This Day in History: 1964-12-18

HOUSE OF COMMONS: Anne Kerr, MP for Rochester and Chatham, demands that the Postmaster General takes on powers to open sealed mail to ensure it doesn’t contain “perverted and blasphemous muck” like the US magazine ‘Penthouse’. Assistant Postmaster General Joe Slater MP replies that the Post Office can, will and do remove material sent by the cheaper unsealed post that contains filth – 800 items a year in 1962 and 1963. But it would be impossible to open and examine every piece of mail sent by the slightly more expensive sealed post