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Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

activist. She campaigned against

social liberalism Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more

permissive society A permissive society, also referred to as permissive culture, is a society in which some social norms become increasingly liberal, especially with regard to sexual freedom. This usually accompanies a change in what is considered deviant. While ty ...

. She was the founder and first president of the

National Viewers' and Listeners' Association Mediawatch-UK, formerly known as the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (National VALA or NVLA), was a pressure group in the United Kingdom, which campaigned against the publication and broadcast of Mass media, media content that it vi ...

, through which she led a longstanding campaign against the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

. A hard-line

social conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social instituti ...

, she was termed a

reactionary In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...

by her socially liberal opponents. Her motivation derived from her

Christian beliefs Christianity is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism, monotheistic religion based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, life and Teachings of Jesus, teachings of Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. It is the Major religious groups, world's ...

, her aversion to the rapid social and political changes in British society of the 1960s, and her work as a teacher of

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

. Whitehouse became an art teacher, at the same time becoming involved in evangelical Christian groups such as the Student Christian Movement (which became increasingly more liberal leading up to, and after, a 1928 split with the

Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) is a UK-based charity that was founded in 1928 as the Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Evangelical Unions. UCCF's dual aims are: #To advance the evangelical Christian faith amongst students, gr ...

) and

Moral Re-Armament Moral Re-Armament (MRA) was an international moral and spiritual movement that, in 1938, developed from American minister Frank Buchman's Oxford Group. Buchman headed MRA for 23 years until his death in 1961. In 2001, the movement was renamed I ...

. She became a public figure via the Clean-Up TV pressure group, established in 1964, in which she was the most prominent figure. The following year she founded the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, using it as a platform to criticise the BBC for what she perceived as a lack of accountability and excessive use of bad language and portrayals of sex and violence in its programmes. As a result, she was often treated as a figure of fun. During the 1970s she broadened her activities and was a leading figure in the

Nationwide Festival of Light The Nationwide Festival of Light was a short-lived grassroots movement formed by British Christians concerned about the rise of the permissive society and social changes in English society by the late 1960s. The movement was opposed to what ...

, a Christian campaign that gained mass support for a period. She initiated a successful private prosecution against ''

Gay News ''Gay News'' was a fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE). At the newspaper's height, circul ...

'' on the grounds of blasphemous libel, the first such case for more than 50 years. Another private prosecution was against the director of the play ''

The Romans in Britain ''The Romans in Britain'' is a 1980 stage play by Howard Brenton that comments upon imperialism and the abuse of power. It was the subject of a private prosecution brought by the conservative moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse for gross indecency. ...

'', which had been performed at the National Theatre. Whitehouse's campaigns continue to divide opinion. Her critics have accused her of being a highly censorious, bigoted figure, and her traditional moral convictions brought her into direct conflict with advocates of the

sexual revolution The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the 1 ...

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

children's rights Children's rights are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.

and

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

. Others see her more positively and believe she was attempting to halt a decline in what they perceived as Britain's moral standards. According to Ben Thompson, the editor of an anthology of Whitehouse-related letters published in 2012, "From ... feminist anti-pornography campaigns to the executive naming and shaming strategies of

UK Uncut UK Uncut was a network of United Kingdom-based protest groups established in October 2010 to protest against cuts to public services and tax avoidance in the UK. Various sources have described the group as left-wing in its political orientati ...

, her ideological and tactical influence has been discernible in all sorts of unexpected places in recent years."Ben Thompso
"Ban this filth!"
, ''Financial Times'', 9 November 2012. This article is a reprint of the introduction to Ben Thompson (ed.) '' Ban This Filth!: Letters From the Mary Whitehouse Archive'', London:

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

, 2012

Early life

Born in Croft Road,

Nuneaton, Warwickshire Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

(in a house she incorrectly stated in her autobiography later became a

sex shop A sex shop is a retailer that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, pornography, and other related products. An early precursor of the modern sex shop was a chain of stores set up in th ...

),Report by Toby Neal, part of 'Great Lives' series on Midlands worthies. Whitehouse was the second of four children of a "less-than-successful businessman" and a "necessarily resourceful mother".Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 24 November 2001 She won a scholarship to Chester City Grammar School,Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 24 November 2001 where she was keen on hockey and tennis, and after leaving she did two years of unpaid apprentice teaching at St John's School in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. At the Cheshire County Teacher Training College in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

, specialising in

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

art teaching, she was involved with the Student Christian Movement before qualifying in 1932. She became an art teacher at Lichfield Road School in

Wednesfield Wednesfield is a town and historic village in the City of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, It is east-northeast of Wolverhampton city centre and about from Birmingham and is part of the West Midlands conurbation. It was historically wi ...

, where she stayed for eight years, and at

Brewood Grammar School Brewood Grammar School was a boys' school in the village of Brewood in South Staffordshire, England. Founded in the mid 15th century by the Bishop of Lichfield as a chantry school it was closed by the Dissolution of Chantries Act 1547. It was ...

, both in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. She joined the Wolverhampton branch of the

Oxford Group The Oxford Group was a Christian organization (first known as ''First Century Christian Fellowship'') founded by the American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. Fur ...

, later known as

(MRA), in 1935. At MRA meetings, she met Ernest Raymond Whitehouse; they married at Chester on 23 March 1940 and remained married until he died in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, aged 87, in 2000. The couple had five sons, two of whom (twins) died in infancy.Mary Warnock "Whitehouse /nowiki>née Hutcheson/nowiki>, (Constance) Marywhitehouse, Mary", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' After raising her sons in their earliest years, Whitehouse returned to teaching in 1953. That year she broadcast on ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...

'' on the day before the coronation of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

"as a loyal housewife and subject" and wrote an extensive article on

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''. According to Ben Thompson this concerned how a mother might "best avoid inadvertently pressuring her sons towards that particular orientation" and gained enough attention to be republished as a pamphlet. She taught art and was senior mistress at Madeley Modern School in

Madeley, Shropshire Madeley is a constituent town and civil parish in Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. The parish had a population of 17,935 at the 2001 census. Madeley is recorded in the Domesday Book, having been founded before the 8th century. Histo ...

from 1960, taking responsibility for sex education. Shocked at the moral beliefs of her pupils, she became concerned about what she and many others perceived as declining moral standards in the British media, especially in the

...
. She gave up her teaching work at Christmas 1964 to concentrate more fully on her campaigning.

