Vivien Neves

First woman to appear naked in a newspaper

Vivien Neves, model: born Brighton, Sussex 20 November 1947; married John Kelly (one daughter; marriage dissolved 1985); died Guildford, Surrey 29 December 2002.

Now that ladies who lunch and members of the Women's Institute pose naked for charity calendars on a regular basis, no one bats an eyelid when confronted with nudity in a broadsheet newspaper. But, back in March 1971, the appearance of the model Vivien Neves naked in a full-page advertisement featured in The Times caused a furore.

In October 1969, the second issue of The Sun had already printed a topless picture, of Uschi Obermeier in a centre spread, and the tabloid had gone on to launch its Page Three girl slot with Stephanie Rahn the following year. But this was The Times, the Thunderer, breaking one of the major taboos with a huge photograph of Vivien Neves naked on a sheepskin rug and raising her arms above her head while brushing her hair. "I hope this delightful picture has the same effect on the Times' circulation as it does on mine," wrote a reader from Leeds, although another complained that the photographer "wasn't even in colour. Tut tut." William (now Lord) Rees-Mogg, then editor of The Times, had made the "solemn" decision to print the picture in black and white in order to minimise the expected backlash. "I knew running the ad would please a large number of our readers. In fact I happened to be having lunch with the judges at the Old Bailey the next day and they were all entirely in favour," Rees-Mogg commented at the time.

The Times sold out every edition of the paper that day, much to Neves's amusement. "A whole page? Wheeee! Imagine all those men in bowler hats grumbling 'What's this country coming to?'" she said, speaking from the Caribbean, where she was on holiday. Her mother Iris was duly doorstepped by other newspapers and admitted her own amazement. "We've got used to her modelling now, but it's still a bit of a shock, especially to see it in that paper."

Still, whilst many remember the picture of Neves, hardly anyone recalls the caption –"What's a nice girl like you doing in a firm like this?" – or the fact that the photograph publicised Fisons Pharmaceuticals.

Born in Brighton in 1947 and brought up in a council flat, Vivien Neves left school at 16. She had followed her parents to Walton-on-Thames in Surrey and didn't seem able to hold down a regular job. As a 17-year old she attracted controversy when a snap showing her wearing a skirt three inches above her knee was published by a local paper.

In the mid-Sixties, Neves moved to London, where her stunning figure helped her secure a "bunny" job at the Raymond Revuebar club in Soho. She also caught the eye of the staff of Penthouse magazine who asked her to pose for their publication. "Working at the club had made me immune to nudity, and the thought of showing my nipples to magazine readers didn't bother me a bit," claimed Neves, who became the magazine's "Pet of the Month" and was nicknamed "The Body" 25 years before the Australian supermodel Elle MacPherson claimed the title.

Neves modelled Nelbarden swimsuits for a poster campaign plastered all over the London Underground. In May 1970, she posed topless on Page Three of The Sun for the first time and established herself as a regular and a favourite with readers and photographers alike. Her notorious full-page appearance in The Times the following year brought Neves national and international fame and in 1971 she also appeared alongside Roger Moore and Tony Curtis in an episode of the jet-setting crime-fighters television series The Persuaders!. Neves played the girlfriend of Danny Wilde, the American character played by Curtis opposite Moore's very English Lord Brett Sinclair. With glamorous actresses like Joan Collins, Susan George and Kate O'Mara also guest-starring in the series, Neves was in exalted company, but she didn't take advantage of the opportunity to further her career.

She decided to retire in early 1973. "I began to be embarrassed and tired of being in front of the camera," she admitted at the time. "In fact, I'm bored with nudes, bored with looking at them. I don't want to be among them." Fans begged her to reconsider, but her mind was made up. Neves moved to Guildford, married the photographer John Kelly and gave birth to a daughter, Kelly, who followed in her mother's footsteps and became a Page Three girl herself in the Nineties. In 1979, Vivien Neves was diagnosed with multiple scleroris.

Pierre Perrone