Victims tell how to survive scandal

Press, 1 November 1978, Page 33

Victims tell how to survive scandal

By

JOHN ILLMAN,

of the “Sunday Times,” London

Have you ever thought about the long-term consequences of a scandal on the people involved? John Ulman spoke to two British victims at different stages of recovery.

Jn 1966, Commander Anthony Courtney was a noted success. He was Member of Parliament for East Harrow, with his own export Harrow, with with strong links in Iron Curtain countries. But he was disliked by the Russians for his repeated attempts to get their London Embassy with its undercover spies, cut down to size.

However, he thought that his Soviet business connections were sufficiently strong to protect him from any sexual cretions in far-away Russia. He was wrong. A secret camera recorded pictures of him in bed with a girl in the Hotel National These were sent to the in Moscow. British “News of the World.” He lost his wife, his Parliamentary seat, and his business. He and other men involved in scandal chart the stages of recovery in various phases.

Withdrawal: For six months he went into a shell, feeling that he had been harshly treated and condemned in spite of the fact he had been good at his job.

Reconciliation: He recognised that he had been forced into a complete change of circumstances and that he could no longer exploit his political and business expertise. It was, he says, a matter of finding something new. Four years after the scandal he established the New English Typewriting School, Ltd. This introduces 15 and 16-year-olds at famous’ schools such as Marlborough and Cheltenham Ladies’ College to the gentle art of typewriting. Fulfilment: Mr Court-

ney now says — with obvious sincerity — that he prefers his new mode of life to that he had in London. He is happily remarried. His new wife’s grandchildren have become a major source of pleasure. “Not only have I set up a new business, but I still have a voice in public affairs. I’m on the Monday Club executive and I’ve just written a paper on defence for Mrs Thatcher.” His advice to people at risk from scandal: “Don’t expose ycrurself to anything which may put you at risk from blackmail. Go to the local police if you think you are at risk. Don’t lull yourself into a false sense of security. The Russians kept the photographs of me for four years before making use of them.”

Until four years ago, Jess Yates, (58), ranked among television’s top personalities. He had worked oh more than 1000 networked shows and was best known as host of Yorkshire TV’s “Stars on Sunday” programme. He lost his job and his wife after the “News of the World” had exposed his affair with a show girl, Anita Kay, 27. He charts his stages of recovery in a slightly different way. Withdrawal: He retired to his home on the outskirts of a Welsh mountain village. In many ways, he says, the seclusion was a godsend, but ultimately his house — several hundred yards away from the neighbours — became a prison. Misguided optimism: In the first two years he made 28 visits to London in search of work, only to find that television companies would not so much as let him in the door, let aione provide work.

Reconciliation: He went on to the dole and few months ago he started working on his autos

biography. It took him that' long, he says, “to work up the courage to wade through the cuttings.” He wrote his version of his story solely to placate his bank manager. It was widely assumed that “Stars on Sunday” made Yates a rich man, but he says that he never received a penny for appearing. “I was paid as a producer. Iwasn’t a star in the sense sense of having a lot of money." The come-back: Once again Yates is now in demand. He is working on a n e w 3 8.8. C. series, the first show is due to ture Ken Dodd, the Beverley Sisters, Danny La Rue and Les Dawson. He says: “I have discovered that four years of solitary confinement is the sentence you have to pay for falling in love with a girl 31 years younger than yourself whenyou are involved in a religious pros gramme.”

His advice to scandal victims: Face up to what has happened by constant activity, even if it is only digging in the garden. Reconcile yourself to the fact that legal action against the press in such cases rarely works. He was advised that it would cost $ll,OOO to take his case to court.

Finally advice from one of Fleet Street’s most notorious gossip columnists, Nigel Dempster of the “Daily Mail.”

“There is always potential gossip when something says something which can be proved otherwise.”