Clean Up TV campaign and the NVALA

Beginnings

Whitehouse began her activism in 1963 with a letter to the

...
Jonathan Brow
"Mary Whitehouse: To some a crank, to others a warrior"
''The Independent'', 24 November 2001 requesting to see

Hugh Greene Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (15 November 1910 – 19 February 1987) was a British television executive and journalist. He was director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969. After working for newspapers in the 1930s, Greene spent most of his later ...

, the BBC's

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

. Greene was out of the country at the time, so she accepted an invitation to meet

Harman Grisewood Harman Joseph Gerard Grisewood, CBE (8 February 1906 – 8 January 1997) was an English radio actor, radio and television executive, novelist and non-fiction writer.

, his deputy, a Roman Catholic who she felt listened to her with understanding.Asa Briggs ''The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Volume 5'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, p.332, 334 Over the next few months though, she continued to be dissatisfied with what she saw on television. With Norah Buckland, the wife of a vicar, she launched the Clean Up TV (CUTV) Campaign in January 1964 with a manifesto appealing to the "women of Britain". The campaign's first public meeting, on 5 May 1964, was held in Birmingham's Town Hall.David Winte
Obituary
''The Independent'', 24 November 2001 Richard Whitehouse, one of her sons, recalled in 2008: "Coaches arrived from all over the country. Two thousand people poured in and suddenly there was my mother on a podium inspiring them to rapturous applause. Her hands were shaking. But she didn't stop". Although he regularly clashed with Whitehouse, the academic

Richard Hoggart Herbert Richard Hoggart (24 September 1918 – 10 April 2014) was a British academic whose career covered the fields of sociology, English literature and cultural studies, with emphasis on British popular culture. Early life Hoggart was bor ...

shared some of her opinions and was present on the platform with her at this meeting.Richard Hoggar
"Valid arguments lost in an obsession over sex"
''The Guardian'', 24 November 2001. Hoggart is mistaken here in thinking he could have referred to Dennis Potter's plays on 5 May 1964, as Potter's earliest work in this form, ''The Confidence Course'', was not transmitted until 24 February 1965. ''

'' commented the following day: "Perhaps never before in the history of the Birmingham Town Hall has such a successful meeting been sponsored by such a flimsy organisation".

Sir Hugh Greene at the BBC

, knighted in January 1964, became her '' bête noire''. He was, according to Whitehouse, "the devil incarnate" who "more than anybody else ... asresponsible for the moral collapse in this country".Dennis Barke
"Mary Whitehouse: Self-appointed campaigner against the permissive society on television"
''The Guardian'', 24 November 2001 The CUTV manifesto asserted that the BBC under Greene spread "the propaganda of disbelief, doubt and dirt ... promiscuity, infidelity and drinking".Mary Whitehouse quoted by David Stubb
"The moral minority"
''The Guardian'', 24 May 2008 In place of this, the authors argued, the corporation's activities should "encourage and sustain faith in God and bring Him back to the hearts of our family and national life". Interviewed by ''

The Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly newspaper and starting December 2014 a magazine, published in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and, formerly, the United States. It reports a total circulation of abo ...

'' for its Christmas 1965 issue, Whitehouse thought the BBC loaded its programmes in favour of the 'new morality'.Ian Jame
"MRS. MARY WHITEHOUSE, co-founder of the Clean-up Television Campaign"
, ''Catholic Herald'', 24 December 1965 She commented about one unnamed television programme, believing it to be "unbalanced" and biased, in which "youngsters were asking questions ndthere was not a single member of the panel who was prepared to say outright that pre-marital relations were wrong. In fact, when a girl asked a clergyman, 'Do you think that fornication is sin?' he replied, 'It depends on what you mean by sin and what you mean by fornication. Whitehouse thought it was a "big hazard" for "present-day children" that "so many adults do not stand for anything" and affirmed that it was the responsibility of the BBC to have a "missionary role" to compensate for this social deficiency. The Clean Up TV petition, using the manifesto, gained 500,000 signatures. Whitehouse complained in 1993 that during Greene's period at the BBC, "hardly a week went by without a sniping reference to me". Whitehouse's critics responded quickly. The playwright David Turner had heckled her at Birmingham Town Hall; his work was criticised during the meeting. Within a few months, an episode of '' Swizzlewick'', a twice-weekly serial he created, featured a parody of her as Mrs Smallgood. In a speech Greene delivered in 1965, he argued, without naming Whitehouse directly, that the critics of his liberalisation of broadcasting policy would "attack whatever does not underwrite a set of prior assumptions" and saw the potential for "a dangerous form of censorship ... which works by causing artists and writers not to take risks". He defended the right of the BBC "to be ahead of public opinion". Greene ignored Whitehouse, blocked her from participation in BBC broadcasts, and purchased a painting of Whitehouse with five breasts by

James Lawrence Isherwood James Lawrence Isherwood (1917–1989) was an English artist, born in Wigan, Lancashire. He often painted subject and images (landscapes, seascapes, and portraits) from the Wigan area in a style that became known as 'Wigan style'. His style has b ...

. The

(later known as Mediawatch-UK) was launched to succeed CUTV in November 1965, with Whitehouse's then home in

Claverley Claverley is a village and civil parish in east Shropshire, England. The parish also includes the hamlets of Beobridge, Hopstone, Upper Aston, Ludstone, Heathton and a number of other small settlements. Claverley village is east of the market to ...

, Shropshire hosting its first office, replacing what they themselves perceived as CUTV's negativity with an active campaign for legislative change. The former cabinet minister

Bill Deedes William Francis Deedes, Baron Deedes, (1 June 1913 – 17 August 2007) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician, army officer and journalist. He was the first person in Britain to have been both a member of the Cabinet and ...

, later editor of ''

'', supported the group in this period and was the leading speaker at NVALA's founding conference in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

on 30 April 1966,Thompson ''Ban This Filth'', p.36-37 and acted as a contact between his parliamentary colleagues and Whitehouse. Quintin Hogg, better known as Lord Hailsham, was another high-profile politician who gave his support to NVALA and Whitehouse at this time. Through the letters she frequently sent to

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

, the Prime Minister, Whitehouse caused particular difficulties for civil servants at

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...

