Mary Whitehouse, circa 1993

Mary Whitehouse CBE (13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British campaigner for her values of morality and decency, derived principally from her Christian religious beliefs, focusing her efforts in particular on the broadcast media where she felt these values were lacking. She was the founder and first president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association. Image File history File links Mary Whitehouse This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... Image File history File links Mary Whitehouse This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ... Year 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... -1... A dictionary definition of Indecent not conforming with accepted standards of behaviour or morality. ... Christianity percentage by country, purple is highest, orange is lowest Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch... Faith has two general implications which can be implied either exclusively or mutually; To Trust: Believing a certain variable will act a specific way despite the potential influence of known or unknown change. ... Note: broadcasting is also the old term for hand sowing. ... mediawatch-uk, formerly the National Viewers and Listeners Association (NVALA) is a controversial special interest pressure group in the United Kingdom, which seeks to highlight what it sees as regulatory failure on harmful and offensive broadcast content violence, bad language, sex, homosexuality and blasphemy in the United Kingdom. ...

Early life

Born Constance Mary Hutcheson in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, Mary Whitehouse won a scholarship to the City and County School, Chester. On leaving, she did two years of unpaid apprentice teaching at St John's School, Chester, and attended the Cheshire County Teacher Training College in Crewe, specialising in secondary school art teaching. Miss Hutcheson was involved with the Student Christian Movement before qualifying in 1932. She became an art teacher at Lichfield Road School, Wednesfield, West Midlands (then Staffordshire), where she stayed for eight years. Nuneaton is the largest town in the English county of Warwickshire, and the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth. ... A detailed map Stratford-upon-Avon Kenilworth Castle Warwickshire (pronounced //, //, or //) is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in central England. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total 130... For the larger local government district, see Chester (district). ... St Johns School, is a Private Boarding and Day School in the Town of Leatherhead, Surrey, England History of St Johns School St Johns School was founded in 1851. ... Map sources for Crewe at grid reference SJ705557 Crewe is a town in south Cheshire, in the north west of England. ... The term, secondary school, refers to an institution where the third stage of schooling, known as secondary education, takes place. ... The Bath, a painting by Mary Cassatt (1844–1926). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) was formed at a meeting of students from ten North American and European countries in 1895 at Vadstena Castle, Sweden. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral, June 2005 Lichfield (Welsh: Caerlwytgoed) is a small city and civil parish in Staffordshire, 110 miles northwest of London and 14 miles north of Birmingham. ... Wednesfield (population about 35,000) is a town in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. ... The County of West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a population of around 2,600,000 people. ... Staffordshire (abbreviated Staffs) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. ...

She joined the Oxford Group, later known as Moral Re-Armament (MRA)), in the 1930s. At MRA meetings, she met Ernest Whitehouse; they married in 1940 and remained married until Ernest's death in 2000. The couple had three children. This does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section is missing citation of sources. ... Face The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

After raising her children and returning to teaching, she became responsible for sex education, at Madeley Modern School in Shropshire in the early 1960s. At this time, apparently shocked at the response of her pupils to moral issues, she became concerned about what she and many others perceived as declining moral standards in Britain, of the media, and especially of the BBC. Madeley is a small town, now part of the new town of Telford in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. ... Shropshire (alternatively Salop or abbreviated Shrops) is a county in the West Midlands of England. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ...

"Clean Up TV" campaigns

Mary Whitehouse began her campaigning in 1963. Among her first targets was Sir Hugh Greene, director-general of the BBC, whom she claimed was "more than anybody else [...] responsible for the moral collapse in this country" ^[1]. Greene ignored her concerns and blocked her from participation in BBC programming. At her first public meeting, in Birmingham in April 1964, over 2,000 people attended, and her 'Clean Up TV Campaign' was launched. The National Viewers' and Listeners' Association was formed in 1965; she obtained a total of 500,000 signatures on her 'Clean Up TV' petition, then a record for the UK. Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (1910-1987) was Director-General of the BBC from 1960 to 1969, and is generally credited with modernising an organisation that had fallen behind in the wake of the launch of ITV in 1955. ... Birmingham (pron. ... mediawatch-uk, formerly the National Viewers and Listeners Association (NVALA) is a controversial special interest pressure group in the United Kingdom, which seeks to highlight what it sees as regulatory failure on harmful and offensive broadcast content violence, bad language, sex, homosexuality and blasphemy in the United Kingdom. ...

