The Secret Policeman's Balls

''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' is a series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started in 1976 featuring popular British comedians but later included leading musicians and actors. The ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' shows are credited by many prominent entertainers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years.

Co-founded by Monty Python member John Cleese, campaigner Peter Luff (Assistant Director Amnesty International 1974–1978), and entertainment industry executive Martin Lewis, there have been four distinct eras of the Amnesty benefit shows. The shows of the first era (1976–1981), featuring five members of Monty Python and newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson, yielded films, television specials, home-videos, and albums that have since been widely seen and heard internationally. The three subsequent eras (1987–1989, 1991–2001 and 2006 onwards) have primarily featured locally popular British performers – and spin-off products have been released mainly in the UK.

In March 2012, ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' took place in the United States for the first time. The one-night show at New York's Radio City Music Hall on 4 March was part of Amnesty's 50th anniversary commemorations.

In January 2013, the website for ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' was set to redirect to Amnesty International's; its registration has since expired. However, in 2019, the show was adapted as ''The Secret Policeman's Tour,'' performing at Hackney Empire in London, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Manchester Palace Theatre.

Overview

The series was created and developed by Monty Python member John Cleese, Peter Luff (Assistant Director Amnesty International 1974–1978) and entertainment industry executive Martin Lewis who subsequently worked with Peter Walker (Amnesty's Fund-Raising Officer from 1978). Cleese, Lewis and Luff worked together on the first two shows (1976 and 1977). After this, Cleese and Lewis worked on the next two shows (1979 and 1981) with Luff's replacement at Amnesty, Peter Walker – using the ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' title for the first time in 1979 and developing the series identity. Cleese credits Lewis with coining the '' Secret Policeman's Ball'' title. In an interview aired on BBC TV on 22 June 1979, Cleese told interviewer Michael Billington "It's Martin Lewis' title, I can pin that one on him. But I thought it was quite funny."

Although the ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' title was not used until the third show in 1979, the two preceding shows in 1976 and 1977 were retrospectively treated as part of the ''Secret Policeman's'' canon.

Cleese and Lewis subsequently worked individually on other Amnesty projects. Cleese made brief cameo appearances in the 1987 and 1989 shows and co-directed the latter. Lewis produced two American films drawn from the first four shows (released in the US in 1982 and 1983) and then helped expand the participation of rock musicians for Amnesty (that he first engendered in the 1979 and 1981 shows) with his contributions to the 1986 '' Conspiracy of Hope'' US tour and the 1988 ''Human Rights Now!'' world tour.

The first wave of shows took place approximately every other year, and three of the first four shows were filmed and released theatrically as movies with corresponding record albums. Because multi-artist benefit shows with contemporary performers were a new phenomenon in Britain in the mid-1970s and early 1980s, they were accorded considerable media coverage and public attention.

After 1981, there was a six-year hiatus. When Amnesty International re-commenced staging benefit shows, it did so without the benefit of the Amnesty staff members and outside producers who had successfully guided the first wave of shows. The new team running Amnesty International re-commenced staging benefit shows in 1987, and the shows were on a noticeably smaller scale and consequently generated less media attention. The shows from 1987 onwards were videotaped to be shown as TV specials and/or released on home video in Britain rather than filmed as movies with prospects for international release. The sole exception to the smaller scale events was an ill-fated attempt in June 1988 to stage a weekend concert event titled "Amnesty International Festival of Youth" at the 65,000 capacity Milton Keynes Bowl. The event was a massive failure and for the first time ever, one of Amnesty's fund-raising benefit events lost money.

Only two more of Amnesty's benefit shows (in 1987 and 1989) carried a ''Secret Policeman's Ball''-related title. Between 1991 and 2001 Amnesty staged four more benefit events and though they were comedy shows in the same vein as their predecessors, none of them carried the ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' title. When Amnesty staged a 40th anniversary show in 2001 it was stated that the ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' title had run its course and would not be revived.

However, in October 2006, following a 17-year gap, the name was revived, and also used for shows in October 2008 and March 2012.

