Monty Python in Aberystwyth Page #2

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we were on to a loser.

They treated us like idiots,

you know.

I wasn't vicar of the university

church for nothing.

I'm familiar with

undergraduate humour.

And I'm also governor of a mentally

deficient school.

There's nothing

in this little squalid number

that could possibly affect anybody

because it's too 10th-rate for that.

I know you're going to say Brian

isn't Jesus, but that's rubbish.

That's unfair.

A lot of people looking in

will think we have ridiculed Christ,

physically.

Christ is played by an actor,

Ken Colley.

He speaks the words

from the Sermon on the Mount.

He's treated respectfully.

The camera then pans to the back of

the crowd

to someone who shouts, "Speak up"

because they cannot hear him.

It that undermines one's faith

in Christ...

Of course it doesn't undermine it.

I started off by saying that this is

such a 10th-rate film

that I don't believe it'd disturb...

You started with an open mind.

AUDIENCE LAUGHS AND APPLAUDS

You have succeeded

in reducing something

which has inspired the greatest art

into something which is presented

in terms of the lowest art.

That's where they got it

completely wrong.

We had been thoughtful about it

because we'd read up

and taken it quite seriously.

The film was based on things that

we'd read about the period.

There was Messiah fever in Judea

at the time,

so lots of people were being

mistaken for Messiahs.

I'm not the Messiah.

I say you are, Lord, and I should

know - I've followed a few.

All you've done is to make a lot of

people on a cross

singing a music hall song.

I mean, it's so disgusting,

when you think of it.

You keep making the assumption

that we are ridiculing Christ

and Christ's teaching.

And I say that we are not.

The message is...

What are the words?

"Work it out for yourself."

Don't let anyone tell you

what to do.

I thought, yes, this is what I

would've said about religion

or people's beliefs that are a bit,

to me, misguided or...

Again, there's the spirit

of what religion's about

or belief's about,

and there's these awful things

that are put on top of it that have

nothing to do with love, compassion

and treating each other well.

So I felt, yes, right on!

I kind of went with the whole of it.

But many people did not share

Sue's view of the film.

Today, it seems odd a movie could be

so contentious.

But why did The Life Of Brian

and its subject matter

rankle so many people?

It's very difficult for

a non-Christian to understand

how a Christian would respond to

a film like that.

It clearly was going to be offensive

to Christians.

A Christian has a relationship

with the Lord Jesus Christ

and it's a bit like if

you had your husband and your wife

scandalously treated in the media,

and everybody was encouraged

to laugh at that.

And more than that, you were told

you should be laughing as well,

that you were a narrow-minded bigot

if you didn't.

That gets across how Christians

would feel about it.

I don't think it's personal offence

so much as concern about

the bigger picture.

I think it crossed that line

into using the iconography.

That's very much the case.

It took the crosses on the hill,

the desert, the camels.

That's why people get upset.

Childhood images are disrupted

and made fun of them.

That's profound violation

to a lot of people.

Beyond their reasoning, almost. It's

a gut instinct that says it's wrong.

Even though you can argue

the pros and cons of the film,

you can't argue with

a genuine reaction.

In fact, so many at the time

took offence,

it forced some authorities into

taking drastic measures

to prevent The Life Of Brian

from being shown.

In extraordinary circumstances,

11 town councils across the country

chose to ban the film.

One of the first to implement a ban

was Aberystwyth.

Its council voted that the film

would not be shown in the town.

Should councils have these powers?

Someone must have the right,

so perhaps the council should, yes.

I think it's up to you to choose.

You're free to walk out if you find

it offensive or anything.

You have a right to choose yourself.

We understand there was at one time

a group of county councillors

who actually sat and watched

the film

and decided it wouldn't be

a good idea to show such a film.

Especially Aberystwyth,

of all places.

That town of loose living and fun.

I was 16 years old

when The Life Of Brian came out

and I was a young Swansea

schoolboy then.

And it was banned in Swansea as well.

It wasn't just banned in Aberystwyth,

it was banned in Swansea,

banned in east Devon,

parts of Surrey.

It was banned in the whole of Norway,

for some reason.

This wasn't just the story of one

town, it was all over the place.

And it was really very odd.

I remember it vividly.

When you're 16,

especially during those years

when you're wearing Anti-Nazi League

badges and things like that,

it was one of the only proper moments

of censorship.

So, for a while, the film was never

shown in public in Aberystwyth.

It was a real surprise. Aberystwyth,

of all places. London, yes.

Coach trips were organised

or people got on the train

and they went to Cardiff for

the weekend just to see the film.

Partly because it was Monty Python

but actually because

it had been banned.

It was a funny old time.

In an ordinary sort of Swansea

background upbringing,

if felt like your most militant

action, really.

Harmless, when you look at it now,

but it felt like a powerful thing

to do. We were 16 and voting.

And that was how things stayed

for almost 30 years.

The people of Aberystwyth

were banned

from seeing The Life of Brian

on the big screen.

This was until an unlikely figure

took office in October 2008.

There was a little bit

of press interest

that this famous film star was going

to become a town councillor.

Friends suggested I put my name

forward to be a town councillor,

and I said, "Alright then." So I did.

And I got elected and you know...

Then somebody who was the mayor

dropped out

because she wasn't happy with things

that'd happened,

so somebody suggested

I put myself forward.

I wasn't sure, but I did.

And here we are.

The first blow has been struck.

And so fiction became reality

when Judith

from the People's Front of Judea

became the 36th

Mayor of Aberystwyth.

And after only a few weeks

in office,

she discovered her past was about to

catch up with her.

I was lying on my sofa

after a long day's work

and I was watching Richard and Judy,

as one does,

and who was on it but John Cleese.

He was talking about his films

and all the rest of it

and he happened to speak about

The Life Of Brian.

And he said, "You realise it's still

banned in some towns in Wales?"

It got me thinking.

I knew Sue Jones-Davies

appeared in the film.

It'd make a great story if it was

indeed banned in Aberystwyth.

I went through

all the necessary research

and as far as we were aware,

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