Through the letters she frequently sent to Harold Wilson, then Prime Minister, Whitehouse caused particular difficulties for civil servants at 10 Downing Street. These letters expressed her belief that, through the Royal Charter, ultimate responsibility for BBC output lay with the Government, rather than with the BBC's governors whom she felt to be failing in their duties. For some time it was suspected that Downing Street intentionally "lost" her letters to avoid having to respond to them. When Greene left the BBC, in 1969, because of disagreements over the appointment of the Conservative Lord Hill as BBC chairman in 1967, Whitehouse was given some credit for his departure; other sources pointed more to a political struggle between the BBC and Wilson. James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was one of the most prominent British politicians of the 20th century. ... Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney stand in front of the famous main door to Number 10. ... Charles Hill, Baron Hill of Luton (15 January 1904 —22 August 1989) M.D., was an English administrator, doctor and television executive. ...

The clash with the BBC will be dramatised in Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story, to be screened by the Corporation in late 2007. Julie Walters will portray Whitehouse, Alun Armstrong her husband Ernest, and Hugh Bonneville will play Greene.^[2] Julia Mary Walters, OBE (born February 22, 1950) is an English Golden Globe-winning actress. ... Alun Armstrong (born July 17, 1946) is an actor from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. ... Hugh Bonneville (born on 10 November 1963 in London) is an acclaimed English film and television actor. ...

Opposition

Some of Whitehouse's opponents claimed that she had an ability to be offended by almost anything^{[citation needed]}, pointing to her complaints about the use of the word "bloody", her concerns about the TV character Alf Garnett, Doctor Who, and the violence in Tom and Jerry cartoons. Of Four Weddings and a Funeral, she famously said "I haven't seen it, of course, but I've heard that the opening three minutes contains a stream of four-letter obscenities"^{[citation needed]}, after which there were claims that she tended to take any sexualised activity on television or in the theatre as an affront.^{[citation needed]} This was occasionally taken advantage of: the tabloids ambushed her, asking her what she thought of a new children's programme in which children were killed, a reference to Knightmare; she publicly professed her shock, but apologised once she had watched an episode. Bloody is the adjectival form of blood but may also be used as a swear word or expletive attributive (intensifier) in Britain, Ireland, Canada, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka. ... Alf Garnett was a fictional character on the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, the ITV sitcom Till Death. ... Doctor Who is a long-running award-winning British science fiction television programme (and a 1996 television film) produced by the BBC. The series shows the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor, who explores time and space in his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Knightmare (disambiguation). ...