Lasting impact

The first four shows (1976–1981) and their spin-offs are credited by many prominent comedians, musicians, actors and producers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years.

Rock stars Bob Geldof, Bono and Sting have all attributed their involvement in humanitarian issues to their exposure to the ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' shows: Geldof, Sting and Clapton as participants with Bono as an audience member.

Bono told ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 1986: "I saw 'The Secret Policeman's Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..." In 2001, Bono described ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' to an Amnesty audience as "a mysterious and extraordinary event that certainly changed my life..." In 1986, Sting told NBC's ''Today'' "I've been a member of Amnesty and a support member for five years, due to an entertainment event called 'The Secret Policeman's Ball' and before that I did not know about Amnesty, I did not know about its work, I did not know about torture in the world." Bob Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure first met and worked together at 1981's ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball'' which was the first benefit show that either of them had performed at. Geldof credits the ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' series with having inspired his own charity show endeavours.

The earliest shows predated the proliferation of comedy and rock benefit shows that took place in the UK and US in the mid-1980s such as Live Aid, Farm Aid, Prince's Trust concerts, The Free Nelson Mandela Concert and Comic Relief. The Amnesty shows are considered to have been the pioneering charity events that helped inspire the later shows.

Amnesty directly attributes the leaps in awareness of the human rights issue, the significant increases in its membership (especially among the young) and its dramatically increased fundraising achievements to the impact of the various shows, their spin-offs and successor Amnesty events such as the Conspiracy of Hope and Human Rights Now! tours.

Some of the films received international cinema release, and the soundtrack albums enjoyed commercial success worldwide, all of which generated considerable international awareness of the original shows, together with a growing grassroots awareness of Amnesty International and the human rights issue. Amnesty states that public awareness of Amnesty increased by 700% between the first and third shows. Membership of the organisation increased sharply.

Introduction to an American audience

The films and records of the first three Amnesty benefit shows did not initially receive much exposure in the US, but this started to change in 1981–1982.

The original British versions of the two ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' movies were presented at the 1981 and 1982 ''Filmex Los Angeles International Film Festival''. Media coverage of the screenings in magazines such as ''Rolling Stone'' created awareness of the benefit shows.

The album ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball – The Music'' was released by Island Records/Warner Bros. Records in March 1982 and became a Top Thirty album in the ''Billboard'' charts.

The third major element in bringing the Secret Policeman's Balls to the U.S. was the acquisition of the UK films by American distributors Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein, founders of the independent distribution company Miramax Films. They had acquired the US rights to the film of the 1979 show ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' and subsequently its successor ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball''. They determined that neither film would be successful in the American marketplace because some of the content was too parochial for American tastes. With Amnesty's blessing, they decided to combine the two films for the US.

Original producer Martin Lewis distilled the best performances from both films into one new 110-minute film for the American market, with an opening sequence narrated by ''Saturday Night Live'' announcer Don Pardo. The new film premiered in New York in May 1982 as a fund-raiser for the U.S. section of Amnesty; it received enthusiastic reviews and went on to box office success. The film is recognised as Miramax's first hit. The American version of the film was released on home video by MGM-UA later in 1982. The US film (though drawn from the UK films of both the 1979 and 1981 shows) used as its title ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball'' – a title that by May 1982 had some resonance in the US marketplace because of the success of the music soundtrack album and media coverage of the film festival screenings.

In 1983, the Weinsteins and Lewis produced an 80-minute sequel TV special for HBO/Cinemax later released on home video by Media Home Entertainment titled ''The Secret Policeman's Private Parts''. The program compiled material from the first two Amnesty shows (the 1976 and 1977 benefits) and the best of the content from the original 1979 and 1981 films that had not been used in the 1982 US version of ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball''.

