Lady Chatterley Trial

The Obscene Publications Act 1959 defined obscenity as material that would "tend to deprave and corrupt" the reader. There was, however, a clause allowing for publication of material that would otherwise be deemed obscene, "in the interests of science, literature, art or learning, or of other objects of general concern".

The first test case of the Act came when a charge of obscenity was brought against Penguin Books for publication in 1960 of Lady Chatterley's Lover, a novel by D. H. Lawrence published first in Florence, in 1928, and later in Paris. The trial, officially known as "Regina v. Penguin Books Ltd.", is often referred to as "the Lady Chatterley Trial". A number of eminent witnesses took the stand to testify to the artistic merit of the novel, including the aged novelist E. M. Forster, and two of the academics behind the development of "Cultural Studies" as a discipline combining sociology and literature, Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams.

The acquittal of Penguin Books in November 1960 is often taken as symbolic of changing attitudes towards sexual morality and literary decency, one of the beginnings of the "sexual revolution" of the 1960s. Social changes were also explicitly referenced at the trial. The barrister for the prosecution, Mervyn Griffith-Jones QC, at one point addressed the jury with the words "Ask yourselves, is it a book you would wish your wife or servants to read?" The idea that men could happily read things unsuitable for women, or upper-class men read things unsuitable to the lower classes, went so much against the "classless" optimism of the time as to be laughable. The defending barrister made hay with it in his final statement:

I do not want to upset the Prosecution by suggesting that there are a certain number of people nowadays who as a matter of fact don’t have servants. But of course that whole attitude is one which Penguin Books was formed to fight against . . . the attitude that it is all right to publish a special edition at five or ten guineas so that people who are less well off cannot read what other people read. Isn’t everybody, whether earning £10 a week or £20 a week, equally interested in the society in which we live, in the problems of human relationships including sexual relationships? In view of the reference made to wives, aren’t women equally interested in human relations, including sexual relationships?

The Permissive Society

The new notion of personal freedom that gripped Britain in the Sixties was translated into a swathe of permissive legislation. One of the most influential figures in this process was Roy Jenkins, Home Secretary, 1965-1967, 1974-1976; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1967-1970; and President of the European Commission, 1977-1981.

While permissiveness was not government policy, Jenkins used his position in government to sponsor initiatives by backbench MPs, giving them a much higher chance of success. He famously remarked that:

The permissive society has been allowed to become a dirty phrase. A better phrase is the civilised society.

Key items of permissive legislation were:

• Obscene Publications Act 1959
• Suicide Act 1961
• Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965
• Abortion Act 1967
• Sexual Offences Act 1967
• Theatres Act 1968
• Divorce Reform Act 1969

All were presented as bringing legislation into line with existing social practices, but all could also be seen as undermining traditional morality by reducing the legal force in its favour.

Swinging London

The international perception of London as "the place to be" was boosted by a Time cover story of 15 April 1966 that launched the phrase "Swinging London". The opening paragraph runs:

In this century, every decade has had its city. The fin de siècle belonged to the dreamlike round of Vienna, capital of the inbred Habsburgs and the waltz. In the changing '20s, Paris provided a moveable feast for Hemingway, Picasso, Fitzgerald and Joyce, while in the chaos after the Great Crash, Berlin briefly erupted with the savage iconoclasm of Brecht and the Bauhaus. During the shell-shocked 1940s, thrusting New York led the way, and in the uneasy 1950s it was the easy Rome of la dolce vita. Today, it is London, a city steeped in tradition, seized by change, liberated by affluence, graced by daffodils and anemones, so green with parks and squares that, as the saying goes, you can walk across it on the grass. In a decade dominated by youth, London has burst into bloom. It swings; it is the scene.

The full text of the story can be read here.

With the devaluation of the pound sterling in 1967, London became more attractive to foreign visitors than ever.

Pop music, fashion boutiques and fashion photography were the main components of "swinging" London, an international image further underlined by the rather overheated Italian film Blow-Up:

Routemaster

The Routemaster was a bus specifically designed for London traffic. It went into production in the 1950s, and was decommissioned by Transport for London in 2005.

