BACK in 1962, a row about ‘sexy’ posters outside a Blackburn Cinema, went all the way to 10, Downing Street.

And Prime Minister Harold Macmillan promised he would give ‘full consideration’ to a protest by students from Notre Dame Grammar School.

They were complaining about billboards outside the Palace Cinema which promoted a film titled Nudes of the World.

It was being shown as a double feature with an X-rated, French film titled ‘House of Sin’.

The girls alleged the posters were ‘sexy’ and exploiting sex for commercial purposes.

After receiving their letter, Mr Macmillan said he would discuss the matter with his advisers and would likely ask the Home Office to take action.

As they waited for a reply from the top, one of the students, 14-year-old Joan, told the Evening Telegraph: “We think the posters are dreadful and highly suggestive.

“The women depicted on them are scantily dressed.”

Her headmistress, Sister Kevin, backed the girls’ complaints, saying: “If people want to see these types of film, the choice is theirs, but these posters are seen by everybody.”

Mrs L Sumner, secretary of Blackburn Standing Conference of Women’s Organisations supported the girls’ actions and said members had also complained about them to Blackburn Watch Committee.

The Rev J E Watson, minister of Audley Range Congregational Church also agreed with their stand and believed it was a fine thing a protest had been made by young people in Blackburn.

“We are perturbed at the number of ‘sex-appetite’ films now being shown in the town,” he added.

Alan Hutchinson, whose company Hutchinson Cinemas of Burnley, owned the Palace, was, however, fed up by the whole row.

“We got the posters from the distributors and they have been shown outside other cinemas the length and breadth of the country without any of this controversy,” he underlined.