Hands off my bottom!
Model who posed for THAT book cover says new sanitised version ‘is too PC’
HER jodhpur-clad bottom became a hot topic in 1985 when it graced the front of Jilly Cooper’s ‘bonkbuster’ novel Riders.
The tale of saucy goings-on in the Cotswolds showjumping set had a cover showing a woman holding a riding crop, with a man’s hand place firmly on her derriere.
Now, however, the image has been ‘sanitised’ on the new cover for the latest edition – much to the disapproval of Jane Warner, owner of the bottom in question.
The former Page 3 model, 52, said changes to make the image less provocative were ‘a damn shame’ and showed there was ‘nothing naughty but nice any more’.
On the new cover her bottom has been slimmed down and the hand of the man grasping it has been moved upwards to near her hip. The close-up shot has been replaced with a wider version which reveals her waist and the top of her riding boots.
Miss Warner, a mother of one, told the Daily Mail: ‘To me it is pointless, it is too PC. It seems a sign of the times – things are going that way, things are more sanitised.
‘In the 1970s and 1980s there was a lot of fun then but it was harmless fun, it was just nice. I think now there’s always a slur to it, there’s always something people think is wrong or rude or pornographic when it’s not.
‘It is one of (Jilly Cooper’s) naughtiest novels so what is wrong with that picture? Why change it? They should leave it as it was. My bottom is quite curvy but in the picture on the new cover it seems flat. I think men prefer curves.’
Miss Warner, who now works as a beautician and still occasionally does modelling, said she remembered the 1985 shoot vividly because the white jodhpurs were ‘a hell of a job’ to get on.
She added: ‘I don’t remember who the male model was or who
Original: The 1985 cover the photographer was but I do remember the hand. There was a lot of “where is the hand going to go?” But it was done in a nice but naughty way.
‘I have always liked that picture and it seems to me from reading the news there are a lot of people who prefer the original, so I’m not going to complain about that.’
When the new cover was revealed this week novelist Victoria Hislop called it ‘frankly, totally unsexy’ and bland, while former MP Louise Mensch, who writes chick-lit novels under the name Louise Bagshawe, called it prudish.
But author Marian Keyes said it showed society was more ‘enlightened and more respectful and more responsible about women’s bodies’, adding: ‘They’re not peo- ple’s property.’ Riders tells of a feud between brilliant horseman Jake Lovell and his aristocratic rival Rupert Campbell-Black, who Miss Cooper has admitted was inspired by the Duchess of Cornwall’s ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles.
The novel’s publisher describes it as an ‘intoxicating blend of skulduggery, swooning romance, sexual adventure and hilarious high jinks’. An international bestseller, more than one million copies have been sold in Britain alone.
Publishers Transworld did not give a reason for the change to the cover on its re-release to mark its 30th anniversary, only saying it is ‘always updating and changing covers the whole time’.