Peter Burton: Writer and publisher who championed gay literature for over 35 years has died suddenly aged 66.
Born in Hackney, Peter left school without qualifications
but went on to become literary editor for Gay News, under its founding editor Denis Lemon, establishing the paper’s reputation for serious coverage of books and authors.
In the early 1970s, he was press agent for the Faces, and his authorised biography, Rod Stewart: A Life on the Town (New English Library, 1977), which according to Burton was written on speed in 48 hours, gave him enough money to buy his first home, in Brighton’s Kemp Town.
After Gay News imploded in 1983, he became the literary and features editor of Gay Times, a position he held for 20 years,
In the last decade he was a regular contributor to the Brighton-based publications 360 and One80, and he also contributed regular book reviews for the Daily Express and obituaries for The Independent.
Peter William Burton, journalist, publisher, editor and author: born London 29 April 1945; died Brighton 7 November 2011.