American offshoots (1986 and 1988)

In the early 1980s, Amnesty had a low profile in the US, and its Executive Director Jack Healey was looking for a way to raise the organisation's profile, especially among young people. In a 1986 profile in ''Rolling Stone'' Healey related how he decided to find out if the goodwill towards Amnesty of rock musicians that he had seen in the US version of ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball'' could be put to service to help improve Amnesty's profile in America.

Consulting with Martin Lewis, Healey conceived and produced Conspiracy of Hope, a 10-day/6-concert rock tour of the US that took place in June 1986 in celebration of Amnesty's 25th anniversary. The tour was headlined by a mixture of British and Irish artists – Sting, The Police, Peter Gabriel and U2 – with American and Canadian musicians Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Joan Baez, The Neville Brothers and Bryan Adams. The tour was promoted by rock impresario Bill Graham. The tour concluded with a major all-day concert at Giants Stadium in New Jersey that was televised live by MTV. The final concert featured additional artists including Bob Geldof, Joan Armatrading, Rubén Blades, Carlos Santana, Howard Jones, Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell. Just one month after the tour, the membership of Amnesty in the USA had increased by 45,000 members.

Subsequent to the ''A Conspiracy of Hope'' tour, Lewis and Healey conceived the 1988 Amnesty world tour Human Rights Now!, that featured Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour and Tracy Chapman. Lewis and Healey's intention was to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by staging a tour that would visit all five continents. The aim was to raise consciousness of human rights issues rather than fund-raising.

The six-week/20-concert tour was produced by Healey and Bill Graham. The tour staged concerts in 19 different nations in all five continents – and was considered successful in raising considerable awareness of the human rights issue throughout the world.

The two tours were the cornerstone of what subsequently became known collectively as the Human Rights Concerts – a series of music events and tours staged by the US Section of Amnesty International between 1986 and 1998.

First four shows 1976–1981

1976 – ''A Poke in the Eye''

In early 1976, the British section of Amnesty International was seeking a way to simultaneously raise funds for itself and elevate the very low profile of human rights issues in British public discourse. It decided to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Amnesty parent organisation with a simple one-night benefit show with a few entertainers contributing services as was the norm with charity events in that era. There was no anticipation that the event might be filmed or recorded to be shared with an audience beyond the people attending the benefit, and no anticipation that it might be anything other than a one-off event.

Amnesty's Assistant Director Peter Luff approached John Cleese of the Monty Python comedy troupe to seek his participation. Cleese was taken with the idea and volunteered to assist the event by helping to "round up a few friends".

Cleese's "few friends" turned out to be colleagues in Monty Python, pals in the earlier British comedic ensemble '' Beyond The Fringe'', his ''Footlights'' and ''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again'' peers (including The Goodies), and other members of the British comedy community from the 1960s and 1970s (primarily those described as "Oxbridge" comedians).

Luff, working with his Amnesty colleague David Simpson, obtained the use of Her Majesty's Theatre, free of charge. The tickets for the show were advertised solely in the satirical magazine ''Private Eye'' and were sold out within four days.

The other member of the production team was Martin Lewis, a young record industry executive who initially undertook to produce a record album of the show and then became closely involved with Cleese, Luff and Simpson on the show production – which evolved into a three-night run. TV documentary maker Roger Graef, approached the team offering to make a "fly-on-the-wall"-style documentary about the production of the show and to film the show itself. The resulting film was titled ''Pleasure at Her Majesty's''. Lewis also undertook responsibility for publicising the show and its film and record spin-offs.

Show

The show – titled by Cleese '' A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)'' – took place on 1–3 April 1976 as a series of late-night galas at Her Majesty's Theatre in London's West End theatre district. The show was directed by ''Beyond The Fringe'' alumnus Jonathan Miller. The shows started at 11.30 pm, after the performance of the theatre's regularly scheduled play. Being late-night events became a hallmark of subsequent shows.

In addition to Lewis' audio recording team, Roger Graef, used a small 16 mm crew, to film rehearsals and performances. The footage was later assembled into the film ''Pleasure at Her Majesty's'', which premiered in November 1976 at the 20th annual London Film Festival, and was broadcast by the BBC
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