In , severe land tremors struck London, rattling the chinaware in rich houses, toppling old buildings and chimneys in slum quarters, and causing thousands of the capital's inhabitants to flee from the metropolis to safety in the country. When they returned, it was to the words of their bishop, Thomas Sherlock, denouncing from the pulpit the sins that had brought this divine anger down on their heads.
And he singled out one in particular - 'Memoirs of Fanny Hill, this vile book, the lewdest thing I ever saw. Fanny Hill, the story of a country girl who makes her fortune selling sex in the brothels that abounded in London in the 18th century, was pornography. Literally so, because 'pornography' was a word made up at exactly that time, from Greek roots meaning 'writing about prostitutes'.
It was explicit in its graphic descriptions of sexual couplings - 'the truth, stark naked truth', as its author wrote, full of 'unreserved intimacies' and expressly 'violating the laws of decency'. The affronted bishop called for 'its progress to be stopped', and so powerful was his voice that its author and publisher were arrested and threatened with prison. Far from it. For centuries it circulated in underground editions, a titillating open secret among the posh, literate classes.
By the end of the 18th century there were at least 20 versions in circulation in English, 14 French translations, and other editions in German, Italian and Portuguese. Not until was Fanny free from restraint, and even since then it has had the taint or attraction of infamy.
But now Fanny's crinolines and corsets are being comprehensively tossed aside and all frustrations released in a lavish BBC television adaptation of the novel, to be aired later this month. With its quota of heaving bare bottoms and orgasmic heavy breathing, it is certain to cause some consternation among the fainthearted. The drama is the work of controversial screenwriter Andrew Davies - master of ripping bodices and breeches, who famously sexed up Jane Austen with his TV adaptation of Pride And Prejudice.
