Throughout the early 1960s, in darkened rooms, an astonished nation would peer at its flickering black and white “television sets” on a regular basis at peak viewing times, aghast at what it was seeing. Before the populace’s very eyes, both young and old, one of the two TV channels (yes, two) was brazenly and unashamedly parading an ageing Fanny. It was, of course, the dominatrix, Fanny Craddock, lording (or is that ladying?) it over her submissive Johnnie. Many young men and boys, not to say more mature men (and women probably) were fascinated by this naked exhibition of sado-masochism and feminine power play (not the author, I can assure you) and it probably fed into their fantasies for years to come, especially those to be future Tory MPs.
But, in 1964, something changed for the better (or worse?) when Honor Blackman’s Pussy appeared on the big screen in glorious Technicolour. Pussy was strong and confident, yet open to 007's advances, the woman of many a young man's dreams, as she deigned to share his bed. Needless to say, it wasn't long before Pussy had stolen the nation's heart.
While Fanny seems to have disappeared from the nation’s collective memory, I am reliably informed that Pussy is now freely available to see all over the internet, in the company of her best friend Dick, who gets in everywhere.
