Banned takes a fearless look at the weird ways of Australian wowserism. It describes landmark legal cases such as the Oz trial in 1964 and the decision to allow full-frontal nudity in the rock opera Hair in 1969.
It also tackles more obscure scandals such as police raids on 'immoral' pyjama parties in Surfer's Paradise in the 1950s, the bikini police, the sacking of a 'Romper Room' presenter for wearing too revealing a dress and Gra-Gra's infamous crow call, among many absurd others in the history of polite society.
Author James Cockington revels in the fact that yesterday's hot stuff is today's quaint episode. Banned is an entertaining and frequently surprising tale of changing notions of what constitutes shock-horror.