NCROPA Papers – 1981

 

Three additional documents for 1981 can be found here together with additional documents from other years.

(1) Copy letter David Webb to Viscount Norwich, January 4, 1981
(2) NCROPA Press Statement, January 13, 1981
(3) NCROPA Press Conference release, January 13, 1981
(4) Copy letter David Webb to Reginald Parkhouse, January 16, 1981
The above letter concerning Regina v Spokes, (1981) is addressed to an Exeter magistrate. What appear to be identical letters were sent to the other magistrates: J. Lemon and Mrs J. Pitts.
(5) Copy letter David Webb to Peter Spokes, January 16, 1981
See (4) above for relevance.
(6) Letter David Webb in the Exeter Express & Echo, January, 1981
The exact date of publication of the above is unclear but the original is dated January 16, 1981. It has been edited, apparently for length. See (4) above for relevance.
(7) Letter Sir Bryan Roberts to David Webb, January 20, 1981
The above is a response to a letter David Webb sent to the Lord Chancellor the previous day. An extremely quick turnaround. Mr Webb’s letter of January 19 is almost identical to his letters on the same subject as (4), (5) & (6) above.
(8) Letter to David Webb from “Michael Freeman Pornographer”, January 22, 1981
(9) Copy letter to Home Secretary William Whitelaw from David Webb/NCROPA, January 24, 1981
(10) Letter NCROPA to Tim Sainsbury MP re his Private Member’s Bill, January 24, 1981
(11) Letter British Adult Publications Association to NCROPA, January 26, 1981
(12) Letter Daily Star to NCROPA, January 26, 1981
(13) Copy letter David Webb for NCROPA to R.M. Coleman of BAPA, January 30, 1981
Re the above, The British Adult Publications Association Limited was incorporated February 21, 1978 as a private limited company without a share capital. It appears to have been active from the previous year, presumably before incorporating. It no longer exists. There are three articles in THE TIMES before 2007 that allude to it, the last one dated January 13, 1981,
(14) NCROPA News Media Release, January 30, 1981
The above includes David Webb/NCROPA’s letter of January 28, 1981 to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
(15) A Licence For Pornography Is A Denial Of Freedom, January 30, 1981 The above is from the Oxford Union Debate – see also document (18) below.
(16) Photocopy from the Exeter Flying Post, February, 1981
The above is apparently the front page; the article mentions David Webb; see also documents (4), (5), (6) and (7) above.
(17) Letter R.M. Coleman of Goldstar Publications to David Webb of NCROPA, February 5, 1981
Re the above, see also document (13).
(18) Letter Victor Lownes of The Playboy Club to David Webb of NCROPA, February 5, 1981
The above is a scan of a letter and a page from a book; there were actually two identical copies of the latter. These copies were apparently second copies because above the page had been typed the title of the book The Sound Of Two Hands Clapping, and the name of the author, Kenneth Tynan (the first man to use the word “fuck” on television. The book page only has been included because I didn’t want either to damage the original document or separate it from the letter. This letter appears also to have included a speech given by the writer on January 30, 1981, see document (15) above.
(19) ‘Let us see more’ Whitelaw told, from Gay News, No 208, February 5-18, 1981
(20) NCROPA Press Statement, February 9, 1981
(21) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Lord Norwich, February 9, 1981
(22) Letter Prime Minister’s Private Secretary to David Webb, February 12, 1981
(23) Copy letter David Webb to Equity with proposed motion for AGM, February 12, 1981
(24) Florinda Bookshop correspondence, February 14, 1981
The above PDF file contains scans of the documents that were found in an A4 envelope addressed to NCROPA/David Webb; the envelope itself was contained in a lever arch file. It was marked thus:

