Mary Whitehouse
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| - | '''Mary Whitehouse''' [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] ([[13 June]] [[1910]] – [[23 November]] [[2001]]) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[campaigner]] for her values of [[morality]] and [[decency]], derived principally from her [[Christianity|Christian]] [[faith|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 [[Mediawatch-uk|National Viewers' and Listeners' Association]]. | + | '''Mary Whitehouse''' [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] ([[13 June]] [[1910]] – [[23 November]] [[2001]]) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[moral crusade]]r and [[anti-pornography movement|anti-pornography activist]]. Her values of [[morality]] and [[decency]], derived principally from her [[Christianity|Christian]] [[faith|religious beliefs]], focused her efforts in particular on the [[broadcast media]] where she felt these values were lacking. |
| - | Writing in the [[Dictionary of National Biography]], [[Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock|Mary Warnock]] comments, "Even if her campaigning did not succeed in ‘cleaning up [[Television|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". | + | In 1984, she mounted a decisive campaign in the UK about "[[video nasties]]", which led to the [[Video Recordings Act 1984|Video Recordings Act]] of that year. |
| - | 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 [[BBC#Governors|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. {{GFDL}} | + | 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'' |
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| + | 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 (British magazine)|The Listener]]'', who were reportedly unimpressed by Whitehouse's claim to have had a [[amnesia|blackout]] on air and subsequently to have had no recollection of her words. | ||
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| + | English [[noise music]] [[band]] [[Whitehouse (band)|Whitehouse]]'s name was inspired by this British moral campaigner.{{GFDL}} | ||
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Mary Whitehouse CBE (13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British moral crusader and anti-pornography activist. Her values of morality and decency, derived principally from her Christian religious beliefs, focused her efforts in particular on the broadcast media where she felt these values were lacking.
In 1984, she mounted a decisive campaign in the UK about "video nasties", which led to the Video Recordings Act of that year.
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
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.
English noise music band Whitehouse's name was inspired by this British moral campaigner.