.Alan Travis ''Bound and Gagged: A Secret History of Censorship in Britain'', Profile Books, 2000, p.231-2 Reportedly, for some time Downing Street intentionally "lost" her letters to avoid having to respond to them. It has though been suggested that her contact with parliamentarians helped give her some leverage over the BBC which her own direct communication with the corporation's executives could not achieve. Although accepting the differences between them, Whitehouse wrote to Wilson on 1 January 1968: "You have always treated our approaches to you seriously and with courtesy."

Geoffrey Robertson Geoffrey Ronald Robertson (born 30 September 1946) is a human rights barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship.

, QC, suggests that when Greene left the BBC in 1969, contrary to the view that it was because of disagreements over the appointment of the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Lord Hill as BBC chairman in 1967, whereby she could be given some credit for his departure, it was more to do with a political struggle between the BBC and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Prime Minister Wilson. (subscription required) Also see Geoffrey Robertso
''The Justice Game''
, London: Vintage, 1999

998 Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescenti ...

p.136 However, Hill was prepared to meet Whitehouse at Broadcasting House.

Television and war

War coverage met with her objections. During his brief period as editor of ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

'' (1965–66),

Jeremy Isaacs Sir Jeremy Israel Isaacs (born 28 September 1932) is a Scottish television producer and executive, opera manager, and a recipient of many British Academy Television Awards and International Emmy Awards. He won the British Film Institute Fellow ...

received a letter from Whitehouse complaining about his decision to repeat

Richard Dimbleby Frederick Richard Dimbleby (25 May 1913 – 22 December 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster, who became the BBC's first war correspondent, and then its leading TV news commentator. As host of the long-running current affairs ...

's coverage of the liberation of the

Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentrati ...

. She complained about this "filth" being allowed on air as "it was bound to shock and offend". In a 1994 interview, Whitehouse continued to maintain that it was "an awful intrusion" and "very off-putting". Later in 1965, the decision by the BBC not to broadcast

Peter Watkins Peter Watkins (born 29 October 1935) is an English film and television director. He was born in Norbiton, Surrey, lived in Sweden, Canada and Lithuania for many years, and now lives in France. He is one of the pioneers of docudrama. His films ...

' ''

The War Game ''The War Game'' is a 1966 British pseudo-documentary film that depicts a nuclear war and its aftermath. Written, directed and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC, it caused dismay within the BBC and also within government, and was subseque ...

'' on 6 August 1965 led to Whitehouse writing to Sir

and

on 5 September,Patrick Murphy and John Cook "The War Game" in Ian Aitke
''The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film''
, Abingdon & New York: Routledge, 2013 006 p,974 and again to the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

Frank Soskice Frank Soskice, Baron Stow Hill, (23 July 1902 – 1 January 1979) was a British lawyer and Labour Party politician. Background and education Soskice's father, was from a family of Russian Jewish merchants. David Soskice became involved in ...

on 6 October.Thompso
''Ban This Filth''
, p.30 In her view, a decision over whether to broadcast Watkins' film should be taken by the Home Office rather than the BBC. Nuclear war was "too serious a matter to be treated as entertainment. For a producer to be allowed, as now appears possible, to prejudice the effectiveness of our Civil Defence Services, or the ability of the British people to re-act with courage, initiative and control in a crisis, surely goes far beyond the responsibility" which should be given to someone in this role. The letter was leaked at the time and extracts were published. The contemporary coverage of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, "the first 'television war, demonstrated for Whitehouse that television was "an ally of pacifism".Mary Whitehouse 'Promoting Violence', Royal College of Nursing in the UK Professional Conference, ''The Violent Society'', 5 April 1970, quoted in Tracey and Morrison ''Whitehouse'', London: Macmillan, 1979, p.86-87, 205, n.27 In a 1970 speech to the

Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022. ...

she argued that " wever good the cause ... the horrific effects on men and terrain of modern warfare as seen on the television screen could well sap the will of a nation to safeguard its own freedom, let alone resist the forces of evil abroad." Trying to reconcile this "pacifism" with her objection to fictional violence, she saw such news coverage as "desensitisation" in which the media use the "techniques of violence" to raise "impact" in order "to satisfy an apparently insatiable demand for realism".

Programmes: comedy and drama from the mid-1960s to 1980

The situation comedy ''

Till Death Us Do Part ''Till Death Us Do Part'' is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1975. The show was first broadcast in 1965 as a ''Comedy Playhouse'' pilot, then as seven series between 1966 and 1975. In 1981, ITV continued the sitcom ...

'' attacked many of the things Whitehouse cherished. She objected to its profane language: "I doubt if many people would use 121 bloodies in half-an-hour", and "Bad language coarsens the whole quality of our life. It normalises harsh, often indecent language, which despoils our communication." Whitehouse and the NVALA won a libel action against the BBC and its writer

Johnny Speight Johnny Speight (2 June 1920 – 5 July 1998) was an English television scriptwriter of many classic British sitcoms. He emerged in the mid-1950s. He wrote for radio comics Frankie Howerd, Vic Oliver, Arthur Askey, and Cyril Fletcher. For tele ...

in July 1967 with a full apology and substantial damages, after Speight implied in a BBC radio interview that the organisation's members and its head were fascists.Mark War
"A Family at War: Till Death Do Us Part"
''The Main Event'' (''Kaleidoscope'' brochure) 1996 Shortly after Speight's interview, she was mocked in an episode of the series entitled "Alf's Dilemma" (27 February 1967).

Alf Garnett Alfred Edward "Alf" Garnett is a fictional character from the British sitcom '' Till Death Us Do Part'' and its follow-on and spin-off series '' Till Death...'' and ''In Sickness and in Health''. He also appeared in the chat show ''The Thoughts ...

is shown reading her book ''Cleaning Up TV'', and agreeing with every word, but the episode ends with the book being burned to exclamations of "Unclean, unclean". Whitehouse was critical of comedians such as

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...

and his use of dancers; she described Dave Allen as "offensive, indecent and embarrassing" after a comic account of a conversation following sexual intercourse. In return, comedy writers during this era saw her as possessing humorous potential.

The Goodies The Goodies were a trio of British comedians: Tim Brooke-Taylor (17 July 1940–12 April 2020), Graeme Garden (b. 18 February 1943) and Bill Oddie (b. 7 July 1941). The trio created, wrote for and performed in their eponymous television comed ...

comedy team created an episode (" Gender Education", 1971) with the principal objective of irritating her. Whitehouse criticised the work of

Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...

from '' Son of Man'' (1969) onwards, arguing that the BBC was at the centre "of a conspiracy to remove the myth of god from the minds of men", and also ''

A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...

