01 Feb 1970s – Historic Personal Campaign Against Censorship

Phillip Hodson first campaigned against censorship of published material when the novel Last Exit to Brooklyn was prosecuted for alleged obscenity in the mid-1960s while he was still at university. The book was acquitted on appeal and the implementation of the law radically changed. However, various antediluvian backbench MPs kept trying to turn back the clock. In this clip, the latest of these (a lawyer called Hugh Rossi) is shown to be slippery on the subject of the scope of his proposed legislation while Hodson cites a number of specific objections which the film-maker appears to accept. Rossi’s Bill was later killed off as pointless. Hodson continues to oppose the unwarranted censorship of books, magazines and films.