Until 1968 which official could censor British theatre?
Theatre Archive Project the British Library Manuscripts Collections. Fully searchable listings are accessible for the archives of Sir John Gielgud, Cedric Hardwicke, Sir Ralph Richardson and Michel Saint-Denis, and each description is preceded by a full biographical introduction prepared by an expert in the field. Manuscript material identified from the listings can be consulted in the Manuscripts Reading Room at the British Library. The Scripts strand aims to recover play scripts performed in any licensed British venue after 1968 that were never deposited in the British Library, as stipulated by the Theatres Act 1968 that ended the Lord Chamberlain's power to pre-censor theatre.
William Jolliffe (censor) of Cinematograph Films on 16 September 1916, at the age of 65. The Act provided that no film could by exhibited to the public until it had been passed by the censor. The Act also provided that no film could be approved which "in the opinion of the censor, depicts any matter that is against public order and decency, or the exhibition of which for any other reason is, in the opinion of the censor, undesirable in the public interest". Distributors were given the right to appeal the censor's rejection of a film, but no one could appeal the approval