On this day: 1 January 1913

The British Board of Film Classification, or British Board of Film Censorship, as it was at first, was established. It was a classic case of mission creep: the Cinematograph Act of 1909 had obliged picture houses to be licensed, following a number of fires due to the volatility of nitrate film stock. The next year, a court ruling established that health and safety needn’t be the only criterion in considering a licence application, and with the prospect of external censorship looming the industry took the process in-house and out of government hands, where it remains to this day.