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Nanny knows best

Charles Spencer

Wednesday, 24th September 2008

Although I waste a lot of time these days gazing longingly at advertisements for luxury cruises in the Daily Telegraph, I don’t think I could ever leave England for good.

It wasn’t just smut, innuendo and even the most veiled references to sex that got up the BBC’s nose. Almost anything that mentioned God or religion was banned outright by the head of Religious Broadcasting, while popular songs that pinched their tunes from classical music, even if the melody in question was long out of copyright, were also forbidden. The Beverley Sisters, for instance, weren’t allowed to broadcast their number set to the tune of ‘Greensleeves’. ‘We believe that “Greensleeves” has a special place as an endearing melody of popular significance and we do not want to see its life shortened and its merit debased by having it given an intensive period of exploitation among dance bands,’ the BBC decreed.

There was also a ban on anything excessively slushy, especially during the war when it was felt such music might damage morale. Sir Arthur Bliss, eminent composer, conductor and director of music at the BBC, was particularly stern about this.

‘The BBC’s policy is to encourage a more virile and robust output of dance music to accord more closely with the present spirit of the country,’ he ordained in 1942. ‘To this end any form of anaemic or debilitated vocal performance by male singers will be excluded. Performances by women singers will be controlled to the extent that an insincere and oversentimental style will not be allowed. No numbers will be accepted for broadcasting which are slushy in sentiment or contain innuendo or other matter considered to be offensive.’

Mind you, with Auntie at her sternest, sometimes you couldn’t win. Also included in this set is a splendidly virile version of ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’ that is so riotously exuberant that the BBC felt obliged to ban it during working hours in case factory workers started banging their tools on the machinery to keep time with the rhythm.