'' (1971). In the case of the violence in ''A Clockwork Orange'', she rejected any attempt to show a 'copycat' correlation in academic studies, but urged its acceptance as a fact arrived at by common sense. In December 1974, she wrote of the "deliberate propagation" of the idea that there is no proof of the effects of television on "standards and behaviour". To reject its effect, and its ability to "declaim or pervert truth, is to deny the potency of communication itself, it is crazily to question the ability of education to affect the social conscience and to train the human mind".

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

" My Ding-a-Ling" was one of several pop songs to receive Whitehouse's disapproval in this period. She was unsuccessful in trying to persuade the BBC to ban it, but her campaign to stop

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

's " School's Out" being featured on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' was successful. Cooper sent her a bunch of flowers, since he believed the publicity helped the song to reach number one. The NVALA had around 150,000 members at its peak, but claimed 30,000 in April 1977.Sandra Salman
"British Woman Carries On Crusade Against Sex and Violence in the Media"
''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' (NY Times News Service), 7 April 1977

''Doctor Who''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' met with her heaviest disapproval during

Philip Hinchcliffe Philip Michael Hinchcliffe (born October 1944) is a retired English television producer, screenwriter and script editor. After graduating from Cambridge University, he began his career as a writer and script editor at Associated Television befo ...

's tenure as producer between 1975 and 1977. She described the serial ''

Genesis of the Daleks ''Genesis of the Daleks'' is the fourth serial of the twelfth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was written by Terry Nation and directed by David Maloney, and originally broadcast in six weekly parts from ...

'' (1975) as consisting of "teatime brutality for tots", said ''

The Brain of Morbius ''The Brain of Morbius'' is the fifth serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 January 1976. The screenwriter credit is given ...

'' (1976) "contained some of the sickest and most horrific material seen on children's television", and on ''

The Seeds of Doom ''The Seeds of Doom'' is the sixth and final serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 31 January to 6 March 1976. In the serial, the F ...

'' (1976), in which the Doctor (

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the Fourth Doctor, fourth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Wh ...

) survives an encounter with a giant carnivorous plant monster, she commented: "Strangulation—by hand, by claw, by obscene vegetable matterMary Whitehouse quoted by Dominic Sandbrook ''State of Emergency, The Way We Were: Britain 1970–74'', London: Allen Lane, 2010, p.461-62—is the latest gimmick, sufficiently close up so they get the point. And just for a little variety, show the children how to make a

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flamma ...

." Following her complaint about ''

The Deadly Assassin ''The Deadly Assassin'' is the third serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 October to 20 November 1976. It is the first seri ...

'' (broadcast later in 1976), Whitehouse received an apology from the

Director-General of the BBC The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period of 1927 to 2007) and then t ...

, Sir Charles Curran. A freeze-frame cliffhanger ending to the third episode, in which the Doctor appeared to drown, was altered for repeat showings. The series' next producer, Graham Williams, was told to lighten the tone and reduce the violence following Whitehouse's complaints. Senior television executives commented that at this time her views were not disregarded lightly. Philip Hinchcliffe later remarked, "I always felt that Mary Whitehouse thought of ''Doctor Who'' as a children's programme, for little children, and it wasn't ... so she was really coming at the show from the wrong starting-point."Documentary on the DVD ''Doctor Who:

Pyramids of Mars ''Pyramids of Mars'' is the third serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Written by Robert Holmes and Lewis Greifer under the pseudonym of "Stephen Harris" and directed by Paddy Russell, the ...

'', BBC Worldwide, 2004

After 1980

Whitehouse criticised the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

adventure/drama series ''

Robin of Sherwood ''Robin of Sherwood'' is a British television series, based on the legend of Robin Hood. Created by Richard Carpenter, it was produced by HTV in association with Goldcrest, and ran from 28 April 1984 to 28 June 1986 on the ITV network. In th ...

'' (1984–1986).

Simon Farquhar Simon Alexander Farquhar is a British writer and broadcaster. His early one-act plays were staged at the Aberdeen Arts Centre, until a radio script set in Cullen, '' Candy Floss Kisses'', was picked up by actor and producer Martin Jarvis and co ...

, in an obituary for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' of the series' creator, Richard Carpenter, wrote that Whitehouse "objected to the how'srelentless slaughter and blasphemous religious elements, but was deftly silenced by Carpenter in public when he introduced himself to her and the audience by saying "I'm Richard Carpenter, and I'm a professional writer. And you're a professional... what?" Within a week of the launch of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

in November 1982, Whitehouse was objecting to swear words in the soap opera ''

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Br ...

'' and two feature films the channel screened, ''

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

'' (1970) and ''

Network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

'' (1976). On 25 November, she called for the resignation of the channel's chief executive

over a scene in ''Brookside'' "in which a young thug had tried to force a schoolgirl to have sex with him", according to an item in ''The Times''. In 1984, Whitehouse won a case in the High Court against John Whitney, director-general of the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Authorit ...

, who had failed to forward the feature film '' Scum'' (1979) for consideration by other IBA board members to decide if Channel 4 should transmit it. Based on a then-banned BBC television play, the channel had screened the theatrical remake in June 1983. The High Court decision was overturned on appeal when it reached the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. Whitehouse's supporters have asserted that her campaigns helped end

's " red triangle" series of films in 1986, so named for the warning preceding them which featured a red triangle with a white centre. The broadcasting of these films with the triangle had received criticism from opponents of Whitehouse. In 1988 she made an extended appearance on the British TV discussion programme '' After Dark'', alongside

James Dearden James Dearden (born 14 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter, the son of Scottish actress Melissa Stribling and English film director Basil Dearden. He directed nine films between 1977 and 2018. His film '' Pascali's Isl ...

Shere Hite Shere Hite (; November 2, 1942 – September 9, 2020) was an American-born German sex educator and feminist. Her sexological work focused primarily on female sexuality. Hite built upon biological studies of sex by Masters and Johnson and by Alfred ...

Joan Wyndham Joan Olivia Wyndham (11 October 1921, in East Knoyle, Wiltshire – 8 April 2007, in London) was a British writer and memoirist who rose to literary prominence late in life through the diaries she had kept more than 40 years earlier, which were a ...

