John Trevelyan (censor)

[3] Having been involved in educational administration, in 1951 he joined the British Board of Film Censors as a part-time examiner, and in 1958 became Secretary following the resignation of John Nicholls.

[citation needed] Under Trevelyan's purview, content including adultery and premarital sex (Room at the Top, 1959), homosexuality (Victim, 1961), and abortion (Alfie, 1966) was allowed on British cinema screens.

He passed the 1969 Ken Russell film Women in Love (adapted from the D. H. Lawrence novel) with minor cuts, and received a complaint about the nude wrestling scene between the two male stars which claimed that the actors were "displaying their genials" (sic).

In 1970, Trevelyan came to the defense of American artist Andy Warhol and filmmaker Paul Morrissey when their film Flesh was seized by police during a showing at the Open Space Theatre at Tottenham Court Road in London.

"Such harsh public and private criticism was inevitably part of his work as revealed in the BBC Documentary "Dear Censor".

However, he was known for [5] "establishing good relations with film-makers and film-company executives, and he often visited studios to watch films being shot, encouraging producers to show him unfinished scripts so that he could advise on whether acceptance was likely.

In an episode of the British comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus, an animated sketch shows a hand removing a fig leaf from a representation of Michelangelo's David, only to reveal the cartoon face of Trevelyan, who informs the viewer: "We're not about to allow this sort of smut to be shown on screen."