WHERE WERE YOU WHEN Madam Cyn flicked the V-sign - YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Sign in Welcome!Log into your account Forgot your password? Password recovery Recover your password Search Sign in Welcome! Log into your account Forgot your password? Get help Password recovery Recover your password A password will be e-mailed to you. YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Home Celebrity WHERE WERE YOU WHEN Madam Cyn flicked the V-sign By You Magazine - May 5, 2019 Britain’s best-known brothel-keeper cheered up the nation, remembers Rowan Pelling. On her release from prison, Cynthia Payne was whisked off to a champagne reception in a Rolls-Royce. Image: Evening Standard/Getty Images. I was 12 when Cynthia Payne – ‘Madam Cyn’ – was found guilty of running a ‘disorderly house’ and sentenced to 18 months in prison. I read my dad’s newspaper on the school run, risking car sickness to devour every last salacious detail of the trial. Scriptwriters couldn’t have dreamed up a more British tale of suburban swinging – down to the fact that her ageing clientele paid for sexual services with luncheon vouchers. The police infiltrated Cynthia’s South London home during a sex party, where they found 53 men – allegedly including a lord, an MP, a couple of vicars and a clutch of lawyers – queuing for, or enjoying, the ministrations of 13 scantily clad women. PC Stewart Taylor told the judge he posed as a client and went upstairs with a woman called Isobel, who explained in a German accent that her specialisms were bondage and domination. The timing of the trial, in the early months of 1980, couldn’t have been more fortuitous. Britain’s steel workers had gone on strike for the first time since 1926 and the year’s headlines were dominated by soaring unemployment. The country was in drastic need of cheer and Cynthia delivered it in spades. In the dock she explained her ideal ‘slave’ was someone ‘who does all the housework and in return he likes a little bit of caning, insulting and mild humiliation’. Judge Brian Pryor’s sentence was widely viewed as overly harsh and the term was reduced on appeal to six months. This photo shows an exuberant Cynthia on her release, giving a V-sign to the establishment as she was whisked off in a Rolls-Royce to a champagne reception. The trial elevated her to national treasure status – two films were made of her life and she even stood for parliament, as a member of the Payne and Pleasure party. So when I became editor of the Erotic Review magazine, I was able to remind my anxious mother that being a woman of ill repute hadn’t harmed Cynthia Payne. Colorsport/REX/Shutterst​ock Also this month… Sebastian Coe (right) won gold in the 1500m event at the Moscow Olympics. Blockades of French ports by striking fishermen caused chaos for British travellers trying to cross the English Channel. Tens of thousands of people were stranded in ports for over a week. Spoof film Airplane!, starring Leslie Nielsen, was released in the UK. The Tyne and Wear Metro first opened to passengers. Abba scored a number one hit with ‘The Winner Takes It All’. RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR 50 of the best celebrity Halloween costumes of all time Shirley Ballas ‘ Strictly gave me back my hope’ Davina McCall discusses how men can help women going through the menopause Popular in Celebrity TV chef Gino D Acampo on Sardinia Sophia Loren and scary salads May 25, 2017 The Evergreen Goddess Exercise guru Diana Moran on looking fit and July 10, 2017 More more Julianne Moore November 13, 2017 Author Jill Mansell on designer notebooks commissioning art and the family January 16, 2018 EMOTIONAL TIES Kelly Hoppen on vodka vintage finds and being a April 4, 2018 ‘ I have no regrets’ Millie Mackintosh on divorce debt and reuniting May 20, 2018 EMOTIONAL TIES TV presenter and tennis player Annabel Croft shares her July 1, 2018 Stella Parton ‘ Dolly and I have always been close’ August 12, 2018 Anna Friel on getting jeered in the street shared parenting with September 23, 2018 Queen of primetime Charlotte Riley on juggling rising stardom with pregnancy October 21, 2018 Popular CategoriesFood2704Life2496Fashion2240Beauty1738Celebrity1261Interiors684 Sign up for YOUMail Thanks for subscribing Please check your email to confirm (If you don't see the email, check the spam box) Fashion Beauty Celebrity Life Food Privacy & Cookies T&C Copyright 2022 - YOU Magazine. All Rights Reserved