Mayor wants Python film ban ended

[Ian Pegler]

from The Sunday Times, 28th Sept, 2008...

Glasgow to lift Life of Brian ban
City council set to see the funny side after three decades

Glasgow council is to lift a 30-year ban on screening the Monty Python biblical satire the Life of Brian in the city’s cinemas.

Terry Jones, who directed and starred in the 1979 film as Brian’s mother, has agreed to introduce the first viewing at the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) next year.

If, as expected, the ban is lifted, Aberystwyth town council in west Wales will will be the last of 39 local authorities that refused to grant the film a general release in 1979 still to have a ban in place. Last week Torbay council lifted its ban.

Aaaaaargh!!!!

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

Back in 2007 the Rev. Bell was intent on installing a mobile phone mast in St. Michael's. This would have earned 5000 UKP a year for the church, but the plan was rejected:

The last rejection was a surprise development because it was expected that the applicants (Orange and the Rector of St. Michael's, Reverend Stuart Bell whose church was in line to receive annual payments of £5000) would thereafter appeal to the Welsh Assembly Government in Cardiff. The Health Protection Agency would have advised that there was no measurable health threat, Orange would have won the appeal, and costs in the region of £30,000 – 35,000 would have been awarded against Ceredigion District Council. But it looks as if Councillors had the courage to stand up to these bullying tactics.

CLICK HERE for more info.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

Now Monty Python have launched their own official Youtube channel...

http://www.youtube.com/montypython


No more news about the Aberystwyth "ban" to date.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

from the Western Mail...

It’s Christmas but in Wales we’re losing our religion

WALES was last night described as “one of the most secular societies in the world” after a study revealed Welsh people are more likely to regard the Christmas story as fictional than their counterparts in any other part of the UK.

Not sure whether to believe this or not...! If you're not a Christian this makes you "secular"??? Are there no other religions in Wales??

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

A recent report from the Daily Telegraph...

Monty Python classic tops list of best funeral songs

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, the classic Monty Python song, has been named the best "alternative" funeral song.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

with demonstrators even in Aberystwyth.

This may not be quite right. It seems that there was another film shown at around the same time called "Dressed to Kill" - (presumably the 1980 film) According to one of the letters in the letters column of the time, there were scenes of protest outside the Commodore over this film. I wonder, could this be a source of confusion?

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

This just in from the BBC...

Town ends Python film 30-year ban

Two Monty Python stars will be at the first screening of their classic film Life of Brian in a town where it has not been seen since a ban 30 years ago.

Terry Jones and Michael Palin will join Aberystwyth mayor Sue Jones-Davies - who also starred in the 1979 film - at a charity showing on 28 March.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

The Western Mail has now picked up on the story...

Interesting quote:

Two Monty Python stars will attend the first ever screening of their classic Life of Brian film in a town which banned it 30 years ago.

That's if you exclude the fourteen perfectly legal public screenings in the Commodore in March 1981 and March 1982 (see previous post)

“It was actually a journalist who pointed out to me that the film had never been shown in Aberystwyth because of the ban,” said Mrs Jones-Davies today.

and

Local government reorganisation meant the former ban had been swept away in the 1990s with the formation of new unitary councils.

and most ironic of all...

Terry Jones had also chosen to donate cash from the screening to Truthout, a website for ethical news, she said.

Interesting phrase, "Truth Out".



CLICK HERE to read the article.


Ian


Edited by I.P. 25.6.09 - changed number of screenings from 8 to 14 in light of subsequent discovery of 1982 screenings (see subsequent post)

[Ian Pegler]

Finally, the BBC, telling the the truth...

It was thought the film had been banned in the town in a blasphemy row but it has emerged it was shown there in 1981.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

Our local newspaper, The Cambrian News, has picked up the story, but no mention of the 1981 screenings.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

This NPR article about Aberystwyth mayor Sue Jones Davies has an audio interview in which she admits to finding "nothing specific" in the Ceredigion archives.

I think it's now pretty safe to assume that those of you who dowsed and got a "no" got it right.

Elsewhere the New York Times referred to Aberystwyth as a "village".



Read about all this is rather like reading a Malcolm Pryce novel. It's just so weird...<sigh>

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

Here is the press release - somewhat carefully worded - from Aberystwyth Arts Centre

(link to PDF file)

26 February 2009

PRESS RELEASE
CAST OF ‘LIFE OF BRIAN’ REUNITE FOR SPECIAL CHARITY
SCREENING IN ABERYSTWYTH ARTS CENTRE

Cast members of Monty Python’s infamous film ‘The Life of Brian’ will reunite 30 years after it was first screened, for a special Charity event at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Saturday 28 March.

Monty Python stalwarts Terry Jones and Michael Palin have been invited to the event by Sue Jones Davies, currently Mayor of Aberystwyth, who also starred in the film as Brian’s girlfriend, a fiery revolutionary called Judith Iscariot.

Sue Jones Davies has a long and distinguished career as an actress, and has appeared in many films, TV shows and theatre productions, from the original London production of Jesus Christ Superstar to TV series including Rock Follies, French and Saunders, Victoria Wood As Seen On TV and Brideshead Revisited. Currently however she has a role of a different nature as Mayor of Aberystwyth, a post she has held for the past year.

When Sue first became Mayor, there was much media coverage regarding the fact that the famous film she starred in was possibly still banned from being screened in her own town. There was much debate as to whether the ban imposed on the Monty Python film in Aberystwyth when it was originally released had ever been officially lifted. A campaign was launched to overturn the ban, and it was clear that even though over 30 years had passed the film still had the power to cause controversy.

However, having been reassured that there was nothing standing in the way of a screening, Sue contacted her old acting friends, and the Arts Centre is preparing for a special evening. The event will begin at 7pm with a champagne reception, then into the screening at 8pm, followed by a Question and Answer session with Sue, Terry and Michael. Tickets are on sale now, but are very limited as the cinema seats just 120 people – so its a rare opportunity to get to talk to the stars from the film in an intimate setting. Tickets are Ł25 and all proceeds are going to charity – the British Heart Foundation is Sue’s chosen charity, whilst Terry Jones has chosen Truthout, the news agency dedicated to establishing a powerful, stable voice for independent journalism.

[Ian Pegler]

An interesting quote from Python Terry Jones:

I was being interviewed by Radio Wales or something, and while we were on air they said there was news breaking that it actually had been shown in Aberystwyth before. I hope they were joking.

Er...Ummm....

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

The event is today. According to the latest report:

It was thought the film was banned in the town in a blasphemy row but it has since emerged it was shown in 1981.

Long before becoming a civic official, Ms Jones-Davies played Brian's girlfriend, Judith Iscariot, in Life of Brian.

Last year, she pledged to fight for the film to be shown when she believed it had not been screened in Aberystwyth before.

(my emphasis added)

Also...

It's certainly taken news of Aberystwyth far and wide.

Well that's true.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Ian

[Ian Pegler]

Here's a neat little article covering the event from the BBC...

Life of Brian still a huge draw

Monty Python's Life of Brian has lost nothing of its magic and neither have two of its stars, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, who joked before attending a charity screening of the film in mid Wales that they had walked through a town in disguise for fear of being stoned.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Funny he should say that, I just had this weird vision of an angry mob gathering outside St. Mike's with firebrands and pitchforks.

Ian