She became a target for mockery and caricature. During the episode of Till Death Us Do Part entitled "Alf's Dilemma" Alf Garnett is seen reading her book 'Clean up TV' and agreeing with every word. One publisher of pornographic magazines named a magazine Whitehouse, in an apparent attempt to annoy her. British "noise" band Whitehouse also named themselves after her, in mocking tribute. She is the inspiration of Deep Purple's 1973 song Mary Long and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band's Mrs Blackhouse, in which the eponymous Blackhouse is depicted as a demonic, unholy creature. The British punk band The Adicts wrote a song called "Mary Whitehouse", which includes the line "She don't like pornography when it's on the BBC" among others. She's also mentioned by name in the song "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" on the 1977 Pink Floyd album Animals, described as an uptight "house-proud town mouse" who is "trying to keep our feelings off the street" and mocked with the recurring phrase "ha-ha, charade you are". Til Death Us Do Part (also known as Till Death Us do Part)1 was a BBC television sitcom series written by Johnny Speight that ran from 1964 until 1974. ... Alf Garnett was a fictional character on the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, the ITV sitcom Till Death. ... Pornographic movies Pornography (Porn) (from Greek πόρνη (porne) prostitute and γραφή (grafe) writing), more informally referred to as porn or porno, is the explicit representation of the human body or sexual activity with the goal of sexual arousal. ... Whitehouse is an English industrial noise band formed in 1980. ... This article is about the rock band. ... Alex Harvey (February 5, 1935 - February 4, 1982) was a Scottish rock and roll performer. ... The Adicts are an English Punk rock band from Ipswich. ... Pigs (Three Different Ones) is a song from Pink Floyds 1977 album Animals. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their avant-garde progressive rock music. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Sometimes, if the cast and crew of a TV programme were congratulated by Mary Whitehouse for producing "wholesome entertainment", they took it as an insult, as was the case of The Goodies in 1970. After the first season, the cast of The Goodies were worried that an endorsement from Mary Whitehouse would harm their image. They made it their goal to get a complaint from her. To achieve this, they introduced more smut into their show, but with no response. They even featured a caricature of her, called "Desiree Carthorse", in one episode (Gender Education); but that, too, got no response. In the end, a sequence of Tim Brooke-Taylor dancing in underpants with a carrot motif triggered a complaint ^[3]. A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... The Goodies was a surreal British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy and starring Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie. ... Obscenity in Latin obscenus, meaning foul, repulsive, detestable, (possibly derived from ob caenum, literally from filth). The term is most often used in a legal context to describe expressions (words, images, actions) that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time. ... Gender Education is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies. ... Tim Brooke-Taylor (April 2000) Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor, (born 17 July 1940 in Buxton, Derbyshire, England) is a British comic actor most well known in Britain as a member of The Goodies comedy trio and in the comedy radio shows Im Sorry I Havent a Clue, and...

In 1990, Whitehouse claimed, on BBC radio, that Dennis Potter had been influenced by witnessing his mother engaged in adulterous sex. Potter's mother won substantial damages from the BBC and The Listener, who were reportedly unimpressed by Whitehouse's claim to have had a blackout on air and subsequently to have had no recollection of her words^{[citation needed]}. Her own favourite programmes were Dixon of Dock Green, Neighbours, and coverage of snooker.^{[citation needed]} Liber Amoris Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935—7 June 1994) was a controversial British dramatist who is best known for several widely acclaimed television dramas which mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. ... The Listener was a weekly magazine established by the BBC under Lord Reith in January 1929. ... Amnesia or amnæsia (from Greek ) (see spelling differences) is a condition in which memory is disturbed. ... Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series, which ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. ... Neighbours is a long-running Australian soap opera, which began airing in March 1985. ... Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a large (12 ft × 6 ft, 3. ...

Private prosecutions

In addition to her campaigns regarding television, Whitehouse brought a number of notable legal actions, including a private prosecution for blasphemous libel against Gay News in 1977 (Whitehouse v. Lemon), the first such prosecution since 1922. The private prosecution concerned a poem, The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name by James Kirkup, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. It resulted in a nine-month suspended jail sentence for the editor of Gay News, Denis Lemon, who was told by the judge that he had come close to serving it. Appeals to the House of Lords and the European Court were rejected. Blasphemous libel is a common law criminal offence in the United Kingdom. ... Gay News was a pioneering fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between the Gay Liberation Front and the Campaign for Homosexual Equality. ... Whitehouse v. ... James Kirkup (b. ... The Royal Society of Literature is the senior literary organisation in Britain. External link The Royal Society of Literature Categories: Literature stubs | Literature of the United Kingdom ... The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as the Lords. The Sovereign, the House of Commons (which is the lower house of Parliament and referred to as the Commons), and the Lords together comprise the Parliament. ... European Court could mean: the European Court of Justice, an institution of the European Union for the resolution of disputes under EU law, based in Luxembourg. ...

