Ban This Filth!

First edition (publ. Faber & Faber)
Not to be confused with Ban This Filth.

Ban This Filth!: Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive 1963-2001 is a 2012 non-fiction book edited by Ben Thompson and published by Faber & Faber. It is a collection of letters written by Mary Whitehouse, leader of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, who perceived a coarsening of material in the BBC.

Background

The author previously served as a ghost writer for books credited to famous people and wrote articles about music for publications.[1]

Contents

The book uses content about Whitehouse held at the NVLA archives at Essex University, which occupies 300 files.[1] Jonathan Sale of The Daily Telegraph described some of the contents as "richly humorous".[2]

According to Sale, the comments written by the editor were "droll".[2] Karl Miller of the Irish Times described the style of the comments as "a smart, media-wise, Jack the Lad commentary that knows enough to recognise it’s right to ask: was she right?"[3]

The editor argued that the changes Whitehouse advocated for would have negatively affected British culture,[2] but he also believed that some of her points may have had merits.[3] Martin Fletcher of The Independent wrote "From a liberal perspective, it's not the singularity of her opinions that unsettle, but rather the issues she got right".[4]

Reception

The Daily Telegraph ranked the book four of five stars, giving praise for the "relentlessly jaunty tone" in Thompson's commentary.[1]

Stuart Jeffries of The Guardian described the book as "entertaining".[5]

Fletcher praised the book's comments for being "admirably even-handed" and "witty and engaging".[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Ban This Filth! Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive: review". The Daily Telegraph. 2012-12-03. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
  2. ^ a b c Sale, Jonathan (2012-11-13). "Ban This Filth! edited by Ben Thompson: review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
  3. ^ a b Miller, Karl (2012-12-01). "Ban This Filth! Letters From The Mary Whitehouse Archive". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-09-20. [...]it's right to ask: was she right? Yes and no is an answer – his, I think – that would not have pleased the late Mary, for whom black was black and white white.
  4. ^ a b Fletcher, Martin (2012-11-10). "BAN THIS FILTH! Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive, Edited by Ben Thompson". The Independent. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
  5. ^ Jeffries, Stuart (2012-10-26). "Ban This Filth!: Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive by Ben Thompson – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-09-20.

Further reading