Mary Whitehouse, TV Watchdog, 91

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Friday November 23 7:33 PM ET 

TV Watchdog Mary Whitehouse Dies

By AUDREY WOODS, Associated Press Writer 

LONDON (AP) - Former schoolteacher Mary Whitehouse, whose dogged
30-year campaign against TV violence and sexual exploitation made her a
household name in Britain, died Friday. She was 91. 

Whitehouse, a good-natured woman who became the scourge of British
broadcasters, died at a nursing home in Colchester after a long
illness, the home announced. 

During the social turmoil of the 1960s, Mary Whitehouse believed
relentless violence on television led to a violent society, and that
the exploitation of sex was destroying Britain's moral fiber. 

To some she was a crank, to others an admirable figure fighting to hold
back a tide of smut about to engulf Britain. 

``The very last thing I want to do is to impose my wishes and thoughts
on anybody,'' she said. ``I don't think that to stand up and say what
one feels puts an imposition on anybody.'' 

Whitehouse tangled repeatedly with the British Broadcasting Corp.,
whose early evening sex-education program triggered her Clean Up TV
Campaign in 1964. 

Her organization became the National Viewers' and Listeners'
Association the following year, and she acted as its president before
stepping down in 1994. 

Lord Grade, former controller of BBC1, said Friday, ``she and I debated
the length and breadth of the land over the content of television. But
I honestly don't think she had any effect.'' 

He had warm memories of his white-haired nemesis. 

``She was very witty, she was a great debater, she was very courageous,
and she had a very sincere view but it was out of touch entirely with
the real world,'' he told BBC Radio. 

Former Conservative legislator Harry Greenway, a longtime Whitehouse
supporter, disagreed with Grade's judgment that she was ineffectual. 

``She was, on the contrary, highly effective in highlighting what she
considered wrong with television and a lot of people sat up and took
notice of her,'' Greenway said. ``She was an honest and fearless woman
who did valuable work.'' 

Born June 13, 1910, and married to Ernest Whitehouse in 1940, Mary
Whitehouse was an art teacher, taking up her campaign only after she
retired. 

Her campaign had its successes, leading to stronger laws against the
sexual exploitation of children and obscenity on television and the
establishment of a watchdog group to raise standards in broadcasting. 

Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, head of the Church of England,
said Friday that Whitehouse had made ``an enormous contribution to
public life. 

``Her belief that standards and decency were important brought her into
conflict with some of the accepted norms of her day,'' he said. ``But,
in her time, she spoke for many people who were disturbed at things
they saw and heard. 

Whitehouse is survived by three sons. Funeral plans were not
immediately announced. 


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