In 1982 she pursued a private prosecution against Michael Bogdanov, the director of a National Theatre production of Howard Brenton's The Romans in Britain, which had a scene of simulated anal rape, under the Sexual Offences Act 1956, s13, which described the offence of "procuring an act of gross indecency". Because the Act was a general one, there was no defence, similar to that permitted in the Obscene Publications Act, for reasons of artistic merit. The defence argued that the Act did not apply to the theatre; the judge ruled that it did. Since Whitehouse had not herself seen the play, the prosecution evidence rested on the testimony of a single witness: Graham Ross-Cornes, her solicitor. It was established during cross-examination that Ross-Cornes had been sitting in the back row of the theatre, 90 feet from where the alleged offence took place. This meant that he was unable to repeat with the same authority that he had seen the actor's penis during the alleged offence. With the prosecution case in shreds, and after her leading barrister, Ian Kennedy QC, informed her that he was no longer able to pursue the case, Whitehouse withdrew from the prosecution and the proceedings were terminated by a nolle prosequi procedure on 18 March 1982.^[4] The case was the subject of a radio play, Mark Lawson's The Third Soldier Holds His Thighs, on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. Whitehouse's account of the trial is recorded in her book A Most Dangerous Woman (ISBN 0-85648-540-3). Since the 1970s, Michael Bogdanov has established himself as one of Britains leading theatre directors, from new works to modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare. ... Several countries have a National Theatre. ... Howard Brenton (born December 13, 1942) is an English playwright, who was educated at St Catharines College, Cambridge. ... Romans in Britain is a stage play by Howard Brenton that comments upon imperialism and the abuse of power. ... Roman men having anal sex. ... This may refer to: The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, only the third act passed since 1949 by the British House of Commons without the House of Lords consent; The Sexual Offences Act 2003, which revised various sexual offences, and also created new offences This is a disambiguation page &#8212... Cherie Booth QC wearing her ceremonial robes (including full-bottomed wig) as Queens Counsel at the Bar of England and Wales. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Mark Lawson (born April 11, 1962) is a British journalist, broadcaster and author. ... BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of chiefly spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ...

Her supporters claimed that her efforts played a part in the passage of Protection of Children Act 1978 and the Indecent Displays Act 1981, which concerned sex shops. In 1984, she mounted a decisive campaign in the UK about "video nasties", which led to the Video Recordings Act of that year. Additionally, her supporters claimed that the Whitehouse campaigns helped end Channel 4's "red triangle" series of films; claimed by Channel 4 to be intended to warn viewers of material liable to cause offence, the broadcasting of these films had also received criticism from non-supporters of Whitehouse. She also had a role in the 1990 extension of the Broadcasting Act and the establishment of the Broadcasting Standards Council, which later became the Broadcasting Standards Commission (in 2004, this was subsumed into the Office of Communications). The Protection of Children Act 1978 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Video nasty was a term coined in the United Kingdom in the 1980s that originally applied to a number of films distributed on video that were held by some to be unfit for domestic viewing. ... The Video Recordings Act is a UK Act of Parliament that was passed into law in 1984. ... It has been suggested that Channel Four Television Corporation be merged into this article or section. ... The red triangle screen that preceded broadcasts, warning viewers that special discretion was required. ... The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. ... The Office of Communications, usually known as Ofcom, is the UKs communications regulator. ... Ofcom is a regulator for communication industries in the United Kingdom. ...

Support base

Her support came from conservatives, many Christians and those who held the view that television directly influenced antisocial behaviour. For much of the 1960s and 1970s, she had more than 250 speaking engagements every year. Among her staunchest allies was the (Catholic) Labour peer Lord Longford, a campaigner against pornography. She was a leading figure in the Nationwide Festival of Light of 1971, protesting against the commercial exploitation of sex and violence in Britain, and advocating the teaching of Christ as the key to recovering moral stability in the nation. Cover image: Peter Stanfords biography of Lord Longford, The Outcasts Outcast (2003) Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, KG, PC (5 December 1905–3 August 2001) was a politician, author, and social reformer. ... // In November 1970 a young couple, Peter and Janet Hill, returned to England after four years as evangelical Christian missionaries in India. ...

