National Campaign for the Reform of the Obscene Publications Acts (NCROPA)

The core of the archive is a series of 37 large lever-arch binders containing chronologically-organised correspondence and background material from 1976 to the late 1990s.

In November 1967, the actor David Webb read an article in the Guardian newspaper about the activities of Mrs Mary Whitehouse and her organisation, the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (now known as Mediawatch-UK). He resolved there and then to set up a rival organisation, but it was not until 1976 that he did anything more than talk about it. After writing to a number of potential high profile supporters, he launched the National Campaign for the Repeal of the Obscene Publications Acts with a letter in the London 'Evening Standard' of 29 April 1976.

Webb was both the organiser and initially the only member. His first response from a member of the public was dated the same day. The name of the organisation was amended to the National Campaign for the Reform of the Obscene Publications Acts in January 1978 following a suggestion by Andrew MacKay MP, and in 1983 Webb's title was amended from organiser to honorary director. Its committee included the solicitor E A C (Ted) Goodman as its legal consultant. These two men were the bedrock, while other committee members were active in various capacities. Other prominent individuals associated with the campaign included Andrew MacKay MP, Clement Freud MP, Gerry Fowler MP (until his death on 1 May 1993), Viscount Norwich, the sex therapist Dr Brian 'Dick' Richards, the gay rights activist Antony Grey, the writer Clifford Hanley, the actress Pamela Manson (until her death on 19 March 1988), the sex therapist Tuppy Owens, the magazine editor Isabel Koprowski and the campaigner Sean Gabb. However, MacKay and Freud withdrew in 1978 after a controversial press statement from Webb was taken incorrectly by the media to imply that NCROPA condoned child pornography (which it actually always condemned), Norwich withdrew in 1983 after disagreeing with the NCROPA stance on 'video nasties', Richards withdrew in 1984 after being charged with (and later convicted and imprisoned for) soliciting his business partner's murder in the United States, and Koprowski resigned in 1993 after falling out with Webb over an appearance on the BBC.

NCROPA's main aim was to oppose any 'sexual censorship'. Webb believed that sexually explicit material, both printed and on film, should be freely available to consenting adults, although he did accept controls to prevent it being seen by (or featuring) children or by those who did not wish to see it. This was always the focus of NCROPA's campaigning, although it also campaigned on other freedom issues such as freedom of sexual activity between consenting adults and non-censorship of violence or language.

As with many campaigning organisations, NCROPA was run on a shoestring. It did from time to time receive generous donations in both cash and in kind, including from the publisher David Sullivan, but it had a rule that no one with a financial interest in pornography could sit on its committee. NCROPA was a lobbying organisation rather than one for street activists or stunts; the nearest it came to the latter was when Webb stood against the incumbent Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in her own constituency at the 1983 General Election, receiving 28 votes.

NCROPA was affiliated to the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) and had an overlapping membership with the Campaign Against Censorship, although Webb had frequent disagreements with the leadership of both. Over the years as David Webb, then approaching 70, wound down his workload, it did less and less. The last year for which it had any measurable activity at all was 1998. With the coming of the Internet, censorship of magazines etc has been somewhat academic, so the need for a dedicated organisation like NCROPA has very much diminished; there are also now many groups that monitor and campaign against censorship on-line. With the death of its founder in June 2012, NCROPA effectively ceased to exist, although Goodman, who was Webb's executor, took over as acting director. On 1 January 2015, NCROPA officially ceased to exist and was absorbed into the Campaign Against Censorship (CAC), of which Goodman had been chair for many years.

This collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

Link to full catalogue: https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/ROP

Deposited by Mr E A C Goodman, executor of NCROPA's founder, David Webb.

Much of the material has been scanned by a third party and is now online (http://www.infotextmanuscripts.org/ncropa/).