It was initially called the Terry Higgins Trust – because none of his friends had known him as Terrence – and the establishment was even snobbish about the name. Politicians, the NHS and newspapers were initially suspicious of THT, because of their lack of expertise in health, fundraising or science. When Whitaker joined forces with Higgins’ great friend Martyn Butler to support people, it was a condition that had no name.ĭespite this, the organisation met with considerable hostility in its early days there was rampant homophobia in Britain, fuelled by a tabloid press that revelled in headlines about a “gay plague”. But stigma was not the only reason it didn’t have Aids or HIV in its title the terms hadn’t been invented at the time Higgins died. By naming it after a person, the founders of THT hoped to humanise the deadly epidemic. Higgins was the first named person in the UK to die of an Aids-related illness, on 4 July 1982.
That was how Whitaker wanted it at the time, he says, but he has agreed to talk openly about him today. The name Terrence Higgins is recognised throughout the UK today, but little is known about the man.
