Why “The King and I” was banned in Thailand Remembering King Mongkut of Siam on his birthday. If his name means little to you, it will when I point out that he was the monarch in the “The King and I,” starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. Unfortunately, nearly everything in the film was fiction. Mongkut, who was born in 1804, was diametrically opposed to Brynner’s temperamental, half naked and romantically inclined ruler, though he did, for dynastic reasons, have a great many children. Long before the arrival of any English governess (who I will talk about later), his reign was marked by social and cultural reforms that played a pivotal role in Siam's progress towards becoming a modern nation, with excellent relations with the West. Mongkut introduced European practices, wore formal European clothing on most occasions, and ensured that Siamese men covered their upper bodies. The British went as far as to say that he was “just like us”. What he was not was a pantaloon wearing, chest-bearing, semi-barbarian who beat female slaves. Mongkut introduced laws that gave women rights, and, unlike his fictional incarnation, never kept concubines against their will. The King was a quiet, scholarly man who was given the posthumous title of "the Father of Science and Technology", and his accurate prediction of the total solar eclipse of 18 August 1868 demonstrated his expertise. The problem lay with Anna Leonowens. Leonowens, a well known truth bender who was as plain as a pike staff, was asked by the court of Siam to tutor some of the royal children in 1862. Leonowens had little to do with the king, did not engage in serious conversation with him, or organise a party for Western diplomats. Nor, sadly for romantics, did they ever dance together. The falsehoods started with her memoir “The English Governess at the Siamese Court”, which was deeply problematic for the reasons stated above. Unfortunately, author Margaret Langdon took the work at face value and in 1944 created an even more nonsensical account, “Anna and the King of Siam”, which was adapted into the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. The inaccurate and disrespectful portrayal of poor Mongkut led to furious missives from the Thai Government and the movie was temporally banned. Leonowens also claimed that her conversations with Mongkut’s heir, Prince Chulalongkorn, about the importance of human freedom, along with her alleged gift of a copy of “Uncle Tom's Cabin”, led him to abolish slavery almost 40 years later. Slavery in Thailand, however, was often a voluntary choice for individuals who wished to be free of their social and financial obligations (which included a number of unhappily married men). Moreover, maltreating slaves was a punishable offence, and many were given the opportunity to buy their freedom, leading British observers to remark that they were “better treated than English servants.” King Mongkut was a remarkable and enlightened man, and wherever he is, I wish him a very Happy Birthday.

Sophia Loren’s famous striptease for Marcello Mastroianni in “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” (1963). Director Vittorio De Sica said:”At first, Sophia didn’t want to do it. She said ‘I’m a big girl, there is a lot of me.” So we decided to give it some humour, make it funny. Once she understood she was doing something playful, she was brilliant, and totally in control. We rehearsed it and then she did it exactly as I wanted. The only person who was disappointed was Marcello, who wanted her to do it twenty or thirty times!”