During the 1980s, Mary Whitehouse found an ally in the Conservative government, particularly in Margaret Thatcher. Senior television executives commented that at this time her views were not disregarded lightly, particularly if she had the ear of the Prime Minister.^[5] It has been claimed though, that the market orientation of the Thatcher government actually prejudiced that government against Whitehouse in private^{[citation needed]}. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC (born October 13, 1925), former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in office from 1979 to 1990. ...

In 1980, she was appointed CBE. Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions, in order of seniority: Knight or Dame Grand Cross...

Retirement

Whitehouse retired as president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association in 1994; the Association was re-named mediawatch-uk in 2001. The organisation had about 150,000 supporters through corporate memberships at its peak; members now number fewer than 40,000. In 1997, she damaged her spine in a fall, which severely curbed her campaigning activities. mediawatch-uk, formerly the National Viewers and Listeners Association (NVALA) is a controversial special interest pressure group in the United Kingdom, which seeks to highlight what it sees as regulatory failure on harmful and offensive broadcast content violence, bad language, sex, homosexuality and blasphemy in the United Kingdom. ...

Death

She died, aged 91, in a nursing home in Colchester on 23 November 2001. Despite earlier clashes, Michael Grade said of her: "She was very witty, she was a great debater, she was very courageous and she had a very sincere view, but it was out of touch entirely with the real world."^[5] The comedian Bernard Manning also commented, "She'll be sadly missed, I imagine, but not by me." ^[6] The town of Colchester is the main settlement in the East of England borough of Colchester, Essex. ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Michael Ian Grade CBE (born March 8, 1943) is a British businessman and a distinguished figure in the field of broadcasting. ... Bernard John Manning (13 August 1930 – 18 June 2007) was an English stand-up comedian. ...

Legacy

Writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, the philosopher Mary Warnock comments, "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 BBC and of ITV. She was not, as the BBC seemed officially to proclaim, a mere figure of fun"^[7]. The Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history. ... Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, DBE (born April 14, 1924) is a British philosopher of morality, education and mind, and writer on existentialism. ... For other uses, see Television (disambiguation). ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... It has been suggested that Channel 3 (UK) be merged into this article or section. ...

This sums up the differing views of Mary Whitehouse. Many of the older generation, and those of a more conservative intellectual outlook of whom Baroness Warnock was typical and from which group Governors of the BBC were largely drawn, took her at her face value as a campaigner for standards of morality and decency. However, in the media, particularly television, she was seen as naïve and simplistic, uninformed, an irritant and an irrelevance. To the young generation she represented a granny's eye view on life and was seen as somebody whose opinions were not to be taken seriously. The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ...

"Mary Whitehouse" on television

There were two notable television comedy creations which owed more than a little to the image the world of television thought the public had of Mary Whitehouse as a "busybody housewife".

Mrs Whitehouse and her contemporary fellow-campaigner the Dowager Lady Birdwood both wore "swept-up" spectacles, which made them look rather grim and humourless. This was seized upon by Barry Humphries for his popular alter ego Dame Edna Everage, to portray a fussy middle-aged woman with outspoken views who always seemed to know best, though Dame Edna's general appearance seemed to owe rather more to Elton John. After the emergence of Dame Edna, Mrs Whitehouse rapidly dropped the swept-up spectacles and reverted to frames similar to those she is seen wearing in the illustration. Lady Jane Birdwood (May 18, 1913-June 28, 2000) was the wife of a British aristocrat and leading figure on the far right in the United Kingdom who took part in a number of movements. ... A pair of modern glasses A pair of more traditional glasses Glasses, also called eyeglasses or spectacles, are frames, bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes normally for vision correction, eye protection, or for protection from UV rays. ... John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE (born 17 February 1934 in Camberwell, Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian comedian, satirist and character actor best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife, and Sir Les Patterson, Australias foul-mouthed cultural attaché to Britain. ... Alter Ego has multiple meanings: Alter Ego is a game for the Commodore 64 computer. ... Dame Edna Everage featuring on a billboard at the Myer department store in Melbourne. ... Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE [2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a multiple Grammy and Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ...

