Filthy Formby

BBC archivists currently working on a documentary on censorship have discovered files at the BBC's Written Archives Centre in Caversham, Berkshire, that the 1930's music hall comedian and singer-songwriter George Formby was censored by the BBC.

His 1937 song "With my little stick of Blackpool Rock" was then considered too rude to be broadcast. Censors in particular disliked the lines "With my little stick of Blackpool Rock, along the promenade I stroll / It may be sticky but I never complain, it's nice to have a nibble at it now and again."

Other songs banned by the BBC included "Love for Sale", sung by Cole Porter in 1930 due to references to prostitution, and Frankie Laine's 1953 song "Answer Me" due to what was seen as a 'mockery' of a prayer.

One BBC censor wrote at the time: "No one is more alive than I to the need to buttress the forces of virtue against the unprincipled elements of the jungle."