Rewind: Butter would melt

We said: “Filthy, degrading, boring, that was today’s verdict by a leading public figure on the Swindon screening of the Last Tango in Paris.

“Wiltshire County Councillor Mrs Daphne Bampton was among about 40 people who demonstrated outside the Odeon cinema on Saturday night.”

The film stars Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider as strangers who embark on a passionate and doomed love affair. Although fairly tame by 2016 standards, in the early 1970s its frequent nudity, explicit sexuality and unorthodox use of dairy produce were enough to attract global notoriety.

Last Tango in Paris had been released in 1972, but it was common for new films to take a while to reach cinemas in smaller communities.

Demonstrators outside the Odeon – now the MECA – in the town centre included borough councillor Florence Mortimer, church members and a Salvation Army delegation who handed leaflets to queueing cinemagoers.

Among the people who saw it were three Adver readers we invited along to deliver their verdicts. None was left traumatised – or remotely impressed. They also struck a welcome note of common sense.

One was Doris White, a 53-year-old company director, who said: “You have to see a film as corrupting before you ban it, and this seemed too dreary to be corrupting.”

The controversy at the Odeon wasn’t the only Adver story involving sex, scandal and the pros and cons of censorship.

“The rock group Fusion Orchestra will be appearing at Swindon Town Hall after all,” we said.

“The group’s scheduled concert in August was called off by Swindon Town Council because of allegedly obscene promotion and advertising.

“The council got cold feet about the concert when its attention was drawn to posters which incorporated reviews of the group’s live performances.

“One reviewer said Fusion’s lead singer Jill Saward did the whole sex bit in concert, and went on to describe her onstage behaviour.”

We didn’t go into detail about the ‘whole sex bit’ but added: “New concert posters – minus the offending sexual description – are being printed. Many of the old ones are still posted up in Swindon.”

Jill Saward went on to find fa greater fame with 1980s disco favourites Shakatak.

Swindon was suffering a housing crisis in 1974.There were simply more people seeking accommodation than there was accommodation available.

That was how we came to run one of the year’s more unusual stories. It appeared beneath a photo of a disgruntled-looking young man sitting on a bench with The Beehive pub in the background.

“The sons of Government Ministers,” we said, “don’t expect to live in £4-a-week bedsitters.

“Swindon College student Mustafa Zehni is no exception. It’s just that he doesn’t have any choice.

“Naturally he’s got enough money to rent a comfortable flat – but there aren’t any available in the town.

“It wouldn’t happen in his own country, Jordan. His dad would see to that. For his dad is Minister of Social Affairs there.”

The young man, whose Swindon residence was in Dover Street, revealed that back home he lived in a two-storey villa.

Mustafa’s friend Hisham Al-Kabie was the son of a wealthy Baghdad businessman who gave him a £100 monthly allowance, but second year student Hisham was still forced to sleep on the floor of Mustafa’s bedsit.

Both men enjoyed living in the town but wished the college would build student accommodation. Even hostels would be an improvement, they said.

Another education story involved a sinister poison pen campaign directed toward pupils, parents and staff at Grange Junior School in Stratton St Margaret.

One of many notes had recently been found by a parent on the site, and said: “Any boy attending Grange Junior School in long trousers or wears them at any time will be in grave danger in the coming months!

“Any boy under 14 who is not more than five foot tall found by me to be wearing long trousers or jeans is in grave danger of his life!”

Head teacher Philip Titchener revealed he had received anonymous phone calls at his home and at school, threatening retribution if he allowed pupils to wear long trousers.

He added: “This is the work of a crank. It has been going on for two years. We have kept it quiet so parents and children do not panic.

“Each note is taken seriously and reported to the police. We are in very close touch with the CID.

“We have got enough notes to paper the walls of my office and we are still receiving them.

“A good week for this maniac, I suppose, is when we receive four or five in one week.

“Last year one child was so badly affected we had to escort him to and from school.”

How the bulk of parents felt about the school and police not alerting them to the problem was not recorded.