About Matthew…
Matthew Todd is a multi-award-winning writer, broadcaster and sometime performer who edited the UK’s best-selling gay magazine, Attitude, for eight years and is best known for his book ‘Straight Jacket: Overcoming Societies Legacy of Gay Shame’, published by Black Swan (part of Penguin Random House) in 2016. His second book ‘Pride: The Story of the LGBTQ Equality Movement’ was published by Welbeck Books (then Carlton publishing) in the UK and in France in 2019 and will be published by Weldon Owen in the USA in May 2020.
Matthew began his career at the British gay rights organisation Stonewall, working in their original, small office in Farringdon in the nineties before starting at Attitudemagazine in 1996 as editorial assistant. Working elsewhere such as at Top of the Pops magazine and Live and Kicking he began performing as a stand-up comedian, running an LGBT friendly night at The Yard in Soho in the mid noughties, was Deputy Editor of Attitude and became Editor-in-Chief in 2008.
During his time at Attitude he interviewed celebrities including Madonna, Daniel Radcliffe, Lady Gaga and secured cover exclusives with the likes of Sir Elton John, Prime Minister David Cameron, then leader of the Labour party Ed Miliband MP, Cher, Gareth Thomas, Matt Lewis and dozens more. For his last issue in June 2016, HRH Prince William made history by sitting for the cover of Attitude and issuing the first Royal statement against homo, bi, and transphobic bullying. The cover was reported in media across the world.
Matthew co-created the Attitude Awards, the UKs highest profile awards event which celebrates achievements of the LGBTQ community and has been attended by HRH Prince Harry, Cher, Carrie Fisher, Graham Norton, Naomi Campbell, Will Young, Matt Lucas, Boy George, Kylie Minogue, Whoopi Goldberg, Daniel Radcliffe, Ricky Martin and many more world famous celebrities. He also co-created the Attitude Pride Awards intended to honour unsung heroic members of the LGBTQ community.
His first play, ‘Blowing Whistles’, about gay mental health, addiction and fidelity, played at the Jermyn Street theatre London (2002), The Warehouse Croydon (2005), The Sound Theatre (2006) and the Leicester Square theatre (2008) where it received 4 star reviews in The Evening Standard, Sunday Express, Spectator, Whatsonstage.com (‘the brightest gay play in ages’), Time Out and Westendwhingers.com who called it ‘the best gay play since Beautiful Thing’. It has played in small theatres in the USA and had successful runs at the Belvoir St Theatre and Darlinghurst Theatre in Sydney, Australia.
Starting a discussion about the impact of growing up in the closet, in 2010 he wrote a ten-page Attitude feature called ‘How to be gay and happy’ which received the magazines biggest postbag to that date. In 2016 his first book, Straight Jacket, was published by Black Swan (part of Penguin Random House) and was published in paperback in 2018. Straight Jacket was shortlisted for the Polari award.
And voted Best LGBT Book of the Year (2017) by readers of Boyz magazine and Matthew was awarded the Freedom of the City of London for services to the LGBT community.
His second book, ‘Pride – The Story of the LGBTQ rights movement’ was published by Welbeck publishing (then Carlton Books) in 2019. It has been translated and published in France and will be published in the United States in 2020 by Weldon Owen.
Matthew is a contributor to This Is Not A Drill (Penguin, 2019), Letters To The Earth(Harper Collins, 2019) and The Queer Bible (Harper Collins, 2020)
He writes regularly for the Guardian; his work has appeared in most British newspapers and he has presented two authored films for BBC Newsnight. He is the winner of the Stonewall Journalist of the Year and three British Society of Magazine Editors’ Editor of the Year awards. He has done two tours of UK Waterstones shops with ‘An Evening with Matthew Todd’ and hosted ‘The Matthew Todd Show’ at the Soho theatre as well as appearing at various Penguin Pride events and panel discussions across the country. He is a regular speaker at corporate and events about mental health and LGBT issues and has acted in the BBC Radio 4 play How Success Ruined Me.
He is currently working on several new books and a one man show.
instagram.com/OutoftheStraightJacket
© 2022 Matthew Todd