LBC's Iain Dale opens up on attempted rape ordeal

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 01 August 2020

Popular LBC presenter Iain Dale reveals that he was the victim of an attempted rape in the early 1990s.

LBC host Iain Dale has revealed that he was the victim of an attempted rape almost 30 years ago.

The popular presenter, who has hosted a talk show on LBC for the last 10 years, was inspired to come forward and talk about the incident after discussing date rape with the author Bonnie Greer.

Talking to The Observer, the 58-year-old said that he was not out as gay at the time of the attack at the man's flat in the early 1990s and had only just become sexually active.

"It was an attempted rape," he told the newspaper. "It lasted about 45 minutes in a very disgusting flat I had gone to with this man I met in a pub in North London.

"If I had not been six feet two inches tall and weighed 15 stone, I would not have succeeded in pushing him off."

Describing the incident in more detail in his upcoming book Why Can't We All Just Get Along, Dale wrote: "I kept pulling away. He made it clear that he intended to fuck me and that he would not take no for an answer. I made it very clear that this was not going to happen. Repeatedly."

Several years later Dale went on to meet husband John Simmons and the couple have now been together for 25 years.

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