The Scotsman
23 September 2015
MULL of Kintyre is a peninsula in the south-west of
Scotland, and a famous song by Paul McCartney’s Wings. But less well-known is
its (possibly apocryphal) role as a filter in the UK film industry.
The story goes that the British Board of Film
Classification (BBFC) used to judge whether images of naked men were suitable
to be shown on screen by comparing a certain part of their anatomy to the
aforementioned Scottish peninsula. If the filmed phallus in question appeared
more erect than the Mull of Kintyre’s memorable outline, then the scene would
be flagged up as inappropriate for viewing and swiftly relegated to the cutting
room floor.
To this day, the BBFC maintain that the so-called Mull
of Kintyre Test is a work of fiction but it’s an urban legend that has stuck
around in Scottish culture and, unsurprisingly, continues to raise eyebrows.
Many hopefully maintain that this rumour is too good
to be an outright porkie pie, and it’s been suggested that the Mull of Kintyre
Test was rolled out on the release of controversial historical drama film
Caligula in 1979. […]