Against the Law Page #2

of their own. It was, erm...

They were on another,

rather delightful planet, in a way.

It was fabulous, I was doing

whatever young people do,

I wanted to dance,

I wanted to have beautiful clothes,

I wanted to have lots of sex,

I wanted somebody to love me.

It was a world in which there

was no class difference at all and

that, I think, was one of the things

which made it very, very attractive.

Members of the upper classes

have always fancied

members of the lower classes.

I was never actually particularly

attracted to posh boys,

but I did sometimes meet them

if they looked right.

And...and so I did find

myself in the situation

of mixing with a much wider

range of social classes,

I think, than straight boys

of my background would have done.

There was this strong sense of

community within the gay world,

and that rendered us not impervious

but able to resist these awful...

this, how shall I say,

this constant barrage of propaganda,

of depiction of us as being evil.

THUNDER RUMBLES:

PHONE RINGS:

Wildeblood.

Peter, it's Edward.

Oh, hello, Edward.

Are you alone?

Yes.

I'm at the police station.

I called them about a camera that

went missing at my place.

I was - am - fairly sure it was

one of the Boy Scouts

we have showing the public

round on open days.

That's terrible.

The Boy Scout made certain...

allegations against me.

False, of course.

I'm a public figure, Peter. They're

trying to make an example of me.

Well, I thought you should know.

Yes, thank you, Edward.

Good luck.

NEWS REPORT:
At Winchester Assizes,

the trial of Lord Montagu continues.

He stands accused of indecently

assaulting...

NEWS REPORT:
He took the stand to

claim his innocence

and said he was

the victim of a police witch-hunt...

NEWS REPORT:
The news at five

o'clock. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu

was today acquitted of

several counts of indecent assault.

The jury's decision was unanimous

and brings to an end

an acrimonious trial

in which Lord Montagu claimed

to be the victim of a smear

campaign.

When the trial collapsed

and the public realised that it was

all manufactured evidence,

the general public, erm,

did find that, erm, distasteful.

It made me feel angry, really.

I mean, I look back on it

and thought, yeah, I was quite

angry about this rubbish, you know?

I got quite worked up about it.

I mean, all gay men throughout...

throughout the country felt that,

and not only gay men

but the general public, luckily,

were feeling that.

Why is Montagu being

harassed like this?

You know, what is the point?

It seemed to me, it did turn public

opinion against

all that was going on.

But, on the other hand, I think

there was a kind of feeling among

the police force

that would get him in the end.

Thank you.

DOOR CLOSES:

Mm-hm. Oh...

Mm?

These letters - who wrote them?

You know who wrote them.

I want to hear it from you.

Give me the dirt on Montagu

and his two pals.

Look, you might lose your job

but I'll keep you out of prison.

KNOCK ON DOOR:

Are you Peter Wildeblood?

Yes.

I'm arresting you on charges

of gross indecency

and buggery with certain

other male persons.

Where do you sleep?

My bedroom is upstairs.

Anyone up there?

No.

Don't you have a warrant?

Sit down.

You were in Beaulieu this summer?

Yes.

Are these your parents?

Yes.

And this one is Edward McNally?

Is this your handwriting?

Yes.

This could go very badly for you.

Very badly indeed.

What you should do is make

a statement

and you just get bound over,

make a clean breast of things.

Tell me about Montagu and his chum

Pitt-Rivers and all of them,

then I think you...

No. No, I couldn't do that.

And why not?

Because...

Because....

..sops of a feather flock together.

Hadn't you heard?

The ones, for example, who had

previous convictions,

it would be a fair cop,

very sorry, plead guilty.

Those who had never experienced

the police intruding would be

very upset and they were the more

likely ones who would plead

not guilty and challenge every

aspect of the observations.

I still say it was an inherent

weakness, and still is.

They went into these practices

knowing that there's a great

element of risk of being arrested,

being exposed,

if you'll pardon the expression.

Three or four weeks after

I met Lee, I realised without doubt

that he was the one person I wanted

to spend the rest of my life with.

I wrote him a long letter

telling him of my feelings for him

and my hopes for us. I thought

he'd be so pleased about this letter

and I couldn't believe it,

he was so angry. I said,

"What's the matter?" He said,

"Well, the letter you sent to me

"could have landed us both

in prison."

I was 14 years old

and I had a boyfriend

and he had written me a letter,

very stupidly,

and I had dropped the letter

and my father said, "What's this?"

I can remember him now,

God bless him,

"I'm having no son of mine a queer,

you're going to the doctor."

So I was taken down to the doctor,

who said, "You've got a disease."

This is great.

"You've got a disease."

I never accepted that I had

an illness.

I accepted that I preferred

to go to bed with a man rather than

a woman. I didn't see that

as an illness, but I did see it as

something that you kept to yourself,

because of...

because of the implications,

because of the consequences

if you didn't.

You are each charged with

gross indecency,

buggery, attempted buggery,

aiding and abetting buggery,

procuring male persons

for acts of gross indecency,

and conspiracy to incite male

persons to commit gross indecency.

To each of these charges, how do

you, Edward Montagu, plead?

Not guilty.

To each of these charges, how do

you, Michael Pitt-Rivers, plead?

Not guilty.

And to each of these charges,

how do you, Peter Wildeblood, plead?

Not guilty.

KEY RATTLES IN LOCK

All right?

I've been better.

Right.

The form is,

basically we deny everything,

none of us are queer,

we've never dabbled,

never even been tempted.

Right?

It's very hard to prove.

Love on a page means nothing.

I thought we'd be all right.

We were discreet.

Why are they doing this?

Just stay calm, Peter.

The case for the prosecution

begins with Wildeblood.

In March 1952, Wildeblood met

an RAF corporal in Piccadilly.

His name is McNally

and he'll be called as a witness.

McNally is a pervert.

Wildeblood took him back to his flat

and there committed an offence,

namely buggery, with this McNally.

McNally had a friend called

John Reynolds, also a queer.

You've probably heard of that term.

Wildeblood was

a friend of Lord Montagu.

Mention was made to

Lord Montagu of this John Reynolds,

introductions were arranged,

offences against Reynolds

were committed by Montagu

at Wildeblood's flat in London,

and on a trip to Beaulieu,

joined by Michael Pitt-Rivers,

an orgy took place.

McNally and Reynolds are men of

the lowest possible moral character.

Taken under the seductive influence

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