In 1952, the Sunday Pictorial ran a three part series entitled “Evil Men” promising an “end to the conspiracy of silence” about homosexuality in Britain. “Most people know there are such things – ‘pansies’ – mincing, effeminate, young men who call themselves queers (…) but simple decent folk regard them as freaks and rarities.” The Sunday Pictorial compared homosexuality to a “spreading fungus” that had contaminated “generals, admirals, fighter pilots, engine drivers and boxers”. In April 1963, The Sunday Mirror published a two-page guide called “How to Spot a Homo” which listed “shifty glances”, “dropped eyes” and “a fondness for the theatre” as signs of being gay.

Info gleaned from Wikipedia