 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2010) |
"V" (sometimes styled "v." [1] ) is a poem by Tony Harrison written in 1985. The poem aroused much controversy when broadcast in film version on British public-service television's Channel 4 due to its extensive use of profanity and racial epithets. [2] The poem uses profanity directly as well as when quoting graffiti.
"V" describes the author's visit to his parents' grave in a Leeds cemetery "now littered with beer cans and vandalised by obscene graffiti". The cemetery in question is Holbeck Cemetery in the Beeston area of Leeds which overlooks the Elland Road football ground, close to where Harrison grew up.
The poem gives a description of the graffiti on the grave, and pays particular notice to the use of the word united, exploring its ambiguous meaning, either as the name of a football club (e.g., Leeds United) or as the concept of unity.
"V" first appeared in the London Review of Books in 1985 and was first published in book form in November 1985 by Bloodaxe Books. The second edition, published by Bloodaxe in 1989, includes press articles relating to the media furore around the 1987 Channel Four film and commentary by Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley and the film's director Richard Eyre. The poem was also reprinted in the second edition of Tony Harrison's Selected Poems (1987), in later editions of that book, and in his Collected Poems (2007).
The poem was written during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, and makes reference to this as well as to National Union of Mineworkers leader, Arthur Scargill. It also makes reference to what the author calls "all the versus" (hence the poem's title) in life, and includes "communism v. fascism" and "Left v. Right".
A filmed version of "V" was broadcast by Channel 4 on 4 November 1987. [1] Prior to the broadcast, both tabloid and broadsheet press articles openly criticised the move. An early day motion entitled "Television Obscenity" was put to the house on 27 October 1987 by a small group of Conservative MPs. The motion was only opposed by one MP, Norman Buchan (Labour), who suggested that MPs had either failed to read or failed to understand the poem. In the midst of the controversy, The Independent published the poem in full in the newspaper to allow readers to judge the poem for themselves. [3]
Conservative Party MP Gerald Howarth said that Harrison was "Probably another bolshie poet wishing to impose his frustrations on the rest of us". [3] When told of this, Harrison retorted that Howarth was "Probably another idiot MP wishing to impose his intellectual limitations on the rest of us". [3] Despite continued protests from conservative factions of the press and parliament, the broadcast went ahead, and there were very few complaints from viewers. [3] Since then, the poem has been selected for study in some schools. [3]
The BBC also broadcast the poem in full on 18 February 2013 on BBC Radio 4. [2]
John Smith was a British Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his death from a heart attack in May 1994. He was also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Monklands East.
Tony Harrison is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse writers and many of his works have been performed at the Royal National Theatre. He is noted for controversial works such as the poem "V", as well as his versions of dramatic works: from ancient Greek such as the tragedies Oresteia and Lysistrata, from French Molière's The Misanthrope, from Middle English The Mysteries. He is also noted for his outspoken views, particularly those on the Iraq War. In 2015, he was honoured with the David Cohen Prize in recognition for his body of work. In 2016, he was awarded the Premio Feronia in Rome.
Christopher Michael Leslie is a debt collection executive and a former British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shipley from 1997 to 2005 and Nottingham East from 2010 to 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, he defected to form Change UK and later became an independent politician.
Tom Pickard is a poet, and documentary film maker who was an important initiator of the movement known as the British Poetry Revival.
Panorama is a British current affairs documentary programme broadcast on the BBC. First broadcast in 1953, it is the world's longest-running television news magazine programme.
The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority fell to 66 seats; the majority it won four years earlier had been of 167 seats. This would be the last election not won by the Conservative Party as of 2024.This was the first time the Labour Party had won a third consecutive election, and as of 2024 remains the party's most recent general election victory.
Gregory Thomas Mulholland is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was the MP for Leeds North West.
Norman Findlay Buchan was a Labour Party politician, who was on the left-wing of the party, and represented the West Renfrewshire seat from 1964 until 1983 and the Paisley South seat from 1983 until his death in 1990.
The Falklands Play is a dramatic account of the political events leading up to, and including, the 1982 Falklands War. The play was written by Ian Curteis, an experienced writer who had started his television career in drama, but had increasingly come to specialise in dramatic reconstructions of history. It was originally commissioned by the BBC in 1983, for production and broadcast in 1986, but was subsequently shelved by Controller of BBC One Michael Grade due to its pro-Margaret Thatcher stance and alleged jingoistic tone. This prompted a press furore over media bias and censorship. The play was not staged until 2002, when it was broadcast in separate adaptations on BBC Television and Radio. It was aired again on BBC4, 1 December 2020, over 18 years after it was last transmitted.
Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry.
Sean O'Brien FRSL is a British poet, critic and playwright. Prizes he has won include the Eric Gregory Award (1979), the Somerset Maugham Award (1984), the Cholmondeley Award (1988), the Forward Poetry Prize and the T. S. Eliot Prize (2007). He is one of only three poets to have won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for the same collection of poems.
Ann Sansom is a British poet and writing tutor. She has written two full length collections of poetry and her work has appeared in anthologies, newspapers and magazines around the world. She is currently a regular tutor for the Workers' Educational Association, Poetry Society and Arvon Foundation; and has taught at Sheffield Hallam University, University of Leeds, University of Exeter and University of Oxford. As well as giving hundreds of readings and workshops in the UK over the last two decades, Ann has also read and taught in India, Finland and Greece.
This is a list of British television-related events from 1983.
Ken Smith was a British poet.
Stuart James Andrew is a British Conservative politician, serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society since September 2022 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities since October 2022. Andrew previously served as Government Deputy Chief Whip from 2020 to 2022, Minister of State for Housing from February to July 2022, and Minister of State for Prisons and Probation from July to September 2022.He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Pudsey since 2010.
Richard Quentin Fuller is a British politician who served as the Economic Secretary to the Treasury from July to October 2022. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Bedfordshire since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he represented Bedford from 2010 to 2017. He had previously achieved prominence as leader of the Young Conservatives from 1985 to 1987.
Neil Astley, Hon. FRSL is an English publisher, editor and writer. He is best known as the founder of the poetry publishing house Bloodaxe Books.
The Blasphemers' Banquet is a film-poem created in 1989 by English poet and playwright Tony Harrison which examines censorship arising from religious issues. It was created in part as a response to the Salman Rushdie controversy surrounding his publication of The Satanic Verses. It was aired by the BBC 1's programme Byline on 31 July 1989.
Richard Burgon is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds East since 2015. Burgon served as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn from 2016 to 2020.
The Corbyn wreath-laying controversy refers to a political controversy in the United Kingdom surrounding the visit of Jeremy Corbyn to the Hamman Chott Cemetery in Tunis in 2014.