AIDS: The Lost Voices
Simon Daniels [Hull Daily Mail 1998]
SIMON DANIELS was born in June 1961 alongside his twin brother Mark in Hull, East Yorkshire. From an early age, Simon exhibited an outgoing personality and a strong passion for the stage. His notable early achievement was a positive review in the local press for his portrayal of Horace's Clerk in the Beverley Operatic Society's production of Hello, Dolly!. At just 23, he founded the “No Name Company,” a theatre group dedicated to performing Christian musicals to raise funds for local charities. By 1985, at 24, Simon was the General Manager of ‘Yanks’, an American-style diner in Swaby’s Yard. Alongside this, he established his own catering business before joining Hull City Council’s catering division in 1987.
Throughout these years, Simon maintained his involvement in theatre, regularly performing in musicals and pantomimes with established local societies. After five years with the council, he advanced to the position of Commercial Development Marketing Manager, where he managed the theatre and gallery restaurants within the council’s catering division.
In August 1991, Simon took on a role in the AIDS play Compromised Immunity, expressing to the Hull Daily Mail that the production was staged to convey "anger, sorrow and suffering" – anger at the lack of necessary action and sorrow for the friends and lovers lost to the epidemic. Like many gay men at the time, Simon was deeply involved in advocating for the AIDS cause and supporting the community.
Unbeknownst to him then, he would later discover he too was living with HIV/AIDS. His commitment extended beyond theatre; Simon served as chairman of AIDS Action Hull and later as a director of Body Positive East Riding. Demonstrating immense courage, he openly shared his life and diagnosis through a weekly column in the Hull Daily Mail. Three decades later, Simon’s legacy remains a powerful testament in the ongoing fight to end the stigma faced by those living with HIV/AIDS.
Click to Open (In New Window)
Hull Daily Mail 20 July 1995
Audrey & her son Simon Daniels
SIMON DANIELS was born in June 1961 in Hull, East Yorkshire, alongside his twin brother Mark to parents Roydon Daniels and Audrey Raper. He was part of a large family that included seven siblings: David, Paul, Peter, Roger, twin Mark, and sisters Jane and Ruth. The Daniels family faced tragedy when Roydon passed away in 1982.
Through Simon’s column, we learn that he was very close to his mother, Audrey, referring to her not only as his mother but also as his ‘best friend’. As the column continues, it becomes clear that Audrey was a formidable woman. Despite being 68 years old at the time, she threw herself into learning about HIV/AIDS with remarkable dedication. She even addressed a large crowd on World AIDS Day in 1997, held at Hull’s Queens Gardens, and had established a self-help group for mothers with HIV positive sons, demonstrating her unwavering commitment and strength in the face of adversity.
Simon worked as a Commercial Development Marketing Manager for Hull City Council's catering division, balancing his professional responsibilities with his passion for acting. Like his twin brother Mark, he enjoyed a glittering career on the local theatre circuit, where his performances were well reviewed. Even after his HIV/AIDS diagnosis in October 1993, Simon continued to act for a time, demonstrating resilience and commitment to his craft despite the challenges he faced. His dual career embodied a blend of public service and artistic expression, reflecting a life lived with both determination and creativity.
From 27th June 1995 until his untimely passing on 4th July 1998, Simon penned a regular column for the Hull Daily Mail, documenting his life with HIV/AIDS with remarkable candour and honesty. His heartfelt diary sought to dismantle the stigma, ignorance, and prejudice that pervaded society at the time, offering readers an intimate and humanising perspective. Alongside his writing, Simon served as chairman and director for Body Positive East Riding, where he campaigned relentlessly, contributed to newsletters, and spoke out in the national press and on television. His tireless activism played a crucial role in breaking down societal barriers and fostering greater understanding and compassion for those living with HIV/AIDS. Thirty years on, Simon’s diary remains profoundly relevant in 2025; despite some progress, stigma and ignorance surrounding HIV/AIDS endure, and his legacy can continue to educate and inspire as powerfully now as it did three decades ago.
Several newspaper articles highlighting Simon's versatile acting career, or reference his day job as a Commercial Development & Marketing Manager, drawing attention to the unique balance he maintained between his professional commitments and his passion for acting before writing his column on his life with HIV/AIDS.
Ahead of Simon’s first diary column ‘Positively Speaking’ for the Hull Daily Mail, he gave an interview under the pseudonym ‘John’. In this initial interview, he mentioned Sandy, a key member of his extensive support network. The article provided a deeper insight into Sandy’s vital role as one of seven volunteers at Positively East Riding.
“Sandy has found the hardest part of being a volunteer at Positively East Riding has been in getting John [Simon] to accept help. “Once he rang me to ask me not to go round to clean because he was too tired to tidy up before I got there!”
