It has been accepted since the mid-1950’s that the LMC is a flat rotating body, with its plane inclined at an angle of about 27° to the line of sight and so nearly face on, and its line of nodes running 10° west of north (de Vaucouleurs and Freeman 1972). The inclination is inferred from the ellipticity of the outermost optical and radio isophotes but there has been no convincing way to fix its sense — whether the E or W side is nearer. Some years ago the late Dr David Thackeray suggested to one of us (SCBG) that this could be done by comparing the magnitudes of cepheids on the extreme E and W sides of the Cloud. With the discovery of the Magellanic Stream and the great increase of interest in the spatial geometry and dynamics of the Clouds and Galaxy complex, the sense of the tilt of the LMC has become a matter of importance, and we decided to go ahead with the project.