Mary Whitehouse

Mary Whitehouse (June 13, 1910 – November 23, 2001) was a British campaigner for traditional morals and decency, particularly in television and radio. She was founder and first president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association.

Clean Up TV

Mary Whitehouse began her campaigning in 1963 and among her first targets was Sir Hugh Carleton Greene; she claimed the director-general of the BBC was "more than anybody else... responsible for the moral collapse in this country". Greene ignored her concerns and from 1964 she began to gather wider support for her campaign; at her first public meeting in Birmingham over 3,000 people attended and the Clean Up TV Campaign was created. The National Viewers' and Listeners' Association was also formed in 1964, and in 1965 she obtained a total of 5 million signatures on her Clean Up TV petition, a record for the UK. When Greene left the BBC in 1969 Whitehouse was quick to claim credit for his departure; other sources pointed to a more political struggle between the BBC and Harold Wilson, the then prime minister.

Related Topics:
Hugh Carleton Greene - BBC - National Viewers' and Listeners' Association - Harold Wilson

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