The work and workings of the Lord Chamberlain's Office as censor to the English theatre, principally during the present century. Who wielded the blue pencil? Why could Victoria Regina not be staged until 1937? How were scripts licensed? Why was a licence witheld from Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession for nearly 30 years? Who approved the Windmill girls, and how? This book is full of stories about controversial plays, famous managers and playwrights from Shaw to Osborne and Edward Bond, the Lord Chamberlain's themselves and their Examiners of Plays; and the changes in society that finally brought about its abolition in 1968. The author was Assistant Comptroller and Comptroller in the Lord Chamberlain's Office.