At 48, Bill Hayes moved to New York. He took up photography, and never anticipated the surprise of falling in love with his neighbour, Dr Oliver Sacks,  a neurologist, a naturalist and a university professor. (R)Doctor Oliver Sacks became famous for writing case histories of his patients in books, including The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, and An Anthropologist on Mars.

At 75 years old, Oliver had never been in a relationship, until he fell deeply in love with his neighbour Bill Hayes, who was decades younger than him.

Bill and Oliver lived together until Oliver Sacks died in 2015, in his early eighties.

Further information

Bill's memoir Insomniac City was published in 2017 by Bloomsbury.

This conversation was recorded at the 2017 Sydney Writers' Festival.

The producer was Nicola Harrison and the Executive Producer was Pam O'Brien.