On 12th November 1977 the Sex Pistols went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut LP ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’. The album was met with a hail of controversy upon its release. The first problem involved the allegedly ‘obscene’ name of the album, resulting in the prosecution of Chris Searle, the manager of the Nottingham Virgin record shop for having displayed it in a window. The album was banned by Boots (who sold records at the time), WH Smith, and Woolworths (which still existed at the time). Searle, the manager had been warned to cover up the word “bollocks” by the police but had gone back to displaying the records once they had left the shop. So, Searle was charged with contravening the Indecent Advertisement Act 1889 and found himself in front of three local magistrates on the 24th of November at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.
Richard Branson, owner of Virgin brought in John Mortimer QC to defend. Mortimer is now probably best known for writing the Rumpole of the Bailey books. He had also defended Oz magazine in their famous 1971 obscenity trial, which was the longest obscenity trial in British history at the time. His trump card was Professor James Kinsley, head of English at the University of Nottingham. His evidence showed that “bollocks” was in fact an Old English term for “priest” and in the context of the album meant “nonsense”. Mortimer also pointed out that both The Guardian and Evening Standard had both referred to the album’s title and neither had been charged. The trial concluded with a statement from the magistrates “Much as my colleagues and I wholeheartedly deplore the vulgar exploitation of the worst instincts of human nature for the purchases of commercial profits by both you and your company, we must reluctantly find you not guilty of each of the four charges“. God save the Bollocks!
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