Naim Attallah Naim Ibrahim Attallah ( ar, نعيم إبراهيم عطالله, 1 May 1931 – 2 February 2021) was a Christian Palestinian-British businessman and writer. He was the publisher of Quartet Books and the owner of The Women's Press. The Palest ...

and others. She was said to have had a role in the establishment of the Broadcasting Standards Council in 1988, which later became the Broadcasting Standards Commission and was subsumed into the

Office of Communications The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

in 2004. In August 1989,Thompson '' Ban This Filth!'', p.86. See also Stuart Jeffrie
"Ban This Filth!: Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive by Ben Thompson – review"
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 26 October 2012 in a broadcast of ''In the Psychiatrist's Chair'' on BBC Radio, Whitehouse confused the playwright with his hero in ''

The Singing Detective ''The Singing Detective'' is a BBC television serial drama, written by Dennis Potter, starring Michael Gambon and directed by Jon Amiel. Its six episodes are "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It". The ser ...

''. She claimed that

's mother had "committed adultery with a strange man and that the shock of witnessing this had caused her son to be afflicted" with

psoriatic arthropathy Psoriatic arthritis is a long-term inflammatory arthritis that occurs in people affected by the autoimmune disease psoriasis. The classic feature of psoriatic arthritis is swelling of entire fingers and toes with a sausage-like appearance. Thi ...

. Potter's mother won substantial damages from the BBC and '' The Listener''. Whitehouse alleged she had a blackout at the interview's halfway point and claimed her comments were not intentional. Some years earlier, Potter had publicly defended Whitehouse on several occasions without agreeing with her arguments. Whitehouse stepped down as President of the National Viewers and Listeners Association in May 1994.

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 ( ...

, at the time the Chief Executive of Channel 4, reflected on her career: At the same time

William Rees-Mogg William Rees-Mogg, Baron Rees-Mogg (14 July 192829 December 2012) was a British newspaper journalist who was Editor of ''The Times'' from 1967 to 1981. In the late 1970s, he served as High Sheriff of Somerset, and in the 1980s was Chairman of t ...

, Chairman of the

Broadcasting Standards Commission The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers ...

, commented that she was "on the whole a force for the good, an important woman".

Other campaigns and private prosecutions

Permissiveness

Whitehouse had taken up other campaigns against the

by the early 1970s. She objected to the UK edition of ''

The Little Red Schoolbook ''The Little Red Schoolbook'' ( da, Den Lille Røde Bog For Skoleelever; en, The Little Red Book For School Pupils) is a book written by two Danish schoolteachers, Søren Hansen and Jesper Jensen, first published in 1969. It was subject to mu ...

'', "a manual of children's rights" on sex, drugs and attitudes to adults, which was successfully prosecuted for obscenity in July 1971. It was originally published in Denmark where, according to Whitehouse, it had done "incalculable damage" and was "a revolutionary primer", in which "open rebellion against the 'system', be it school, parents or authority generally, was openly advocated, while children were constantly exhorted to collect evidence against teachers of alleged injustices or anything which was likely to enhance revolution." She was "greatly relieved—for the sake of the children" at the £50 fine and £115.50 costs imposed on Richard Handyside and Geoffrey Collins, its publishers, who also had works by

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...

and

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

on their small list of publications. For Whitehouse it was a "fundamental right of a child to be a child" and "the duty of mature people to ensure that childhood is protected against the inroads of those who would exploit its immaturity for political, social or personal gain." A modified second edition was allowed to be published in the UK,Joanna Moorhea
"The Little Red Schoolbook – honest about sex and the need to challenge authority"
, ''The Guardian'', 8 July 2014 but the original verdict in the prosecution was sustained in the

Appeal Court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

and the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

(see ''

Handyside v United Kingdom ''Handyside v United Kingdom'' (5493/72) was a case decided by the European Court of Human Rights in 1976. Its conclusion contains the famous phrase that: Nevertheless, the court did not find for the applicant, who had been fined for publishing ...

''). An unexpurgated edition of the book, bar one minor cut, was published in the UK during July 2014. Along with the (

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

) Labour peer

Lord Longford Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...

Malcolm Muggeridge Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was an English journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, in Essex). In ...

and

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

, Whitehouse was a leading figure in the

, which protested against the commercial exploitation of sex and violence. The Festival's mass "rally against permissiveness" in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...

was attended by 50,000 people in September 1971. On 25 August that year she had an audience with

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

regarding 'moral pollution', in which she attempted to present the pontiff with ''Oz28'' and the ''Little Red School Book'', but these items found their way to an official of the Papal See instead. In his foreword to Whitehouse's book, ''Who Does She Think She Is?'' (1971), Malcolm Muggeridge wrote: "It is literally true that but for her the total demolition of all Christian decencies and values in this country would have taken place virtually without a word of public protest." Following the release on appeal of the defendants in the ''Oz'' trial, "an unmitigated disaster for the children of our country", Whitehouse launched the Nationwide Petition for Public Decency in January 1972, which gained 1.35 million signatures by the time it was presented to Prime Minister

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conserv ...

in April 1973. She had around 300 speaking engagements during the period of her highest profile. A pornographic magazine ''Whitehouse'' was launched in 1975 by publisher David Sullivan, who deliberately named it after her.

Opposition to paedophilia and child pornography

The

Paedophile Information Exchange The Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) was a British pro- paedophile activist group, founded in October 1974 and officially disbanded in 1984.Tom de Castella & Tom Heyde"How did the pro-paedophile group PIE exist openly for 10 years?" BBC Ne ...

had been asked to help the Albany Trust, which received public money, to produce a booklet on paedophilia, which was to have been published by the Trust. Whitehouse mentioned the connection in a speech, asserting that public funds were being used to subsidise paedophile groups, and the Trust withdrew its support for the production of the pamphlet in 1977. However, PIE itself did not receive public funding. Her subsequent petition against paedophilia and

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...

was signed by million people. Whitehouse urged the Conservative opposition to push for a bill on the subject, in the absence of interest from the Labour government. The

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

proposed by Conservative MP

Cyril Townsend Sir Cyril David Townsend (21 December 1937 − 20 November 2013) was a British politician. Townsend was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Bexleyheath at the February 1974 election, and held the seat until retiring at the 1997 el ...

became the

Protection of Children Act 1978 The Protection of Children Act 1978 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that criminalized indecent photographs of children. The Act applies in England and Wales. Similar provision for Scotland is contained in the Civic Government ...

