It would now be very odd to say “my gay friend”.

Compared with a generation ago, it’s far less remarkable now to be openly gay.  That said, my friend Graeme is sitcom gay – handsome, flamboyant and effusive. He and I went to the theatre last night and he turned up with Keren from Bananarama. Of course he did. Though he hadn’t realised that I was such a Bananarama fan. They often turned up at a club called Bogarts on a Tuesday night and they, to put it mildly,”liked to have a good time”. I talked to Keren for the whole interval and probably displayed an over-keen interest in her 80s oeuvre. She must have gone home thinking “Who was Graeme’s gay friend?”