CORRESPONDENCE FROM ‘FLORINDA’
BOOKSHOP, ACCRINGTON, LANCS.
DATED 14/2/81

Its contents include a petition and a press cutting, the latter of which has been scanned one side (ie the relevant side) only. The documents have been scanned in the order in which they were found.
(25) Draft letter David Webb to Tim Sainsbury MP, February, 1981
Re the above, the handwritten note at the top of page one says “Prepared by E.A.C Goodman”. A copy of the actual letter as sent was found among the original papers; it is dated February 17.
(26) Internal NCROPA document concerning the Indecent Displays (Control) Bill, February 19, 1981
(27) Letter to David Webb re the Indecent Displays (Control) Bill, [see document (26) above], February 23, 1981
(28) Letter to David Webb/NCROPA from James A. Dunn re the Indecent Displays (Control) Bill, [see document (26) above], February 24, 1981
The above is one of at least three acknowledgments from MPs.
(29) Letter to David Webb from The Progressive League with enclosure (AGM resolutions), February 25, 1981
(30) Cutting from Private Eye magazine, February 28, 1981
(31) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Sir William Barlow, March 3, 1981
The above is a letter of complaint to the Chairman of the Post Office.
(32) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to the Editor of Nationwide, BBC Television, March 3, 1981
(33) Letter Andrew Taussig of Nationwide to David Webb, re (32) above, March 5, 1981
(34) 4ft SOHO POSTER WAS INDECENT from the Daily Telegraph, March 6, 1981
(35) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Sir Horace Cutler of the GLC, [see also documents (32) and (33)], March 10, 1981
(36) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Tim Sainsbury MP, [see document (25) above], March 10, 1981
(37) Letter from Fenella Sanson, undated
The above was probably posted around March 5-7 but as it is undated I have placed it immediately above David Webb’s reply; this appears to be NCROPA’s first ever invitation to speak.
(38) Copy letter David Webb to Fenella Sanson of Greater London Young Conservatives, [see document (37) above], March 10, 1981
(39) Copy letter David Webb to Chris Tame, March 11, 1981
The above appears to be the first contact between David Webb and Chris.
(40) CAVENDISH SCHOOL TALK, March 12, 1981
The above is a speech or draft of a speech. The fifth page of this contains two sentences that have influenced me greatly in the years since I first read them.
(41) Letter Sir Horace Cutler of the GLC to David Webb/NCROPA, [see document (34) above], March 12, 1981
(42) Letter Walter’s Trading to David Webb/NCROPA, March 13, 1981
(43) Letter Tim Sainsbury MP to David Webb/NCROPA, March 16, 1981
(44) Letter Gill Jacobs to David Webb/NCROPA, March 17, 1981
(45) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Sir Horace Cutler, [see document (42) above, etc!], March 17, 1981
(46) Letter Kim Dent of Southampton University Students Union to David Webb/NCROPA, March 17, 1981
(47) Unpublished letter to the Guardian by David Webb, March 18, 1981
(48) Another letter from Sir Horace Cutler to David Webb/NCROPA, [see document (45) above], March 18, 1981
(49) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Lord Norwich, March 26, 1981
As stated in the above letter, Mr Webb wrote to all the members of the committee; there are several, perhaps all of them in the file. The wording of most appears to be identical, but this one is slightly different.
(50) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Kim Dent, [see document (46) above], March 31, 1981
(51) Letter F.E. Waller of the Post Office to David Webb, [see document (31) above], April 1, 1981
(52) Three press cuttings re a new drive against sex shops, April 1-2, 1981
(53) Undated letter from the BBC concerning Question Time, April 2, 1981
(54) Two documents relating to Question Time, April 2, 1981
The above is fairly self-explanatory; the first document has a map and directions on the back. The back of the second document is blank.
(55) Another document relating to the BBC Question Time programme, see also above.
(56) Copy letter David Webb to Patricia Hewitt of the NCCL, April 5, 1981
(57) Letter from Archer Souvenir & Book Shop And Cinema, April 9, 1981
The cards attached to the above are identical, and display front and back. There were two other documents attached to this, both relating to the club.
(58) Copy letter David Webb to Equity, April 12, 1981
The above appears to have been written in a personal capacity.
(59) Emergency resolution by David Webb – an internal NCROPA document, undated but circa April 12, 1981
(60) Letter S.W. Boys Smith of the Home Office to David Webb, April 13, 1981
(61) Pamela Manson speech on motion at Equity meeting, April 13, 1981
