Malcolm Neesam: When councillors decided if films were too racy for Harrogate folk
Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam looks back to a time  - just 40 years ago - when films due to be shown in the town's cinemas had to be approved by a council sub-committee before being screened.
Disapproval at its strongest usually ends with censorship, and although I suspect that today, many will grasp the need for censorship in such areas as commercial, technological and military information, and with anything relating to state security and public safety, I doubt whether many would apply the same considerations to the entertainment industry other than to safeguard the interests of children. Yet only forty years ago, adults in Harrogate were only allowed to view at the town’s two cinemas films approved by a Council sub-committee.