David Herbert Lawrence was 42 when, in 1927, he gloomily described his new work to a friend as 'improper, according to the conventional fools. It'll never be printed.' But, he added vehemently, 'I will not cut it.' Lawrence defiantly retained every four-letter word that studded his book, every explicit description of sex, every erotic expression that never before had been seen on a printed page, privately published or otherwise.
Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (World, 9.30pm) was a work of art, a literary classic and he knew it.
What even he could never have imagined was that his novel would indeed be printed and, 54 years after his 'improper' comment, made into a film starring none other than soft-porn star Sylvia Kristel of the Emmanuelle films.
But what, I can hear the author ask were he to return to earth today, is a soft-porn star? Mr Lawrence, some might say, a soft-porn star is very much a character of your making.
A year after publication, Lady Chatterley's Lover went on trial at the Old Bailey in London and astonished members of the Bar and a packed public gallery when, for the first time, words were uttered in court that had hitherto only been whispered in dark corners.
But the case was won and we - and Kristel - must forever be grateful for the landmark it represented in the fight for freedom from artistic censorship.
