Back in the 1980s, the twin repressive legislations of the Video Recordings Act and the Obscene Publications Act proved to be an unexpected goldmine for the unscrupulous and the shady in the British sex industry. The former meant that any videotape uncertified by the BBFC was illegal to sell, though the gradual implementation of the rules – necessary because of the sheer amount of existing content that would have to either be certified or not – meant that not only could those older tapes remain on sale until a series of staggered deadlines finally declared them out of bounds but also that opportunist distributors could release uncertified material in that time period.
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An excellent article. I was once conned into buying one of Sullivan’s mags with a pirated cover and a load of rubbish inside but it taught me an invaluable lesson, not to have anything to do with any product of his or associated companies in future. Surely there can’t be too many people who were daft enough to be conned twice, which points to the vast demand and interest in porn at the time.
He bunged the late David Webb, a real anti-censorship hero, a few quid and an old typewriter at a time he was making millions from his scams, but it seems to me that he only took a serious interest in challenging the authorities when the net, and the increase in genuinely uncensored tapes, threatened to make his old business model redundant.
On the credit side Sullivan made a genuine effort to push the boundaries for a time in the 1970’s and mags such as the wonderfully titled Whitehouse were perhaps the first real porno as opposed to ‘girlie’ mags on open sale. Even they were marred by too much material that tended to be sleazy rather than erotic.
I think you’re right that his anti-censorship campaigns were all self-serving – I’m not sure how much his interest in the whole industry went beyond how much money could be made from it. But sometimes you have to take the supporters you can get and he certainly played a significant role in the whole porn war. Mutual acquaintances back in the day suggested that he got a strange satisfaction from the whole huckerism – as though a pound made from conning people was more pleasurable than two pounds made by actually delivering what was promised. An odd mind-set, if true, but not a unique one.