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.
Contents
The book uses content about Whitehouse held at the NVLA archives at Essex University, which occupies 300 files. Jonathan Sale of The Daily Telegraph described some of the contents as "richly humorous".
According to Sale, the comments written by the editor were "droll". 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?"
The editor argued that the changes Whitehouse advocated for would have negatively affected British culture, but he also believed that some of her points may have had merits. 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".
Reception
The Daily Telegraph ranked the book four of five stars, giving praise for the "relentlessly jaunty tone" in Thompson's commentary.
Stuart Jeffries of The Guardian described the book as "entertaining".
Fletcher praised the book's comments for being "admirably even-handed" and "witty and engaging".
References
- ^ "Ban This Filth! Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive: review". The Daily Telegraph. 2012-12-03. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
- ^ Sale, Jonathan (2012-11-13). "Ban This Filth! edited by Ben Thompson: review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Fletcher, Martin (2012-11-10). "BAN THIS FILTH! Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive, Edited by Ben Thompson". The Independent. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
- 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
- Sandbrook, Dominic (2012-11-11). "Ban This Filth! Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive edited by Ben Thompson". The Times.
External links
- Ban This Filth! - Faber & Faber
- Sample chapter of the book at the Financial Times, 9 November 2012.