''Gay News'' and other cases of alleged blasphemy

Whitehouse took private prosecutions in a number of cases where official action was not forthcoming. The action against ''

'' in 1977 concerned "

The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name ''Whitehouse v Lemon'' is a 1977 court case involving the blasphemy law in the United Kingdom. It was the last successful blasphemy trial in the UK. Facts James Kirkup's poem '' The Love that Dares to Speak its Name'' was published in the 3 J ...

", a poem by

James Kirkup James Harold Kirkup, FRSL (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009) was an English poet, translator and travel writer. He wrote over 45 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays. He wrote under many pen-names including James Falconer, Aditya Jha ...

, a fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

, the theme of which was the sexual fantasies of a Roman centurion about the body of Jesus Christ. She was the plaintiff in a charge of blasphemous libel against ''Gay News'' (''

Whitehouse v Lemon ''Whitehouse v Lemon'' is a 1977 court case involving the blasphemy law in the United Kingdom. It was the last successful blasphemy trial in the UK. Facts James Kirkup's poem '' The Love that Dares to Speak its Name'' was published in the 3 Ju ...

''), a trial at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

between 4 and 7 July 1977. It was the first prosecution for the offence since 1922. "I simply had to protect Our Lord", said Whitehouse at the time,Corinna Ada
"Protecting Our Lord"
''New Statesman'', 15 July 1977, in a version republished 3 February 2006 Kirkup's poem being in her opinion "the recrucifixion of Christ by 20th-century weapons". (subscription required) The prosecution counsel John Smyth, representing Whitehouse, told the jury: "It may be said that this is a love poem—it is not, it is a poem about buggery", while the defence case was that the poem suggested all of mankind could love Jesus Christ. The Archbishop of Canterbury

Donald Coggan Frederick Donald Coggan, Baron Coggan, (9 October 1909 – 17 May 2000) was the 101st Archbishop of Canterbury from 1974 to 1980.

and Cardinal Basil Hume both declined Whitehouse's invitation for them to give evidence at the trial. Denis Lemon, the editor and owner of ''Gay News'', published the poem in the 3–16 June 1976 issueTracey & Morrison ''Whitehouse'', p.3 on the basis that the "message and intention of the poem was to celebrate the absolute universality of God's love". Whitehouse told Michael Tracey and David Morrison, the authors of a book about her: "I think it shook me more than anything I had seen or come into contact with all the time I had been campaigning. ... I don't think Jesus Christ has ever been more real to me as a person than he was at that particular moment." ''Gay News'' lost the case; the jury decided the case on a 10–2 majority. Lemon and his paper were fined, and Lemon received a nine-month suspended prison sentence. A ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' editorial after the verdict said of the trial: "No evidence was called, or allowed to be called, about the merits of the poem in literature or theology", despite the case concerning blasphemy, or to suggest that Kirkup's intention had been to "scandalise" which, given the poet's "list of serious works", the newspaper thought should have been proven. The judge in at the prosecution,

Alan King-Hamilton Myer Alan Barry King-Hamilton QC (9 December 1904 – 23 March 2010) was a British barrister and judge who was best known for hearing numerous high-profile cases at the Old Bailey during the 1960s and 1970s. These included the trial of Janie Jone ...

QC, had only allowed novelist

Margaret Drabble Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer. Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and ''Jer ...

and journalist

Bernard Levin Henry Bernard Levin (19 August 1928 – 7 August 2004) was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by ''The Times'' as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship t ...

to appear as "character" witnesses for the newspaper. ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' editorial on 15 July commented: "The prosecution was perverse, the verdict misguided. As for the punishments, given that this was in effect a test case, they are excessive" and "left the law on obscenity even more muddled and confused than it was before, and have served no useful purpose whatsoever, except to delight Mrs Whitehouse". The

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

and the

dismissed appeals, although Lemon's suspended prison sentence was overturned. The backlash that Whitehouse received led her to suggest that an "intellectual/homosexual/humanist lobby" was to blame, a comment that did not escape the attention of members of this as yet non-existent group. The ''Gay Humanist Group'', later GALHA and now

LGBT Humanists UK LGBT Humanists UK, founded in 1979, is a special interest section of Humanists UK which campaigns for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality and human rights in the United Kingdom. It also organises social events for LGBT humanist ...

, came into being in 1979. Maureen Duffy, the group's honorary president, described the group as driven by an "ethics of compassion", best characterised "a fluid morality, based on a perception of fellowness, fellow feeling, fellow suffering". Ever since its foundation, LGBT Humanists UK has continued to organise events, assist those seeking asylum who are fleeing anti-LGBT+ prejudice and/or religious discrimination, and to provide a site of fellowship and community for non-religious LGBT+ communities in the UK.

Geoffrey Robertson Geoffrey Ronald Robertson (born 30 September 1946) is a human rights barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship.

, QC, the barrister for ''Gay News'' in the case, described Whitehouse as

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

in ''The Times'' in 2008, saying: "Her fear of homosexuals was visceral". He describes the beliefs she reveals in her book, ''Whatever Happened to Sex?'', as "nonsense", such as her assertion that "homosexuality was caused by abnormal parental sex 'during pregnancy or just after, saying that for her, "being gay was like having acne: 'Psychiatric literature proves that 60 per cent of homosexuals who go for treatment get completely cured. Whitehouse had hoped to use the blasphemy laws against material other than Kirkup's poem and was interested in pursuing a possible action against allegedly blasphemous content for some time.Tracey & Morrison, ''Whitehouse'', p.4–5 She had hoped that it could be used as a basis for prosecution if a planned pornographic film on the life of Jesus Christ had been made in Britain. The intended work, containing both homosexual and heterosexual content, was a project by the Danish filmmaker

Jens Jørgen Thorsen Jens Jørgen Thorsen (2 February 1932 Holstebro – 15 November 2000) was a Danish artist, director, and jazz musician whose works sometimes created controversy. Thorsen began his artistic career attending periodically the Royal Danish Acade ...

. This time, Whitehouse, whose organisation had commissioned a translation of the script, gained more widespread support. NVALA organised a publicity campaign, which resulted in Thorsen's intentions gaining significant public condemnation in September 1976 from leading public figures, including

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

. Thorsen was forced to abandon his plans. Whitehouse and a letter writing campaign from the Festival of Light, after unsuccessfully lobbying the

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...

to refuse the film a certificate, were successful in persuading some councils in Britain to ban screenings of ''

Monty Python's Life of Brian ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin). It ...