The above is the speech of NCROPA member Pamela Manson seconding a motion at the AGM of Equity, which took place over two days. There are a lot of documents relating to this and the NCCL and the play The Romans In Britain in the NCROPA papers. There is for example what appears to be a draft of a motion submitted to the NCCL AGM of April 11. I have not included them here.
(62) Agenda for NCROPA meeting, April 14, 1981
There were two identical copies of this document in the file; the other was on a sheet of A4 paper (this is foolscap), and did not include the note in red at the top. The meeting was scheduled for the following day, April 15.
(63) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Home Secretary William Whitelaw, April 15, 1981
David Webb sent variations of this letter to a number of parties including the Lord Chancellor and the Police Commissioner. These others are not included here.
(64) Minutes of NCROPA meeting, April 15, 1981
(65) A press cutting, Whitehouse censorship of ‘Romans’ condemned, from The Stage, April 16, 1981
(66) Letter Joe Hegarty of Westminster City Hall to David Webb, April 18, 1981
(67) Letter Reg M. Fryer of Westminster City Hall to David Webb, April 20, 1981
(68) Minutes of NCROPA meeting, April 21, 1981
(69) A document relating to a High Court case heard this same day, April 21, 1981
(70) Draft advertisement concerning sex cinema clubs, April 21, 1981
(71) Press cuttings, April 21-2, 1981
The aboves includes a letter by David Webb in The New Standard, and another by Spike Milligan. The papers include a photocopy of a letter from Spike Milligan to Eric Miller, but it is too faint to scan.
(72) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to D Rackstraw, April 28, 1981
The missive alluded to in this letter does not appear to be in the papers I received.
(73) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Videx Ltd, April 28, 1981
(74) Minutes of NCROPA meeting, April 29, 1981
My apologies for the above. This is the best quality scan I can make from a very faint photocopy.
(75) Letter David Cobbold of the GLC to David Webb re licencing of sex shops, April 29, 1981
(76) Sale of pornography, a press cutting from THE TIMES of a letter by Sir Bernard Braine, April 30, 1981
(77) Unpublished letter to THE TIMES by David Webb re document (76) above, April 30, 1981
(78) Letter Michael Freeman of Videx Ltd to David Webb [see document (73) above], May 4, 1981
(79) Letter Chris Tame to David Webb, May 5, 1981
(80) Letter Spike Milligan to David Webb/NCROPA, May 6, 1981
The above will not be found among the NCROPA papers at Warwick University; as will be seen from the scan below, it was sold on eBay in December 2013.
(80a) Screengrab from eBay re the above.
(81) Cheque for £1,800 for The New Standard from NCROPA, May 19, 1981
The above was returned by the paper when it decided not to publish the NCROPA advertisement. This did not go down well with David Webb, as will be seen from the correspondence below. The advertisement was published in the Guardian on May 27, again, see below.
(82) Minutes of NCROPA meeting, May 19, 1981
(83) Letter from Peter Mullins of The New Standard to David Webb/NCROPA, May 20, 1981
(84) Letter David Webb/NCROPA to Louis Kirby of The New Standard, May 20, 1981
(85) Letter Louis Kirby of The New Standard to David Webb/NCROPA, May 22, 1981
(86) NCROPA advertisement in the Guardian, May 27, 1981
Re the above, according to Goodman: “I believe Sullivan and/or Gold brothers paid for the ad.”
(87) Letter Linda Mitchell of BBC Radio Wales to David Webb, May 28, 1981
(88) Minutes of NCROPA meeting, May 28, 1981
(89) Letter David Webb/NCROPA to James Forman of the British Board of Film Censors, May 29, 1981
(90) Letter David Webb/NCROPA to Kenneth Morgan of The Press Council, May 29, 1981
(91) Letter David Webb/NCROPA to County Hall, June 1, 1981
Although the above letter is addressed to Robert L. Vigars, it was one of a number sent to members of this body. This scan appears to be of the original letter on which Mr Vigars scrawled his comments then returned to David Webb.
(92) Letter A.P. Jackson of the Home Office to David Webb, June 1, 1981
(92a) Letter NCROPA News Media Release re refusal of the Evening Standard to publish an advertisement for sex cinemas.
(93) Letter Sir Bernard Braine MP to David Webb/NCROPA, June 2, 1981
(94) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to David Sullivan, June 2, 1981
(95) Letter from the Press Council to David Webb/NCROPA, June 3, 1981
There were two enclosures with the above letter.
(96) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Chris Tame, June 4, 1981
(97) Letter David Avery to David Webb/NCROPA, June 4, 1981
(98) Letter Dr George Bailey of the GLC to David Webb/NCROPA re The Romans In Britain, June 6, 1981
