Cyril Smith is dead

[Filuwaúrdjan]

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.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

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

[Filuwaúrdjan]

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.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

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

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Uhh, ok.

Seems to have been added today...