Mayor wants Python film ban ended

[Ian Pegler]

She's not the messiah, she's the mayor of Aberystwyth and she has a plan.

Sue Jones-Davies is trying to overturn a near 30-year ban imposed by the town on Monty Python's Life of Brian - the film in which she played a role.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Helen-Healing]

It was shot in Tunisia...

And here is the tower..I've been to the very top of it! (See minute figure peering warily from behind parapet! It's very high!!)


I was unaware that Aberystwyth was the only UK town that banned it!! Are they particularly religious there then?

[Grahame]

I was unaware that Aberystwyth was the only UK town that banned it!! Are they particularly religious there then?

It certainly wasn't the only UK town....there were several that banned it on its first release, including Glasgow! I hadn't realised that Aberystwyth still enforced the ban. I'm sure it's probably more due to forgetfulness and apathy though...

This is the fourth or fifth reference to the film that has come to my attention in the last week. Maybe it's time for a national re-release? Or maybe I'm being told to buy the DVD?

[Ian Pegler]

I knew that Swansea had banned it and that there was a lot of fuss about it, with demonstrators even in Aberystwyth.

However, I distinctly remember going to see this movie in the Commodore cinema in Aberystwyth when it came out, so it's all a bit of a mystery to me. If it was banned here, how come I saw it?

I also distinctly remember someone writing in to the local newspaper complaining that on one evening the film had snapped and they all sat there in the gloom waiting for it to be fixed. Did I dream all this?

Even Swansea lifted their ban eventually, so it's certainly about time it was lifted here (if it really is still banned).

Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth was also shot in Tunisia. When the Pythons made Brian they reused some sets used from Zeffirelli's film. The inclusion of Spike Milligan was entirely coincidental, because he just happened to be holidaying in Tunisia at the time.

I don't think we're really any different re religion in Aber, but we're talking about a different era now.

Ian

[Helen-Healing]

It certainly wasn't the only UK town....there were several that banned it on its first release, including Glasgow!

Sorry - I was living abroad when this film came out, so am not up to scratch on it. In fact, I'd never even heard of it at all before 1993!

[Ian Pegler]

The Western Mail have now picked up the story. True to form, there's a typo in the main headline. See if you can spot it.

Bid to life ban on Monty Python’s Life of Brian [sic]

Interesting quote:

I think it has been shown in the town before but it was shown quietly.

Ian

[Helen-Healing]

Bid to life ban on Monty Python’s Life of Brian [sic]

Someone has now edited the typo!!

[Ian Pegler]

Bid to life ban on Monty Python’s Life of Brian [sic]

Someone has now edited the typo!!

Priceless!

This piece of news has now spread to the Monty Python forum.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

It has also been reported on the Guardian website and the main Python web-pages.

Back in the early 1980's we were still a dry county. i.e. you couldn't get a drink in a pub on a Sunday. We were the last place in the U.K. to change that by-law.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

A local clergyman in Aberystwyth is opposed to the ban being lifted.

From the Cambrian News 24.7.08, p.5

.. the Reverend Stuart Bell, Rector of St. Michael's Church, Aberystwyth, does not want it screened in the town.

And he firmly believes that the ban should remain.

He said: "If it was an unpleasant film 30 years ago, then it remains an unpleasant film 30 years later. I have not seen the film, nor have I any wish to do so. And I would have thought there are many issues of more importance to the people of Aberystwyth for the mayor to consider than having a ban on this film removed"

Ceredigion County Council can lift the ban, but a spokesman said it would have to investigate the District Council's archives to discover precisely what happened in 1979.

Ian


Edited by I.P. 23.7.08 - added link to online article

[Helen-Healing]

It always amazes me that people who have no knowledge at all of a subject, feel so free to voice opinions on it.

[Ian Pegler]

I found a link with a piccy of him, HERE

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

The story has finally been picked up by the BBC.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

...and invariably the JREF forum.

So, the owner of a cinema thinks it's banned, but the local licensing committee knows nothing about it? Could the cinema owner be mistaken?

An interesting observation don't you think?

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

...and invariably the JREF forum.

So, the owner of a cinema thinks it's banned, but the local licensing committee knows nothing about it? Could the cinema owner be mistaken?

An interesting observation don't you think?

Ian

OK so hands up anyone who dowses that there is no ban on the Life of Brian in Aberystwyth ??

Any takers?

Ian