Bobby wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 2:30 pm
subscriber only - please copy and paste the bad bits.
In Margaret Thatcher's Britain, the police had been urged to be more vigilant about "cottaging", the liaising of homosexuals in public toilets. To the cops, protection of underage males was seen as legitimate work, but there were mixed views about the legitimacy of targeting homosexuals. So it was not always popular work with the young police who were usually assigned to this area.
To make it more interesting, the West End branch had begun an informal competition: because the occasional judge or politician was caught in their net, who paid for drinks at the end of the week rested on whose catch was the biggest. Later that day the word went breathlessly around the station that one team had caught Australia's future prime minister.
Two plain-clothes officers had been watching the underground public toilet at Broadwick Street from the roof and a nearby corner. They had seen a man in an aqua-coloured Lacoste sweater enter the toilet and became suspicious when he stayed inside for a longer than usual period.
Jones was arrested and taken to the Mayfair station, where he was charged with "outraging public decency" and "committing an indecent act". It is only fair to point out that prosecuting authorities were ultimately unprepared to present any evidence to support the charges.
A friend later said by Jones to have provided "immeasurable" assistance was the man whose new play had drawn Jones to Soho. Jones came to know Lord Jeffrey Archer through the author's book promotion tours. It is easy to see how they would have got on as there are remarkable similarities.
One year earlier Jeffrey Archer had been before a London court as the result of a sex scandal. He sued a British newspaper. The same high-order advocacy used by Archer was now made available to Jones. Archer's, and now Jones's solicitor, Lord Victor Mishcon, litigation consultant at the British legal firm Mishcon de Reya, was not a figure to be commonly found in a lowly magistrate's court.
It was dawn on a Tuesday when the story broke in Australia. First glimpses are commonly fleeting and newsrooms had only sketchy details of a high-profile Australian arrested on a morals charge. Alerted by bureau chief John Highfield, ABC London correspondent Peter Cave was concerned not just about identifying the right person, but the right Alan Jones. (Another prominent Australian sporting identity is the racing driver and 1980 Formula One champion Alan Jones.)
When Cave found Alan's address he hurried to the Mayfair flat and knocked on the door. Although he thought he heard someone inside, the door stayed shut. Given the circumstances, the no-nonsense ex-serviceman doorman, who had seen Jones enter, became worried that he might have harmed himself. So he knocked again, and then used his keys to open the door to reveal an ashen Jones. Cave, recognising the former rugby coach, introduced himself and asked whether he wished to comment. Jones declined and closed the door.
The concern about suicide was more keenly felt a world away at 2UE. Alan Jones's broadcasting colleague John Laws telephoned to offer comfort. Laws recalls Jones was so distressed he spoke about wanting to jump out the window. Station boss Nigel Milan was worried. John Brennan [the station's sport director] was put on the case, strings began to be pulled and, in the busy pre-Christmas period, airline seats found. Passengers were offloaded as Brennan, John Fordham [promoter] and Ross Turnbull [Australian Rugby Union and Liberal Party figure] found space on that afternoon's QF1 to London.
Before the case was heard the Crown withdrew the more serious charge, leaving the charge of committing an indecent act. This charge, to which Alan Jones pleaded not guilty and which would have attracted only a small fine, was to be held over until January. He left the court via a front entrance and was photographed by the assembled media. Barrister Stephen Reading told them: "Mr Jones is a man of good character. He is completely innocent of the charge against him. It will be opposed vigorously."
Back in Australia there was a gradation of whispering. Within Alan's old school and rugby circles there were plenty of "I told you so" telephone calls. In the King's diaspora parents who had taken opposing positions on Alan Jones either ducked for cover or openly crowed.
Meanwhile, in London, the lawyers also gathered to contest the second charge of committing an indecent act.
Before Christmas, the Crown decided to drop this charge as well. Alan Jones was free, of all but decade after decade of fervent speculation about what caused him to be charged over that London dunny, and how and why he got off.
On the upper floors of the Ritz Hotel there was considerable relief: Jonesy wanted to party, booking rooms for [footballers] Brian Smith, Troy Coker and another friend, Sue Havers. Presents were handed out and the aqua Lacoste sweater, which had been in a bin, was souvenired.
The relief that flowed from the dropping of the charges did not stop him worrying about how the public and others would greet him. Alan Jones's self-belief could not accommodate shame. Back in Sydney he was reluctant to show his face. John Fordham had to push him out the door.
Fordham encouraged Jones along to a big cricket testimonial where Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and dozens of sporting luminaries made him feel welcome. Underlying much of the show of support was concern that a man should suffer so pointlessly.
The toilet episode was indeed a watershed for Alan Jones. On top of all the other evidence that might have led people to suspect Alan was homosexual, the London incident was going to strengthen, if not confirm, suspicion. An opportunity arose for him to admit his homosexuality. The generally sympathetic response made it easier for him to be himself.
There was no need to confess to wrongdoing. It is not, nor should it be, a crime to be homosexual. It is not a sin to have your penis out in a public toilet. But having easily defeated the criminal charges, Jones sought to defeat common sense as well, by asking the rest of the world to join him in his denial.
