Cyril Smith is dead
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  Cyril Smith is dead
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Author Topic: Cyril Smith is dead  (Read 867 times)
Filuwaúrdjan
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« on: September 03, 2010, 10:33:27 AM »

The very right-wing Liberal MP for Rochdale between 1972 and 1992 has died at the age of 82. Smith was a high profile figure in the 70s and 80s, mostly because of his brash personality and controversial views (he was an outspoken supporter of both corporal and capital punishment), but also because he weighed nearly thirty stone - a record for an MP, I think.

He was also in the pocket of the asbestos industry, as the Staggers reminds us.

Most Liberals will remember him in a somewhat fonder light, I suspect.
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afleitch
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« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2010, 11:12:25 AM »

Cue Private Eye

They had him on the cover decades ago with him winning a seat "Win one more and you'll be able to sit down"
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Silent Hunter
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« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2010, 12:18:52 PM »


May well get an E.J. Thribb verse in 1271. Probably warrants it.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2010, 01:46:07 PM »

Thread needs pictures. Smith was, after all, very much a figure of pop culture in his day.











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doktorb
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« Reply #4 on: September 03, 2010, 02:57:53 PM »

He will be missed, an icon of liberal (and Liberal) politics has been taken away.
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Kaine for Senate '18
benconstine
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« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2010, 03:19:53 PM »

So, he looks well over three hundred pounds.  Would that be accurate, since I don't know what one stone equals?
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doktorb
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« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2010, 03:26:30 PM »

So, he looks well over three hundred pounds.  Would that be accurate, since I don't know what one stone equals?

His weight was something to do with an illness, though I don't know the full details.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #7 on: September 03, 2010, 04:18:42 PM »

So, he looks well over three hundred pounds.  Would that be accurate, since I don't know what one stone equals?

Well over four hundred pounds. He was twenty nine stone twelve pounds at his peak, apparently. That is 418 lb.

His weight was something to do with an illness, though I don't know the full details.

He said it was glandular IIRC. Which is possible, though a lot was obviously for other reasons. He lost a lot of weight some point after leaving parliament if recent photos (and his age at death, frankly) are anything to go by.
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patrick1
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« Reply #8 on: September 03, 2010, 04:30:54 PM »

So, he looks well over three hundred pounds.  Would that be accurate, since I don't know what one stone equals?

Well over four hundred pounds. He was twenty nine stone twelve pounds at his peak, apparently. That is 418 lb.

His weight was something to do with an illness, though I don't know the full details.

He said it was glandular IIRC. Which is possible, though a lot was obviously for other reasons. He lost a lot of weight some point after leaving parliament if recent photos (and his age at death, frankly) are anything to go by.

418 is being generous, imo.  He looked about 5 bills in those pictures.
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Joe Republic
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« Reply #9 on: September 03, 2010, 06:18:15 PM »

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Uhh, ok.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #10 on: September 03, 2010, 06:29:25 PM »

The Grauniad has chosen to illustrate his obit with this classic picture:



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Uhh, ok.

Seems to have been added today...
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