The Secret Policeman's Balls - History

History

The early shows (1976–1981) spawned movies, TV specials, albums and books that were distributed worldwide and had an impact far beyond the London theatre audiences who saw the original events. Those four shows and their spin-offs are credited by many prominent comedians, musicians, actors and producers with having galvanised them to become proactively involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years.

Rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono who were both knighted for their humanitarian work (in 1986 and 2006 respectively) and Sting and Eric Clapton who were both made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for their charity work (in 2002 and 2004 respectively) have all attributed their involvement in humanitarian issues to their exposure to the Secret Policeman's Ball shows – Geldof, Sting and Clapton as participants – Bono as an audience member.

Amnesty directly attributes the leaps in awareness of the human rights issue, the significant increases in its membership (especially among the young) and its dramatically increased fund-raising achievements to the impact of the various shows, their spin-offs and successor Amnesty events such as the Conspiracy Of Hope and Human Rights Now! tours.

The Secret Policeman's Ball title was not actually used until the third of Amnesty's benefit shows in 1979. However, the two preceding shows in 1976 and 1977 were clearly antecedents to that 1979 show and Amnesty has retroactively treated them as part of the Secret Policeman's canon. (The 2004 DVD box set titled The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Complete Edition included edited versions of the films of the 1976 and 1977 shows.)

The series was created and developed by Monty Python member John Cleese, Peter Luff (Assistant Director Amnesty International 1974–78) and entertainment industry executive Martin Lewis who subsequently worked with Peter Walker (Amnesty's Fund-Raising Officer from 1978). Cleese, Lewis and Luff worked together on the first two shows (1976 and 1977). After this, Cleese and Lewis worked on the next two shows (1979 and 1981) with Luff's replacement at Amnesty, Peter Walker - using the Secret Policeman's Ball title for the first time in 1979 and developing the series identity. Cleese credits Lewis with coining the Secret Policeman's Ball title. In an interview aired on BBC TV on 22 June 1979, five days before the first Secret Policeman's Ball show, Cleese told interviewer Michael Billington "It's Martin Lewis' title, I can pin that one on him. But I thought it was quite funny."

Cleese and Lewis subsequently worked individually on other Amnesty projects. Cleese made brief cameo appearances in the 1987 and 1989 shows and co-directed the latter. Lewis produced two American films drawn from the first four shows (released in the US in 1982 and 1983) and then helped expand the participation of rock musicians for Amnesty (that he first engendered in the 1979 and 1981 shows) with his contributions to the 1986 Conspiracy Of Hope US tour and the 1988 Human Rights Now! world tour.

The earliest shows (1976–1981) predated the proliferation of comedy and rock benefit shows that took place in the UK and US in the mid-1980s such as Live Aid, Farm Aid, Prince's Trust concerts, The Free Nelson Mandela Concert and the British and American versions of Comic Relief. The Amnesty shows are considered to have been the pioneering charity events that helped inspire those later shows.

U2's Bono told Rolling Stone magazine in 1986: "I saw 'The Secret Policeman's Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..." In 2001, Bono described The Secret Policeman's Ball to an Amnesty audience as "a mysterious and extraordinary event that certainly changed my life..." In 1986, Sting told the BBC "I've been a member of Amnesty and a support member for five years, due to an entertainment event called 'The Secret Policeman's Ball' and before that I did not know about Amnesty, I did not know about its work, I did not know about torture in the world." Bob Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure – who went on to create the Band Aid records, Live Aid, and Live 8 – first met and worked together at 1981's The Secret Policeman's Other Ball which was the first benefit show that either of them had performed at. Geldof credits the Secret Policeman's Ball series with having inspired his own charity show endeavours.

The first wave of shows took place approximately every other year, and three of the first four shows were filmed and released theatrically as movies with corresponding record albums. Because multi-artist benefit shows with contemporary performers were a new phenomenon in Britain in the mid-1970s and early 1980s, they were accorded considerable media coverage and public attention. Some of the movies received international theatrical release (including important markets for British comedy such as the US, Canada and Australia), and the soundtrack albums enjoyed commercial success worldwide, all of which generated considerable international awareness of the original shows, together with a growing grassroots awareness of Amnesty international and the human rights issue. Amnesty states that public awareness of Amnesty increased by 700% between the first and third shows. Membership of the organisation increased exponentially.

There was then a six-year hiatus. When Amnesty International re-commenced staging benefit shows, it did so without the benefit of the Amnesty staff members and outside producers who had successfully guided the first wave of shows (1976–1981). The new team running Amnesty International re-commenced staging benefit shows in 1987, and the shows were on a noticeably smaller scale and consequently generated considerably less media attention. The second wave of shows (1987 onwards) were videotaped to be shown as TV specials and/or released on home video in Britain rather than filmed as movies with prospects for international release. The sole exception to the smaller scale events was an ill-fated attempt in June 1988 to stage a Live Aid style music extravaganza – a weekend concert event titled "Amnesty International Festival Of Youth" at the 65,000 capacity Milton Keynes Bowl. The event was a massive failure and for the first time ever, one of Amnesty's fund-raising benefit events lost money.

Only two more of Amnesty's benefit shows (in 1987 and 1989) carried a Secret Policeman's Ball-related title. Between 1991 and 2001 Amnesty staged four more benefit events and though they were comedy shows in the same vein as their predecessors, none of them carried a Secret Policeman's Ball title. When Amnesty staged a 40th anniversary show in 2001 it was stated that the Secret Policeman's Ball title had run its course and would not be revived.

However, in October 2006, following a seventeen-year gap since the last show with Secret Policeman's in the title, the name was revived for a benefit show that used the identical title as the 1979 show. The merit in returning to use of the original title was underscored by Amnesty electing to use the Secret Policeman's Ball name once again for a show in October 2008 and another in March 2012.