In its first few issues Liverpool Free Press serialised a book which had recently been suppressed. Written by two Danish teachers, The Little Red Schoolbook had originally been published in Denmark but translations soon appeared in other countries and it was banned in several of them.
Pocket-sized and with a red cover it resembled the Little Red Book containing the thoughts of Mao Zedong that demonstrators had waved during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Intended as advice for teenagers, it denounced smoking and cautioned against drug use but also challenged the authority of schoolteachers. It asserted that "all grown-ups are paper tigers" – a further allusion to Chairman Mao who at various times had described Chiang Kai-shek (the Taiwanese leader), Japan, the United States, imperialism, the atom bomb and even Hitler as paper tigers.
Not surprisingly, the most controversial part was its liberal-minded discussion of sex, including its description of masturbation as normal and harmless.
The book went on sale in Britain in 1971 after publisher Richard Handyside acquired UK rights and had 20,000 copies printed. "Morality" campaigner Mary Whitehouse called for it to be banned, claiming it had caused "incalculable harm" to children in Denmark" and that it normalised "the most licentious behaviour". Conservative MPs also began pressing for action and police raided Handyside's office, seizing more than 1,000 copies (most of the others had already been distributed). He was later fined a total of £50 for two offences under the Obscene Publications Act.
A revised version was published without further problems after amendments to the parts of the book that had been criticised in court. The original version was re-published in 2014.