Click the article, right, to read Sandy’s interview in full…
Hull Daily Mail 20 June 1995
“I tried hard to think about what Mark Fowler had said when he told Pauline and Arthur (Yes, I’m sorry, I do watch EastEnders!). Then I recalled how Arthur had become angry and rejected his son. Thankfully I came to my senses and realised that the series had not covered this story line particularly well and I decided not to follow his example”.
- Simon, Hull Daily Mail, 4 July 1995.
Ahead of his own HIV/AIDS diagnosis in October 1993, Simon and members of the theatre group he was part of were determined in 1991 to confront the prevailing narratives surrounding AIDS through storytelling. They sought a suitable premise to stage the play Compromised Immunity, aiming to challenge misconceptions and foster a deeper understanding of the epidemic at a time when stigma and fear dominated public discourse.
Their commitment to addressing the crisis through the arts underscored a vital effort to humanise those affected and spark meaningful dialogue within their community.
I was unable to establish if they production went ahead, I hope it did.
Company Name: Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company
Writer: Andy Kirby
Director: Philip Osment
Designer: Tony Reeves
Lighting: Matt Shadda
Costume: Caroline Burgess
Cast: Richard Sandells, Madeleine Blakeney, Pip Stephenson, Peter Shorey, David Benedict, Alan Hooker, Duncan Alexander
Year:1986
Written in 1986 by Andy Kirby Compromised Immunity was developed for the Gay Sweatshop Time Ten festival. Gay Sweatshop took the production on tour from April to June 1987.
1987 FILM ADAPTATION
The film follows Peter Dennett, a heterosexual nurse and Jerry Griond, a gay man with AIDS who has lost his job, home and lover. With contrasting prejudices and assumptions about sexuality, AIDS and each other, the patient and nurse relationship is at first tense and terse. But as Peter continues to care for Jerry in his final weeks, Jerry’s disillusionment begins to soften, and a meaningful understanding emerges between them.
Click to Open (In New Window)
In his diary column dated 20 February 1996, Simon addressed a series of letters featured on the Hull Daily Mail’s letters page, expressing his dismay at the sentiments they conveyed. He remarked, “The recent outbursts on the Hull Daily Mail letters page from people who read this column have not surprised me greatly. I am amazed that people living in the 1990s are still as shallow and bigoted as they were many years ago.”
You can open those letters below
Concert of Hope - World AIDS Day 1995
[Credit: Wellcome Collection]
Princess Diana, Concert of Hope 1993
Princess Diana significantly elevated public awareness of HIV/AIDS during her ‘Concert of Hope’ staged at Wembley Arena, an event that featured a diverse lineup of superstar singers. The concert, held on World AIDS Day in 1995, was a poignant demonstration of her commitment to destigmatise the disease and support those affected. Despite the star-studded appeal of the event, Simon shared in his diary column that he politely declined the invitation, choosing instead to observe the day more quietly at Hull’s Queens Gardens World AIDS Day memorial.
Click to Open (In New Window)
Simon’s diary didn’t just document his personal experience living with AIDS but also offered a critical perspective on how people with AIDS (PWAs) were portrayed in British soap operas—a portrayal that often stood in stark contrast to the realities faced by those actually living with the condition.
BBC’s EastEnders, particularly through Todd Carty’s character Mark Fowler, was widely praised at the time for introducing an HIV-positive character, a move celebrated mainly by those outside the HIV/AIDS community. Yet, Simon, known for his straight-talking nature, challenged this narrative, questioning the writers' intentions and the authenticity of the portrayal.
What makes his diary especially compelling is how he engaged with the soap’s storyline, becoming so absorbed that he wrote two letters addressed to the fictional characters Kathy (Gillian Taylforth) and Grant (Ross Kemp). Through these letters, Simon sought to confront and correct the prejudice and misinformation propagated by the characters, revealing a deep frustration with the simplistic and often misleading depiction of PWAs on mainstream television.
There is no denying the role of Peggy Mitchell, Grant's mother, played by the late Dame Barbara Windsor, was both compelling and authentic, capturing the complexities of a matriarch who was fiercely protective of her family while navigating the prejudice of HIV/AIDS that no doubt represented women in society of her era.
Herald Express 20 July 1996
In Simon’s diary column, he hinted at having a minor role in the play Jeffrey, which was staged at Hull Truck Theatre from 14 to 18 May 1996. However, contemporary newspaper coverage reveals that Simon actually played the lead role of Jeffrey, with his twin brother Mark—also active in the theatre scene—as the director. This was likely a deliberate attempt to obscure his true identity as 'John,' the writer behind Positively Speaking. Although Simon, under the alias ‘John’ had publicly acknowledged some level of involvement in the production, his brother Mark Daniels told the Hull Daily Mail that they hoped to avoid drawing unwanted attention from the audience. To that end, a note in the theatre programme explicitly advised spectators not to speculate about which cast member was John, reinforcing the desire for anonymity amid the performance.
Jeffrey (1995 Film)
Click to Open (In New Window)
Click to Open (In New Window)
