RIP Richard Neville

News item:

Richard Neville: Oz magazine co-founder dies aged 74

Australian author and social commentator Richard Neville has died at the age of 74 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Neville made a splash in Australia and the United Kingdom in the 1960s as the co-founder of counterculture magazine Oz, which was known for its use of satire and pop art alongside serious journalism.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-05/oz-magazine-cofounder-richard-neville-dies/7813448

The death of Richard Neville was brought to my attention by an email from Bytes regular Martin S. Martin’s email is reprinted in its entirety as follows:

Otto 

I am sorry to see that Richard Neville has passed away and I enclose a more recent photo of Richard relieving himself at one of Sydney’s first open air urinals.

An obituary can be found at
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/richard-neville-the-wizard-behind-satirical-magazine-oz-never-quite-lost-his-touch-of-magicne/news-story/10ee8d7ea4293f84e20381eaefe5ea20 

I note that you have an article written about the pissoir several years ago. 

As well as introducing the Francophile habit of pissing in public, Neville was known for the famous OZ trial in the UK, in which his co-defendants employed both John Mortimer of Rumpole of the Bailey fame and a young Geoffrey Robinson.

 

__________________________________

Thanks for the email Martin.

To make a bit more sense out of the comments and photographs from Martin, here is a reprint of my earlier post from 14 October 2010:

The P & O Sculpture, Sydney

I can never drive past the above P & O wall sculpture in Sydney without recalling the related Oz obscenity trial and the photograph which gave rise to it. I guarantee that after reading the following, the wall sculpture will never be the same for you either.

The wall fountain had been completed in 1963, a time when Australian society was vastly different from today. Censorship was in force and quite restrictive. The NSW Obscene and Indecent Publications Act 1901 vested censorship in the hands of the police, who had wide powers of entry, seizure and arrest. One therefore regularly read of court cases wherein a police sergeant or detective gave evidence that works such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover were obscene and with no artistic merit. It is also said that one particular judge determined obscenity by whether or not the publication gave him an erection, and that as he became older, the test became more and more liberal.

Enter upon the scene Richard Neville, Richard Walsh and Martin Sharp, with their satirical magazine Oz. Between 1963 and 1969 they published Oz in Sydney; between 1967 and 1973 it was also published as a psychedelic hippy magazine in London. In both places it became the subject of noted obscenity trials. (Neville’s book Hippy Hippy Shake Shake has been filmed and should be released some time, its release having been delayed for years).

1963: Sir Robert Menzies was PM, the Vietnam war was beginning, Kennedy was assassinated, 2 years before Jean Shrimpton shocked Melbourne Cup matrons by wearing a skirt with a hemline above the knee and no stockings, the Beatles had their first hit and shocked mums and dads by not having short back and sides haircuts… and Tom Bass’ sculpture was unveiled by Sir Robert Menzies. It was, and remains, mounted in the street facade of the Sydney offices of the P & O shipping line at the corner of Hunter and Castlereagh Streets.

In February 1964 Neville et al published the following cover on Issue No 6 of Oz:

The wording underneath the pic reads:

On the corner of Hunter and Castlereagh Streets, Sydney, the P. & O. Shipping Line has completed its contribution to the Australian Ugliness – the P & O Building, officially opened by the Prime Minister in January. To alleviate the severe drabness of its sandstone façade, sculptor Tom Bass has set an attractive bronze urinal in the wall for the convenience of passersby. This is no ordinary urinal. It has a continual flushing system and basins handily set at different standing heights. There is a nominal charge, of course, but don’t worry, there is no need to pay immediately. Just P. & O. Pictured is a trio of Sydney natives P. & O’ing in the Bass urinal.

Not funny, said the Law, you’re nicked m’lads and charged with obscenity.

Magistrate Locke also had no sense of humour. Despite sculptor Tom Bass testifying on their behalf, Locke found them guilty. Deciding to make an example of them, he sentenced them to 3-6 months imprisonment with hard labour “for obscenity and encouraging public urination”.

The defendants were released on appeal where the convictions were overturned, mainly because the appeal judge found that Locke had misdirected the jury and made remarks that were found to have been prejudicial to the defence's case.

Now see whether or not you recall the above image next time you drive or walk past the sculpture.