PAYNEFUL
ABOUT 20 years ago, the Observer colour magazine published an article on show jumping. According to Richard Hall, in his forthcoming book on Tiny Rowland (My Life With Tiny, Faber, £9.95), the feature tad suggested, in passing, that teenage girls gained some sexual excitement from riding a horse. This produced a clutch of letters from anxious mothers in the Home Counties, but more significantly sent David Astor [then editor of the Observer] into a fit of indignant fury. I made a mental note to strike out the word masturbation whenever it appeared in copy.' Last Sun- day, the Observer colour supplement led with a much-illustrated feature about Cynthia Payne, the Streatham madam. The presentation of pictures, from the forthcoming film about Mrs Payne, seemed to suggest that her work was all wonderful- ly life-enhancing and cheerful (although Ian Jack's accompanying article was not so confident). It is hard to decide whether Astor's prudery or last Sunday's half- witted sentimentality is more ludicrous. Both sit strangely with the Observer's reputation as the most liberal and enlight- ened paper of our times.
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