'' (1979) in their areas on unproven grounds that the film is blasphemous. Nearly a decade later, a threatened campaign by Whitehouse against

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

's '' The Last Temptation of Christ'' (1988), with the law against blasphemy still in force at the time, failed to materialise.

''The Romans in Britain''

In 1982 she pursued a private prosecution against

Michael Bogdanov Michael Bogdanov (15 December 1938 – 16 April 2017) was a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for young people. Early years Bogdanov was born Michael Bogd ...

, the director of a National Theatre production of

Howard Brenton Howard John Brenton FRSL (born 13 December 1942) is an English playwright and screenwriter. While little-known in the United States, he is celebrated in his home country and often ranked alongside contemporaries such as Edward Bond, Caryl Chur ...

's ''

'', a play that "drew a direct parallel between the

Roman invasion The Roman conquest of Britain refers to the conquest of the island of Britain by occupying Roman forces. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the southern half of Britain by 87 when the Stane ...

of Celtic Britain in 54 BC and the contemporary British presence in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

".Michael Billington ''State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945'', London: Faber, 2007, p.305-6 The first act contains "a brief scene" of (simulated)

anal Anal may refer to: Related to the anus *Related to the anus of animals: ** Anal fin, in fish anatomy ** Anal vein, in insect anatomy ** Anal scale, in reptile anatomy *Related to the human anus: ** Anal sex, a type of sexual activity involvin ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

—the police had visited the production three times and found no basis for legal action.Howard Brento
"Look back in anger"
''The Guardian'', 28 January 2006 In the prosecution Whitehouse's counsel claimed Section 13 of the

Sexual Offences Act 1956 The Sexual Offences Act 1956 (4 & 5 Eliz.2 c.69) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated the English criminal law relating to sexual offences between 1957 and 2004. It was mostly repealed (from 1 May 2004) by the Sex ...

, which described the offence of "procuring an act of gross indecency",Mark Lawso
"Passion play"
''The Guardian'', 28 October 2005 was applicable. Because this was a general Act, there was no possibility of defence on the basis of artistic merit, unlike that permitted under the

Obscene Publications Act 1959 The Obscene Publications Act 1959 (c. 66) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament that significantly reformed the law related to obscenity in England and Wales. Prior to the passage of the Act, the law on publishing obscene mater ...

. Since Whitehouse had not seen the play, the prosecution evidence rested on the testimony of her solicitor, Graham Ross-Cornes, who claimed he saw the actor's penis. However, cross-examination revealed that he had seen a performance of the play from the back row of the stalls, 90 feet from the stage.Robertso
''The Justice Game''
, p.177 Lord Hutchinson, counsel for Bogdanov, was able to demonstrate the nature of the illusion performed on stage. This was achieved by suggesting that it might have been the actor's thumb protruding from his fist, rather than his erect penis. The defence had argued that the Act did not apply to the theatre; the judge Mr Justice Staughton then ruled that it did. After three days, the action was withdrawn after the prosecution counsel told Whitehouse that he was unable to continue with the case; the litigation was ended by the Attorney General putting forward a plea of ''

nolle prosequi , abbreviated or , is legal Latin meaning "to be unwilling to pursue".Nolle prosequi
. refe ...

''. Both sides claimed a victory; Whitehouse's side asserted that the important legal point had been made with the ruling on the applicability of the

, while Bogdanov said it was because she knew that he would not be convicted. Whitehouse had to meet £20,000 costs, most of which was paid by an anonymous donor. Whitehouse's account of the trial is recorded in ''A Most Dangerous Woman'' (); she wrote that she was of the opinion that the legal point had been established, and they had no wish to criminalise Bogdanov, the play's director.

Margaret Thatcher's government

By the 1980s, Whitehouse had found a powerful ally in the

government, particularly in

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

herself, whose support base partially consisted of social conservatives. It has been claimed by the Conservative journalist Bruce Anderson that the market orientation of the Thatcher government prejudiced it against Whitehouse in private. It has been claimed by commentators not necessarily in agreement with her that Whitehouse's efforts played a part in the passage of the

, the

Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981 The Indecent Displays (Control) Act is an Act of Parliament covering Scotland, England and Wales but not Northern Ireland. It is concerned with preventing the display of “indecent” material to the unsuspecting public. As with the Protection o ...

, which concerned sex shops, and the

Video Recordings Act 1984 The Video Recordings Act 1984 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was passed in 1984. It states that commercial video recordings offered for sale or for hire within the UK must carry a classification that has been agreed upon ...

, which banned '

video nasties Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette that ...

', a term reportedly coined by Whitehouse.Andrew Holme
"Let there be blood"
, ''The Guardian'', 5 July 2002 She screened edited highlights from these films for MPs at the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in late 1983,Richard Stanley "Dying Light: An Obituary for the Great British Horror Movie" in Steve Chibnall and Julian Petley (eds.) ''British Horror Cinema'', London: Routledge, 2002, p.184 which included extracts from ''

The Evil Dead ''The Evil Dead'' is a 1981 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Robert Tapert and executive produced by Raimi, Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, who also starred alongside Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeMan ...

'' (1981) considered by her "the number one nasty". It was "a highly effective means of lobbying the government to introduce tight state controls on the burgeoning video industry". Around 1986, papers released in late December 2014 indicate, Whitehouse met with Thatcher on at least two occasions to discuss the possibility of banning

sex toy A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate human sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibrating ...

s using a potential extension of the "deprave and corrupt" provision in the Obscene Publications Act 1959.Ben Tuff
"Thatcher wanted to ban sex toys using anti-pornography laws after pressure from campaigners"
, ''The Independent'', 30 December 2014 The plan was abandoned because home secretary

Leon Brittan Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, (25 September 193921 January 2015) was a British Conservative politician and barrister who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1999. As a member of Parliament from 1974 to 1988, he serv ...

thought the concept of public taste would be a problematic concept for legal action.