An important aspect of the design is the open access through a platform at the rear end of the bus. This enabled sharp-witted and able-bodied passengers to hop on and off almost as they pleased (paying a conductor who moved around the bus, rather than the driver), contributing to the sense of risk-taking and personal freedom that was so important in the "feel" of the period. It was to enable young women to hop on and off such buses unimpeded that Mary Quant designed the miniskirt. It was in part to prevent such "risk-taking" behaviour that the design was discontinued.

The design features on the Icons of England website and the 2009 British Design Classics stamp issue.

The Sixties

Britain in the 1960s looked rather like a country reinventing itself. From an imperial power renowned for stiffness, Stoicism, formality, hypocrisy, and clearly marked class divisions, it became an international trend-setter in popular youth culture. British bands topped the charts not only at home but across the Atlantic and even across the Channel - the Beatles and the Rolling Stones most famously, but lesser-known groups also produced songs which many will still recognise by ear, even if they don’t know the name of the band.

Popular youth culture began to become a media phenomenon in the 1950s, with public disturbances caused by gangs of Teddy Boys (who dressed in a parody of Edwardian gentlemen’s attire), or in the 1960s by the fights between Mods and Rockers (two radically alternative styles of youth culture). It was only with the Beatles, in the early 60s, that pop concerts became national news. Crowds of screaming teenage girls were very far from any traditional notion of typical British behaviour, but were the background noise to the popular music of the era - even that of Scottish singer-songwriters in the folk tradition (see here).

Some of the stereotypically "Sixties" sights on the streets of London were, besides the mini, the new Routemaster bus (which went into production in the late 50s, but was only a familiar sight on London streets from 1961) and the miniskirt.

The new sensibility was reflected in a swathe of permissive legislation, rolling back the power of the law over what were coming to be thought of as purely private affairs, on the grounds that it was not the business of the state to tell people how to live their lives.

The late 50s and most of the 60s were an era of economic prosperity, technological advance, and massive expansion of access to university education (which in Britain had been among the least egalitarian in the industrial world). The importance of education and technology was given strong emphasis by the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson (in office 1964-1970 and 1974-1976).

Miniskirts

In the mid-1960s London suddenly became a centre for international youth fashion.

One of the most characteristic fashion developments of Sixties London was the miniskirt designed by Mary Quant (at six inches - 15cm - above the knee, the shortest skirt in fashion history up to that time). These have become symbolic aspects of a new feeling of opportunity and freedom that marked the decade.

The availability of pantyhose (rather than stockings) and of roll-up leggings made it possible for women to wear short skirts without fear of unintended flashes of thigh. While there may have been some aspect of sexual liberation in young women showing off the shapes of their legs, there was also an important element of women's liberation: the design was inspired by the desire for a skirt that wouldn't hamper a young woman running for a bus.

A Rank cinema newsreel about Sixties fashion, with a characteristically Sixties sneer:



A collage of images of Sixties fashion:



Extensive pages on the fashion and fabrics of the period can be found on the website of the Victoria & Albert Museum

The Mini

The Arab oil embargo at the time of the Suez Crisis had stimulated demand for small cars that were economical to run, such as the Citroën 2CV and the Volkswagen Beetle. British manufacturers had not previously considered the market for cars with low fuel consumption, so were in a hurry to build something to compete.

The most successful design for a low cost car was the mini, designed by Alec Issigonis and produced by the British Motor Corporation. Like the miniskirt, pop music, and buses that passengers could hop in and out of at will, the mini became an icon of the new, young, stylish Britain. In 2009 it was one of the "British Design Classics" celebrated on a special stamp issue.

Foreign manufacturers could not understand how Morris was making the Mini so cheaply, but in fact poor costing meant that the mini was initially being sold at a loss. This is bleak testimony to the general inefficiency of postwar British industry.

Pop becomes national news

British Pathe News reports on The Beatles playing at the ABC Ardwick, Manchester, 1963.



Note the audience reactions, the Stoicism of the cinema staff, the lone policeman as security, and the length of hair that passed for "long hair" in the early 1960s.