Atrax Records: The Swarb Archive: Naked Image
Brushing up on a naked image
(Cropredy - 13th and 14th August 1982)
Banbury Guardian, 19th August 1982 (front page!)
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Make-up time at the Fairport Convention concert.
A
group of four concert-goers stripped off in front of an audience of thousands at
Cropredy on Saturday (writes Mark Beech).
The
crowds who were attending the Fairport Convention weekend folk festival, watched
with amusement, shock or sheer disbelief as three men and a woman shamelessly
bared all.
The
naked group seemed quite unconcerned by reactions from others. They painted
their skin with brightly coloured grease paints.
They
sat in the middle of a massive crowd of folk fans and stayed naked for the rest
of the afternoon. They drew glances from others as they picked their way through
the mass spread over the sloping field.
The
naturists, who made their base behind the stage control tower, soon became a
centre of attraction. A large crowd built up as curious onlookers asked them why
they had taken their clothes off and painted their bodies.
One
man, who wore nothing apart from a gold ear-ring, said: “We are doing this
because we feel strongly about it. I do not know what all the fuss is about; we
are all made the same. But if you do this, people react differently to you.”
He
would not reveal his name but added: “It does not matter who I am or where I
come from, talking about the self is too ridiculous.”
The
woman said: “We do not say who we are because we do not want any legal hassles
with the police. We are not doing any harm and the naked body is a beautiful
natural thing.”
Many
festival-goers were too absorbed in the music to notice the strippers. Those
that did mainly turned a tactful blind eye, and few admitted they were shocked.
Mr
William Plant, Of Bretch Hill, Banbury, who was sitting close to the naturists,
said: “I do not mind, they can do what they like. The atmosphere is great,
nobody minds at all.”
But
at least two festival-goers were enraged by the behaviour. Mr Gary English, 31,
from Cowley, Oxford, said: “I have come here for the music and not to see this
sort of thing; it is not Christian.”
His
wife, Mrs Celia English, said: “The woman is not beautiful, she is hideous
like that. It is not decent and she should be ashamed of herself.
“It
is all very well in these Mediterranean countries, but not here. She will get
cold and catch her death!”
The
naturists put clothes on later, but said this was because of the weather and not
because they were embarrassed or were worried about the police.
A
police officer on the field said he would take no action as long as there was no
trouble.
A string of minor thefts failed to mar what the police spokesman described as a well-behaved, family-type concert.
See the original newspaper cutting here.
Last updated on 26 September 2002
