Why did the Irish censors ignore this spectacularly rude book? And why is a novel about a sex-obsessed Jewish man so important in the history of censorship in Australia?
S3 E9 Compulsive wanking: Roth ‘Portnoy’s Complaint’ (1969)
S1 E1 Brendan Behan, ‘Borstal Boy’: solitary comforts
What shenanigans did Brendan Behan get up to in prison and borstal between 1939 and 1941? He enjoyed baiting the Brits, warm cocoa, snuggly blankets and … other things.
In episode one, I’ll tell you about the rude bits in a book whose banning in Ireland and Australia provoked derision.