Later years and assessments of her influence

Whitehouse was appointed a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1980. In 1988, she suffered a spinal injury in a fall, which severely curbed her campaigning activities. Whitehouse retired as president of the NVALA in 1994. She died, aged 91, in a nursing home in

, on 23 November 2001. Whitehouse is buried in the churchyard of the parish church of St Mary the Virgin at Dedham in Essex. Mary Whitehouse grave

The journalist

Mary Kenny Mary Kenny (born 4 April 1944) is an Irish journalist, broadcaster and playwright. A founding member of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement, she was one of the country's first and foremost feminists, often contributes columns to the ''Irish In ...

believes "Mary Whitehouse was a significant figure. Some of her battles were justified, even prophetic. Today her attacks on 'kiddie porn' would be widely supported." The academic

observed: "her main focus was on sex, followed by bad language and violence. Odd: if she had reversed the order, she might have been more effective." Writing in the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', the philosopher

Mary Warnock Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, (née Wilson; 14 April 1924 – 20 March 2019) was an English philosopher of morality, education, and mind, and a writer on existentialism. She is best known for chairing an inquiry whose report formed the ...

opined, "Even if her campaigning did not succeed in 'cleaning up TV', still less in making it more fit to watch in other ways, she was of serious intent, and was an influence for good at a crucial stage in the development both of the

...
and of

. She was not, as the BBC seemed officially to proclaim, a mere figure of fun." The papers of the NVALA for 1970–1990 have been deposited at the library of the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

. Whitehouse's early campaign and her disagreements with the BBC under

Greene Greene may refer to: Places United States *Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community *Greene, Iowa, a city *Greene, Maine, a town ** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene *Greene (town), New York ** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...

were the basis of a drama first broadcast in 2008 entitled '' Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story'', written by

Amanda Coe Amanda Coe (born 1965) is an English screenwriter and novelist. Early life Coe was born in Yorkshire in 1965.Anita SethiAmanda Coe: ‘The older I get, the more confident I am about exploring class in my writing’ The Guardian, 23 November 20 ...

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a ...

played Whitehouse,

Alun Armstrong Alan Armstrong, known professionally as Alun Armstrong, is an English actor. He grew up in County Durham in North East England, and first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began ...

played her husband Ernest, and

Hugh Bonneville Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams (born 10 November 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series ''Downton Abbey''. His performance on the show earned him a nom ...

played Greene. Her favourite programmes were ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

'' (winner of NVALA's Best Family Viewing Award in 1967), ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

'', and coverage of

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

.Ben Dowel
"Mary Whitehouse drama heads for BBC"
''The Guardian'', 21 July 2008 She had privately expressed gratitude to Dennis Potter and the BBC for his television play ''

Where Adam Stood ''Where Adam Stood'' is a television play by Dennis Potter, first broadcast on BBC 2 in 1976. It is a free adaptation, wholly shot on film, of Edmund Gosse's autobiographical book ''Father and Son'' (1907). Synopsis Philip Gosse, naturalist ...

'' in 1976. In 1984, the NVALA gave an award to

Antony Jay Sir Antony Rupert Jay, (20 April 1930 – 21 August 2016) was an English writer, broadcaster, producer and director. With Jonathan Lynn, he co-wrote the British political comedies ''Yes Minister'' and ''Yes, Prime Minister'' (1980–88). He als ...

and

Jonathan Lynn Jonathan Lynn (born 3 April 1943) is an English stage and film director, producer, writer, and actor. He is known for directing the comedy films such as ''Clue'', ''Nuns on the Run'', ''My Cousin Vinny'', and ''The Whole Nine Yards''. He also c ...

, writers of the situation comedy ''

Yes Minister ''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fro ...

'' and Thatcher, who had declared the show her favourite programme, presented the award. Whitehouse sat laughing next to Thatcher as the Prime Minister acted out a sketch, written principally by her press secretary

Bernard Ingham Sir Bernard Ingham (born 21 June 1932) is a British journalist and former civil servant. He was Margaret Thatcher's chief press secretary throughout her time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. He was knighted in Thatche ...

, alongside a reluctant

Paul Eddington Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor best known for playing Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom '' The Good Life'' (1975–78) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom ''Yes Minister'' (1980–84) an ...

and

Nigel Hawthorne Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne (5 April 1929 – 26 December 2001) was an English actor. He is most known for his stage acting and his portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the permanent secretary in the 1980s sitcom '' Yes Minister'' and the Cabi ...

, the lead actors in the programme. In accepting the award, Lynn thanked Whitehouse and the NVALA and congratulated Thatcher for "taking her rightful place in the world of situation comedy". In 1989, a sketch comedy show began on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

called ''

The Mary Whitehouse Experience The ''Mary Whitehouse Experience'' was a British topical sketch comedy show produced by the BBC in association with Spitting Image Productions. It starred two comedy double acts, one being David Baddiel and Rob Newman, the other Steve Punt an ...

'', starring alternative comedians

David Baddiel David Lionel Baddiel (; born 28 May 1964) is an English comedian, presenter, screenwriter, and author. He is known for his work alongside Rob Newman in ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' and his comedy partnership with Frank Skinner. He has al ...

, Rob Newman,

Steve Punt Stephen Mark Punt (born 15 September 1962)Mr Stephen Mark Punt
company-director-c ...

and

Hugh Dennis Peter Hugh Dennis (born 13 February 1962) is an English comedian, presenter, actor, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist who has appeared in the comedy double act Punt and Dennis with partner Steve Punt. He played Dr Piers Crispin in the ...

. The title was an oblique reference to Whitehouse's campaigning against her perception of declining values on TV and radio, although she was rarely satirised directly. The show later transferred to television and made household names of its four protagonists. In 2017, episode 15 of '' Endeavour'', "Canticle", the character Mrs Pettibon is loosely based on Mary Whitehouse. The two-part

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

documentary ''Banned! The Mary Whitehouse Story'', airing in March and April 2022, looks back on Whitehouse's life. It features contributions from

Gyles Brandreth Gyles Daubeney Brandreth (born 8 March 1948) is an English broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher. He was a presenter for TV-am's '' Good Morning ...

, Michael Grade,

Beatrix Campbell Mary Lorimer Beatrix Campbell, OBE (''née'' Barnes; born 3 February 1947) is an English writer and activist who has written for a number of publications since the early 1970s. Her books include ''Wigan Pier Revisited'' (1984), ''Goliath: Brit ...

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...

, Ben Thompson,

Peter Tatchell Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is a British human rights campaigner, originally from Australia, best known for his work with LGBT social movements. Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey ...

and David Sullivan.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehouse, Mary 1910 births 2001 deaths Anti-pornography activists British lobbyists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British Christians People from Nuneaton Schoolteachers from Warwickshire