W11 in the 70s.  Chapter 1: Miss World

I was sitting in my flat in W11, getting ready for bed. My child was already asleep in bed and my husband was over in the studio in Chelsea, probably for the night.  I was listening to the radio and heard: Women demonstrating against the Miss World contest and against the inequality of women in society. I suddenly felt wide awake. That’s me! I said. I got up, went downstairs to ask my neighbours to baby-sit for me, and I put on my coat and went to the Albert Hall where there were hundreds of women demonstrating. Some were holding banners and shouting “Down with patriarchy! Down with male chauvinism!”. I didn’t know what these words meant at the time, but I identified with their anger and shouted as well. I was grabbed by two policemen, one on each arm, who pulled me away from the crowd. The women around me shouted at them to leave me alone, but I was pulled towards a van. I heard the van doors open and I was pushed into the back of the black maria, and the doors slammed shut and I was alone in the darkness. I was quite shaken up and wondered how many times this must happen in a day, and did the other people feel like me. Then the van was moving and I didn’t know where it was going. Then it stopped and again the van doors opened with a crash and I was escorted into the police station and put into a cell. Again the cell door slammed shut. You hear sounds of cell doors slamming shut in the movies, but it’s very different when you are experiencing it first-hand. Now I was behind bars and it did not feel too good, either. No matter how much you know you are innocent, the fact that you are in a cell in a police station makes you feel guilty.

There were other women in the cell as well so I was not alone, but in conversation I found out that they belonged to organised political groups and I didn’t. They said: don’t answer any question except our names etc., and object to any fingerprinting. So I did what they suggested, but they took my fingerprints anyway. I was charged with conspiracy, and I had the feeling that I was being set up, which was frightening. I had one phone call, they said, so I gave the name of my friend Heather in Chelsea saying to go and get my husband in the studio and to come and bail me out. I thought: what if she is asleep? I might be here all night. Now I think of the people who have found themselves in a similar situation: some innocent, some there for petty crimes; and of the ones who have no-one to bail them out, the homeless who have no home to go to anyway. Our system seems so harsh and inhuman.

We appeared in Bow Street Court many times and it was always full of women supporting us and cheering when we came in. I had a barrister called Nina Stanger because I did not have not enough experience with feminist politics to defend myself. The charge of conspiracy was changed to obstruction and I was acquitted.

The court case went on for some time, with the women supporters in court also being arrested for causing a disturbance. We asked for a female judge. You can imagine how difficult that must have been. The words “I refuse to answer the question because I refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of this patriarchal legal system” were said so many times. The judge threatened contempt of court so many times too, that his words began to sound like a record stuck in its groove. Then women started to bring orange juice into court, which was confiscated. Then the supporters brought in fruit which they proceeded to eat in court. This again brought the proceedings to a stop while the fruit had to be removed, and there was an uproar over this. This patriarchal court did not have an easy time. When we left the court we had to run to nearby cars because of the press waiting outside.

All in all this court case went on for many months, with many meetings with barristers and MacKenzie lawyers. Eventually it came to an end with all the women being acquitted. It was a prominent court case in its time and it is said to mark the beginning of the women’s liberation movement in the UK. But even with all the support from families, defence lawyers, and so many supporters, it very often became stressful and worrying. Every day people go through the same system like sausages in a sausage machine. Many don’t have all the legal support we had. We were educated and found the legal system complex and often obtuse, whereas many who are arrested are not educated and would find the whole legal system impossible.   

In 2002 a film entitled “Miss World 1970: feminists and flour bombs” about these events and the people who took part in them including me, was shown on Channel 4.  It was made by Philippa Walker. London W11 in the 70s. 2. GLF