08/04/2026
If you didn’t catch when it came out in 2024, we worked on a very special zine cataloguing all the titles that where seized from Gay’s the Word bookshop on Tuesday the 10th of April 1984 as part of ‘Operation Tiger’, 42 years ago this Friday! Please enjoy this excerpt from the introduction written by Sarah Pyke and Leila Kassir .wonders
‘But at lunchtime on Tuesday 10 April 1984, the shop’s fortunes abruptly changed. Without warning, officers from Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise entered the shop, ordered manager Paud Hegarty to eject the browsing customers, and began to take books – seemingly at random – from the shelves. ‘Operation Tiger’ had begun. Officers seized over 140 titles, worth thousands of pounds, and the shop’s staff and directors were charged with conspiracy to import so-called ‘indecent or obscene’ material. But Gay’s the Word and their supporters fought back...In June 1986, after a sustained legal and public campaign, all charges were eventually dropped. Forty years after the raids, on 10 April 2024, Senate House Library launched Seized Books! LGBTQ+ Books and Censorship in 1980s Britain’.
You can find the remaining copies on our web shop or in-store at **s the word
Gay’s the Word, 66 Marchmont St, London WC1N 1AB
Beautifully illustrated by .mcmanus
Commissioned by Senate House Library