(99) Minutes of the NCROPA meeting, June 10, 1981
There are two copies of the above document in the file – this appears to be the case with all minutes. My apologies for the top line; it reads MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF NCROPA SUPPORTERS
(100) Unpublished letter to THE TIMES by David Webb, June 11, 1981
(101) Letter Robert Hughes of the GLC to David Webb/NCROPA, June 12, 1981
(102) Letter Gareth Daniel of the GLC to David Webb/NCROPA, June 12, 1981
(103) Unpublished letter David Webb to the Radio Times, June 17, 1981
(104) Sleazy Soho is to blame for ‘classical’ crash, press cutting, June 18, 1981
(105) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Esther Rantzen, June 19, 1981
There appears to have been an enclosure/enclosures with the above letter, which may have been distributed to other parties as it is not an ordinary file copy.
(106) Letter Barry Duke to David Webb, June 22, 1981
(107) Postcard from Neil Kinnock MP to David Webb/NCROPA, June 22, 1981
I couldn’t create a PDF of this for technical reasons, so it is presented here as two large format JPG scans: (1) and (2).
(108) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Neil Kinnock MP, June 22, 1981
Re the above, the same letter was sent to Sydney Bidwell and a number of other MPs. They appear to be the same or essentially the same, although they were not all dated June 22.
(109) Support Michael Bogdanov: a one page document, June 24, 1981
(110) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Sir Bernard Braine MP, June 24, 1981
(111) NCROPA News Media Release, June 24, 1981
(112) Minutes of NCROPA meeting, June 24, 1981
As usual, there were two copies of the above document in the file; they appear to contain minor differences; this is the scanned copy. The text omitted at the top of the first page reads “MINUTES OF MEETING OF NCROPA”; the text omitted at the top of the second page reads “16th July 1981 organised by the Central London Community Law”; the text omitted from the bottom of this page reads “Commons on Friday the 26th June 1981. Notices would then be sent to supporters”. It is signed David Webb.
The top line of the above reads MINUTES OF MEETING OF NCROPA
(113) Letter Dave Wetzel of County Hall to David Webb, June 25, 1981
(114) Handwritten letter re a draft petition, June 29, 1981
Goodman said of the above it was written “from me to Webb, as Organiser of NCROPA...”
This is an internal NCROPA document, apparently not written by David Webb. The document to which it alludes is not included here as far as I can tell, but it speaks for itself.
(115) Support Michael Bogdanov with notes, June 29, 1981
The second page of the above two page document has been rotated 180 degrees; it consists of notes written on the back by Pamela Manson.
Here is the second page of the file the right way up.
(116) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Michael Bogdanov, July 1, 1981
(117) Photocopy letter David Webb/NCROPA to the Attorney General in support of Michael Bogdanov, July 2, 1981
(118) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA, July 2, 1981
The above is the carbon of document (117) and was duplicated in error, but by the time I realised this it would have caused me too much aggravation to remove it and renumber the following documents, which are not only sequential but in a mixture of JPG format and PDF.
(119) Letter Geraldine Pettersson of Central London Law Centre to David Webb, July 3, 1981
(120) Letter C.W.P. Newell for the Attorney General, July 6, 1981
The above is a reply to document (117)
(121) Copy letter David Webb to Maurice Littleford, July 6, 1981
The above is a vitriolic letter written in a personal capacity. Probably the less said about it, the better.
(122) Letter Michael Bogdanov to David Webb/NCROPA, July 8, 1981
(123) Letter Nicholas Scott MP to David Webb, July 9, 1981
The above is a response to David Webb to a letter not included here, but which concerned inter alia the play The Romans In Britain and the prosecution of its director ‐ see for example document (115) above. This case, which resulted in a legal farce, generated an enormous amount of furious correspondence from David Webb.
(124) THE ROMANS ‘Prima facie case of gross indecency’ is a press cutting from Gay News, July 7-19, 1981
(125) PORNOGRAPHY DESTROYS LOVE RALLY
The above is a flyer which although obviously printed before this date advertises a rally dated July 12, 1981
(126) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Nigel Ley, July 15, 1981
(127) Notes of a meeting (attended by Goodman on behalf of NCROPA) concerning The Sex Industry in Soho, July 16, 1981
The above is a foolscap document which was difficult for me to scan, but its top lines read:

