The Secret Policeman's Ball was the third of the benefit shows staged by Amnesty International to raise funds for its research and campaign work in the human rights field.
The show was directed by Monty Python alumnus John Cleese and producers Martin Lewis and Peter Walker.
[1] It subsequently yielded a one-hour TV special, a full-length film, and two record albums (one each of comedy and music performances).
One of the sketches in the show was Peter Cook's nine-minute parody of the biased judge's instructions to the jury in the recently concluded Jeremy Thorpe trial, titled "Entirely a Matter for You".
[4] Musicians-turned-activists such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Bob Geldof, and Bono have attributed their participation in human rights issues to their exposure to Amnesty via The Secret Policeman's Ball show.