Against the Law
by Peter Wildeblood; Max Lerner
n March 1954 Peter Wildeblood, a London journalist, was one of five men
charged with homosexual acts in the notorious Montagu Case, as it came
to be known. Wildeblood was sentenced to eighteen months for homosexual
offences, along with Lord Montagu and Major Michael Pitt-Rivers. The
other two men were set free after turning Queen¿s Evidence. In this
book, first published in 1955, Peter Wildeblood tells the story of his
childhood and schooldays, his war service and university days, his life
as a journalist, his arrest, trial and imprisonment, and finally his
return to freedom. In its honesty and restraint it is eloquent testimony
to the inhumanity of the treatment of homosexuals in Britain only a
generation ago. Probably the first book on homosexuality to reach a mass
audience in Britain, Against the Law had a direct influence on the
Wolfenden Committee, whose Report in 1957 recommended that homosexual
acts between consenting adults in private be legalised, proposals which
were finally passed into law in 1967.
charged with homosexual acts in the notorious Montagu Case, as it came
to be known. Wildeblood was sentenced to eighteen months for homosexual
offences, along with Lord Montagu and Major Michael Pitt-Rivers. The
other two men were set free after turning Queen¿s Evidence. In this
book, first published in 1955, Peter Wildeblood tells the story of his
childhood and schooldays, his war service and university days, his life
as a journalist, his arrest, trial and imprisonment, and finally his
return to freedom. In its honesty and restraint it is eloquent testimony
to the inhumanity of the treatment of homosexuals in Britain only a
generation ago. Probably the first book on homosexuality to reach a mass
audience in Britain, Against the Law had a direct influence on the
Wolfenden Committee, whose Report in 1957 recommended that homosexual
acts between consenting adults in private be legalised, proposals which
were finally passed into law in 1967.