Caroline Aherne came to prominence in her early twenties for her character "Mrs Merton", who was an elderly lady whose dress and the views she expressed were much in line with those attributed to Mary Whitehouse.^[8] Caroline Aherne (born 24 December 1963 in Ealing, London) is an English actress and comedian. ...

The Mary Whitehouse Experience was a comedy series which appeared on BBC television and radio comedy for a year or two either side of 1990. The creators named it after Mrs Whitehouse, and at one point the BBC feared that Whitehouse would pursue legal action against the show for using her name.^[9] The Mary Whitehouse Experience was a UK topical comedy show, both on radio and TV, in the late 80s/early 90s. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ...

Trivia

• A 90-minute film drama based on the life of Mary Whitehouse, written by Amanda Coe, writer of As If, is being developed by Wall to Wall for the BBC with Julie Walters playing the part of Whitehouse. ^[10]
• In the Monty Python's Flying Circus election-night satire, John Cleese says "Mary Whitehouse has taken Umbrage—no surprise there."
• In a second series episode of The Goodies often known as "Sex and Violence", a Mary Whitehouse-like character called Desiree Carthorse features throughout, played by Beryl Reid. She is portrayed as looking like Whitehouse, is cited as the head of the "Keep Filth off Television Campaign", and spends the episode attempting to put a stop to anything even vaguely resembling perversion on BBC television. ("What with ITV being so clean.") She enlists the services of the Goodies to produce on her behalf a BBC sex education film which she entitles "How To Make Babies By Doing Dirty Things", and is offended by the production despite its being absurdly chaste and adhering to her own script.
• The satirist Victor Lewis-Smith made a prank call to Whitehouse in his series TV Offal, pretending to be the editor of 'an Islamic fashion magazine'. It was suggested she had won a prize for 'purity in the media' and would receive a cash prize of some £20,000. The call was later made available on his self-released prank call compilation album, 'Nuisance Calls'^{[citation needed]}.
• From 1986 to 1988, a character based on Whitehouse was featured in the controversial children's comic Oink!. Mary Lighthouse was the enemy of the comic's fictional 'editor', Uncle Pigg.
• The original Doctor Who novel "Time of Your Life" features a character clearly based on Mary Whitehouse going by the name of Miriam Walker. Ironically she and the sixth Doctor work together very well.
• The Pete Walker film House of Whipcord has as its main villainess a character named Margareth Wakehurst that takes the law into her own hand to fight alleged moral depravity in girls. This has been considered an obvious caricature of Mary Whitehouse by, among others, the British Film Censor.
• The Pink Floyd song titled Pigs (Three Different Ones) from the album Animals mentions Whitehouse extensively in a negative fashion because of member Roger Waters's attitude towards her.
• The band The Adicts wrote a song relating to Mary Whitehouse, the song entitled Mary Whitehouse.

Logo of the show As If As If was a British teen comedy/drama series broadcast on Channel 4. ... Wall to Wall is a British television production company best known for its short-run and one-off historical and science documentaries. ... Julia Mary Walters, OBE (born February 22, 1950) is an English Golden Globe-winning actress. ... This article discusses the series itself. ... This article discusses the Goodies trio and the origins of their comedy TV series For information about the television series, see The Goodies (TV series) The Goodies are a trio of British comedians (Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie), who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British... Beryl Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in industrial Manchester, England. ... Victor Lewis-Smith (born probably 1961 but possibly earlier) is a British satirist, producer, critic and prankster. ... TV Offal was a British television comedy sketch/archive series that ran on Channel 4, from October 1997, to June 1998, it was written and narrated by comedian Victor Lewis-Smith, who shared writing duties with Paul Sparks. ... Oink! was the title of a British comic for children which was published from 3 May 1986-22 October 1988. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their avant-garde progressive rock music. ... Pigs (Three Different Ones) is a song from Pink Floyds 1977 album Animals. ... The word Animals when used alone has several possible meanings in the English language. ... George Roger Waters (born September 9, 1943) is an English rock musician; singer, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, and composer. ...

