Mary Whitehouse - Later Years and Assessments of Her Influence

Later Years and Assessments of Her Influence

Mary Whitehouse was appointed a CBE in 1980. In 1988, she suffered a spinal injury in a fall, which severely curbed her campaigning activities. Whitehouse retired as president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association in 1994; the Association was renamed Mediawatch-UK in 2001. She died, aged 91, in a nursing home in Colchester, Essex, on 23 November 2001.

The journalist Mary Kenny believes "Mary Whitehouse was a significant figure. Some of her battles were justified, even prophetic. Today her attacks on ‘kiddie porn’ would be widely supported." Despite earlier clashes, Michael Grade said of her: "She was very witty, she was a great debater, she was very courageous and she had a very sincere view, but it was out of touch entirely with the real world."

The comedian Bernard Manning also commented, "She'll be sadly missed, I imagine, but not by me." The academic Richard Hoggart observed: "her main focus was on sex, followed by bad language and violence. Odd: if she had reversed the order, she might have been more effective."

Writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, the philosopher Mary Warnock opined, "Even if her campaigning did not succeed in ‘cleaning up TV’, still less in making it more fit to watch in other ways, she was of serious intent, and was an influence for good at a crucial stage in the development both of the BBC and of ITV. She was not, as the BBC seemed officially to proclaim, a mere figure of fun."

The papers of the NVALA from the period 1970-1990 have been deposited at the Library of the University of Essex.