Lisa Ventura

There was a lot of excitement surrounding Lisa Ventura's erotic fiction web site and how that contributed to the loss of her seat on Worcester Council. I blogged at the time that if this was the reason that she lost the seat then "The small-mindedness of much of the population of this country never ceases to amaze me."

Today the following comment appeared on that article and I have repeated it here, in its entirety, as I think it bears repeating:

"The Tory candidate in the Worcester City Council by-election has spoken out in protest against recent press coverage which stated that she is the proprietor of “Wicked Tickles”, a website that sells a vast array of “whips, chains and other bondage products”.

Lisa Ventura, who lost her seat in the by-election by a swing of 17.6% to Jenny Barnes of the Labour Party, runs a website entitled Erotic Fiction by Rose (www.eroticfiction.org), a site which she writes for under a pseudonym and which contains a number of short fictional stories, fictional journal entries and reviews, all of which are very tame in nature.

However, according to Simon Walters of The Mail on Sunday (issued on Sunday 23rd September 2007), Ms Ventura runs a far more risqué website than her own called “Wicked Tickles”. Mr Walters made the mistake when he visited www.eroticfiction.org.uk in error instead of www.eroticfiction.org, and no-one from The Mail on Sunday contacted Lisa to validate the information.

“I am extremely incensed and angry by Mr Walters mistake,” said Lisa. “The difference between my site and this “Wicked Tickles” site is huge. My site is very tame in nature compared to “Wicked Tickles” and contains material that is more akin to Mills & Boon romance novels. Also if you visit my site, there is no online shop”.

The matter has been brought to the attention of John Wellington at The Mail on Sunday who has promised to look into how the error occurred, but so far no formal apology has been printed or issued.

“I am looking to set the record straight as I feel I have been grossly misrepresented by The Mail on Sunday,” said Lisa. “I would also like to point out that I am not the proprietor or connected in any way to the “Wicked Tickles” website”.

Lisa would also like to point out that reports of content on her own site being modelled on her are entirely false. “The content is created around a fictional character called Rose, exactly how you would create a character in a novel,” stated Lisa. “I don’t see anything wrong with the type of website that I have, and I don’t see what the fuss is all about. I am a writer, we create scenarios and we create characters. That is what writer’s do!”

Since her by-election defeat, Lisa has been in high demand and there has even been speculation in the press that she could have changed the course of history if Gordon Brown decides to call a snap General Election this Autumn on the basis of the by-election result in Worcester. She is also an archetypal “Worcester Woman”, who according to The Politics Show on BBC-1 (broadcast Sunday 30th September 2007), “deserted the Tories for Tony Blair in 1997”.

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However, there is one correct fact in all of the press coverage – Lisa does indeed live in Beaver Close, Lower Wick.

“A lot of the press couldn’t believe that I actually live at such an address given my website,” she said. “But the fact is I do. You couldn’t make it up”.


Notes to Editors:

1. Lisa is available for interviews, comments and TV appearances; please contact her on 07971 420987 or email to lisa@lisaventura.co.uk

2. Standard publicity photos of Lisa are available upon request."