NOTE OF MEETING HELD ON 16th JULY 1981 AT 60 BROADWICK STREET,
LONDON WI BY THE Central London Community LAW CENTRE
.

Originally the second line read
LONDON WI BY THE NEIGHBOURHOOD LAW CENTRE.
This was amended by hand.


(128) SEX INDUSTRY IN SOHO Public meeting, July 16, 1981
The above is a flyer printed to advertise the meeting alluded to in document (127). Presumably it was printed well in advance of that date.
(129) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Prince Charles, July 17, 1981
H.R.H. appears not to have responded to the above missive, probably wisely.
(130) NCROPA News Media Release, July 18, 1981
(131) Letter Clive E. Wouters of Watford Grammar School to NCROPA, July 30, 1981
(132) Agenda for NCROPA meeting, July 30, 1981
(133) Letter Anthony E. Sullivan, August 1, 1981
Presumably the above letter was addressed to David Webb and/or NCROPA. It concerns the over-zealous behaviour of police who were seizing “girlie” mags from newagents – probably to save buying them. This sort of thing sounds ludicrous in 21st Century Britain.
(134) Letter to David Webb/NCROPA from A. Barrie re Mary Whitehouse, August 4, 1981
Re the above, Alexander Barrie was – or became – a NCROPA Committee member.
(135) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Clive E. Wouters, August 6, 1981
Re the above, see document (131) of July 30, 1981
(136) Letter Simon Turney of County Hall to David Webb/NCROPA, August 14, 1981
Re the above, see document (91) above.
(137) Letter Michael Wheeler of County Hall to David Webb/NCROPA, August 25, 1981
(138) Letter Clive E. Wouters of Watford Grammar School to David Webb/NCROPA, September 3, 1981
(139) Letter from M.E. Head of the Home Office to David Webb/NCROPA, September 4, 1981
The above includes 2 appendices.
(140) NCROPA Press Statement, September 7, 1981
The above includes a press cutting from THE TIMES of September 7 which can be found here – rotated just for you!
(141) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to M.J. Head of the Home Office, September 16, 1981
The above a response to document (139).
(142) NCROPA News Media Release, September 30, 1981
(143) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to the Guardian, October 8, 1981
(144) Letter David Webb/NCROPA to Greater London Council members, October 9, 1981
Presumably the above was sent to every member of the Council.
(145) Unpublished letter to THE TIMES from David Webb/NCROPA, October 16, 1981
(146) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Richard Branson, October 20, 1981
The previous letter to which the above alludes is not included here, but Branson did not reply to that either, so...
(147) Copy letter David Webb to Chris Kirk of Gay News, October 20, 1981
The above appears to have been written by David Webb in a personal capacity.
(148) Sexuality and Society, Autumn 1981
The above flyer was found in the file between October 20 and October 28, 1981
(149) CAUSE FOR CONCERN, a draft NCROPA national press advertisement, October 28, 1981
(150) Letter Chris Kirk of Gay News to David Webb, October 28, 1981
(151) Letter Mrs Lovecy of the South Place Ethical Society to David Webb, October 28, 1981
(152) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to the Mayor of New York, November 2, 1981
(153) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to the ACLU, November 6, 1981
(154) A Movie Man’s Blue Heaven
The above is an article about the legal persecution of pornographer John Lindsay from Time Out, November 6-12, 1981
(155) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to the Guardian, November 10, 1981
(156) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Godfrey Gold, November 11, 1981
(157) Letter John Price apparently to NCROPA, November 13, 1981
(158) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Jack Aspinall MP, November 16, 1981
(159) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Fred Willey MP, November 16, 1981
(160) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to P.C.R. magazine, November 16, 1981
(161) Letter James Ferman of the British Board of Film Censors to David Webb, November 17, 1981
(162) BRITISH ACTIVIST LOOKS FOR A FREE NEW YORK, November 17, 1981
The above is a letter by David Webb in his capacity of Organiser of NCROPA which was published in New York City News
(163) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to the Sunday Mirror, November 20, 1981
The above letter included a NCROPA leaflet.
(164) Letter Ken Livingstone to David Webb/NCROPA, November 22, 1981
The above is a reply to document (144).It had a two page extract from the GLC meeting of October 31 attached.
(165) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to David Sullivan, November 24, 1981
(166) Letter Robert Edwards, Editor of the Sunday Mirror to David Webb/NCROPA, November 25, 1981
It should be pointed out that the Robert Edwards alluded to above is not the notorious cartoonist Robert Edwards. This letter is a reply to document (163) above.
(167) Letter D. Reed (Doug Reed) of Conegate Ltd to David Webb/NCROPA, November 26, 1981
(168) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Ron Coleman of Gold Star Publications, November 26, 1981
The date of the above could be November 20, but I am fairly certain it is November 20.
(169) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to D. Reed (Doug Reed), November 27, 1981
(170) Letter Doug Reed to David Webb/NCROPA, December 1, 1981
(171) Copy letter David Webb/NCROPA to Andrew Leigh of the Old Vic, December 4, 1981
(172) Letter Harold Pickett of The New York City News to David Webb, December 7, 1981
(173) Letter R.M. Coleman of Gold Star Publications to David Webb/NCROPA, December 8, 1981
The above leter was accompanied by a cheque for £200.
(174) NCROPA News Media Release, December 20, 1981
The above concerns the legal persecution of pornographer John Lindsay.
(175) Letter E.J. Lee of the Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association to David Webb/NCROPA, December 22, 1981.

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