Mark Ovenden interviewed by Kosma Mrzyglod

Interview with Mark Ovenden recorded by Kosma Mrzyglod on 28 April 2026 at Cowes Library on the Isle of Wight. Duration: 1 hr 46 min 32 secs. [Start of interview, track 01] Earliest memory of railways, London Underground (LU), move to Isle of Wight, Beeching cuts in 1960s, playing on railway tracks; childhood, importance of imagination, feeling different from other children; paper round job and pocket money jobs as a teenager to pay for railway modelling hobby; interest in music, collecting vinyl records, interest in media and broadcasting, recording a show for hospital radio station on Isle of Wight, disco and electronic music, DJing; interest in art, school art project making his own version of LU map, led to going to art college [end of track 01] [Track 02] Experience at school, interest in geography, history and art, influence of teachers; when and how he realised he was gay, Southampton university gay society, first gay relationships, involvement in Southampton local LGBTQIA+ community, events and activities, gay pride 1981; Setting up a local gay-friendly magazine ‘Due South’, challenges for distribution; student society radio show; 1980s AIDS/HIV crisis, impact of how it was covered by the media, youth group, politics then, homophobia, deciding to get involved in politics; witing a report to improve the railways in Southampton, meeting with Head of Network Southeast to discuss the report; Section 28, creating Outrage! group in Southampton to campaign against homophobic laws; becoming a journalist, work for Southampton local radio stations; developing a pilot for a national radio show for LGBTQIA+ youth, rejected by BBC; moving to Manchester, work on non-discrimination policies for city council [00:31:15]; music, gay scene and LGBTQIA+ community in Manchester; developing new radio show pilot for young LGBTQIA+ audience ‘Loud and Proud’, commissioned by BBC Radio 1, Pride events coverage for BBC Radio 1; moving back to Isle of Wight, his transport radio programme on Vectus Radio; other previous experience on tv and radio programmes; his collection of transit map from around the world, inspiration to make his first book ‘Metro maps of the world’ preparation, research and rights clearance when contacts were made by letters not the internet; idea and designing the book cover, publication in 2003, anecdote seeing the advert for his book on LU [00:50:45]. Being a collector, his maps and railway signs collections; British Railway branding and corporate identity, his current book project; how he feels about the National Railway Museum (NRM), being a regular visitor to Search Engine; railways studies course with the University of York, research visits at NRM; becoming a railway lecturer, accreditation process with the Arts Society, subjects of his lectures, LU and railway architecture and design, Margaret Calvert; end of Section 28, political changes in the UK, 1997 general election, Tony Blair’s labour government, impact on the LGBTQIA+ community; reflections on progress achieved for LGBTQIA+ rights, worries around current political climate, risks of losing what has been fought for in the past; how he met his partner, life on the Isle of Wight, relationship with his partner; being an author, books he has written and published; 2005 moving to Paris, work on book about Paris metro, his experience there; book on railway maps of the world, research and rights clearance; moving back to London, work on a book ‘Johnston and Gill : very British types’, how he developed and presented a TV documentary on the same topic; current book projects, ‘Mapping Britain’s Railways’ with Andrew Smithers, and book on the corporate identity of British Railways; how design and diagrams underpin everything on the railways; importance of maintain pride within the LGBTQIA+ community, the part of public transport in LGBTQIA+ community [end of interview]

This interview was made as part of People Pride and Progress (PPP) project. The project was initiated in 2023 to record the stories and memories of the LGBTQIA+ community in a new oral history archive over two years. It aimed to connect past, present and future through intergenerational interviews, offering opportunities for colleagues across all parts of the rail industry to connect, reflect on and learn from each other’s lived experiences while creating an archive of oral history interviews.