'm not even gay," he claimed after hearing that he'd made it on to last year's list. We pray that you won't be weeping into your cornflakes as we bid this impostor adieu."