References

1. ^ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,605156,00.html Mary Whitehouse - Self-appointed campaigner against the permissive society on television Dennis Barker, The Guardian, Saturday November 24, 2001]
2. ^ Oatts, Joanne (April 18 2007). BBC confirms 'Mary Whitehouse' drama. DigitalSpy. Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
3. ^ [1] Mary Whitehouse drama heads for BBC Ben Dowell Friday July 21, 2006
4. ^ BBC "On This Day", March 18th
5. ^ ^{a b} Whitehouse "kept TV on its toes" BBC obituary Friday, 23 November, 2001
6. ^ Campaigner Mary Whitehouse dies, aged 91 John Ezard, The Guardian, Saturday November 24, 2001
7. ^ Article on Mary Whitehouse, Mary Warnock, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
8. ^ Housewife superscourge: We did not deserve Mary Whitehouse. Leader, The Guardian, Saturday November 24, 2001
9. ^ SOTCAA article on The Mary Whitehouse Experience
10. ^ Walters to play Whitehouse on BBC

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... April 18 is the 108th day of the year (109th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bibliography

• Max Caulfield (1976) Mary Whitehouse, Mowbray, ISBN 0-264-66190-7
• Geoffrey Robertson (1999) The Justice Game, Random House UK. (A memoir of a prominent barrister who, among other historic trials, defended several of Whitehouse's targets in her private prosecutions).
• Michael Tracey & David Morrison (1979) Whitehouse, Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-23790-0
• Mary Whitehouse (1967) Cleaning-up TV: From Protest to Participation, Blandford, ISBN B0000CNC3I
• Mary Whitehouse (1971) Who Does She Think She is?, New English Library, ISBN 0-450-00993-9
• Mary Whitehouse (1977) Whatever Happened to Sex?, Wayland, ISBN 0-85340-460-7 (pbk: Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 0-340-22906-3)
• Mary Whitehouse (1982) Most Dangerous Woman?, Lion Hudson, ISBN 0-85648-408-3
• Mary Whitehouse (1985) Mightier Than the Sword, Kingsway Publications, ISBN 0-86065-382-X
• Mary Whitehouse (1993) Quite Contrary: An Autobiography, Sidgwick & Jackson, ISBN 0-283-06202-9

Geoffrey Ronald Robertson QC (born September 30, 1946 in Sydney) is an Australian human rights lawyer, academic, author and broadcaster. ... As a literary genre, a memoir (from the Latin memoria, meaning memory) forms a subclass of autobiography, although it is an older form of writing. ... // Artists impression of an English barrister A barrister is a lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions which employ a split profession (as opposed to a fused profession) in relation to legal representation. ...

See also

• Censorship
• Culture Wars
• Whitehouse v. Lemon
• Donald Wildmon
• Freedom of religion

Censorship is defined as the removal and withholding of information from the public by a controlling group or body. ... The term culture war has been used to describe ideologically-driven and often strident confrontations typical of American public culture and politics since at least the 1980s. ... Whitehouse v. ... Donald E. Wildmon, born 18 January 1938 in Dumas, Mississippi, is the founder and chairman of the American Family Association. ... The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen guarantees freedom of religion, as long as religious activities do not infringe on public order in ways detrimental to society. ...

External links

• Passion Play - Guardian article on The Romans In Britain
• A life spent trying in vain to preserve the suburban idyll - Bruce Anderson in The Independent November 26 2001