Happy Christmas from PBC
December 25th, 2007
..best wishes for the New Year
There was going to be a cross-word this Christmas Day which has been produced by StJohn - one of our most regular contributors. Alas I have found it impossible to format it for the site and this will have to wait.
This is our fourth Christmas since the site was started and can I thank all who have made it possible. These include my son Robert and his wife Lucille for the technical infrastructure and the design, Paul Maggs for acting as the regular stand-in editor and for running our competitions, Peter the Punter (Peter Smith) for developing and managing many associated activities and his contributions, Sean Fear for his weekly slots and to the hundreds people who contribute daily to our discussions. Also thank you to the thousands of other other visitors.
I am hoping that RodCrosby will contribute to the thread later in the day with some of his political brain-teasers. Rod - if you are able to do this can you post a time below so we know when you will start.
Mike Smithson
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Merry Christmas all - having survived turkey and pudding for lunch i am dreading the next wave at dinner. Summery Christmas wishes from your antipodean connection.
Savior, if of Zion’s city, I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in Thy Name.
Especially today!
‘Morning, and all the veries to everyone….
Looks like it’s down to me to produce the entertainment this year.
The nerdlings of nerdlingen’s political quiz…. I’ll try to make them original, but if I’ve posted one or two before and you’ve answered correctly in the past, please let others have a go….
So, to tie up a loose end from a previous thread.
“Only two seats since the war have seen the Tories make a gain from third place (Labour has managed it no fewer than 18 times.) As someone correctly answered, one of these was Lincoln 1979, but which was the other?”
Happy Christmas one and all. Thought I’d log on early to get an early start on the crossword, but looks like Santa has fallen for the NuLab excuse of ‘impossible to format.’ Wouldn’t have happened under the Lib Dems or the Tories, oh no.
Bah Humbug !!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy Punting in the New Year!
Fame and fortune elude him once more. (6).
Merry Christmas to all on PBC.
New Humbug Poll -
The Ghost of Christmas To Come (Conservative) - 38%
The Ghost of Christmas Present (Labour) - 32%
The Ghost of Christmas Long Past (Liberal Democrats) 20%
Other Spirits - 10%
Source - Tiny Tim Polling Services
Merry Christmas
Any suggestions as to what presents Gordo/DC and Clegg are going to be opening on Christmas day????
I’ll start of with Gordo ;)… a stabiliser for his left hand
Q. Who is the youngest member of the Privy Council?
Merry Christmas one and all. Thank you for your company, your entertaining and enlightening comments throughout the year, especially those that have added to the Punter’s wealth.
Have a happy Christmas everybody!
The Conservatives gained Ross and Cromarty from third place in 1970
14. Well done, Peter! Only that one and Lincoln, I think, both due to unusual circumstances. The Taverne factor at Lincoln and the SNP intervention at R&C…
The Con vote rose from 4,820 in 1966 to 6,418. The outgoing Liberal MP, Alasdair Mackenzie had some fairly unlibelral views, he voted for capital punishment and was somewhat elderly.
That apart, in a tiny electorate the 2,268 (11.7%)SNP vote must have been important.
Yes Happy Christmas - from a dark and wet Leicestershire.
Having secretary of the Local Labour Party round for Xmas lunch, who says Lib Dems aren’t nice people! Was always proud of his TB card -haven’t seen if Gordon sent them one this year.
Lib Dems have to make do with one from Bill Newton Dunn MEP.
As the population changes so do constituency boundaries. There are a number of cases where single member counties (Isle of Wight)have retained the same boundaries for many decades.
Between 1885 and 1983 one London constituency had unchanged boundaries and two others had survived unchanged until 1974 and were then amended by just a handful of voters, in one case in a single street.
Any guesses?
16. I guess in 1966 the latent SNP vote went to the Liberal. Weren’t the two parties in a formal pact at one stage?
Q. Who are the two gents on the plinths in the photo above?
I have it good authority that Gordon Brown’s Xmas cracker joke will be
Northern Rock?
Just in case you are not aware of the effect that Northern Rock’s problems is having on Japan’s banks, I can confirm that Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up, Bonsai Bank is cutting its branches and trading in the Kamikaze Bank have ceased trading after its shares nose dived.
At the Karate Bank 500 employees have been given the chop.
Analysts also report that something fishy is happening at the Sushi Bank as customers are getting a raw deal
Must dash my kippers are almost ready
Smuts is the far one. Not sure about the other -Palmerston?
21. Bingo!
18. Is it Chelsea?
Have now checked on Wikipedia - - really, truly, I hadn’t before. Palmerston is the only one with a round base!
18 Hampstead?
Q. Which PM represented a seat adjacent to Sedgefield?
Who is the current Father of the House?
26. Alan Williams. Too easy!
The two others. West Ham North and South?
No, Chelsea acquired the Brompton from Kensington in 1950. It will come as a surprise. Lets hold for a while
26. Ramsay Macdonald, Seaham.
West Ham returned four MPs until 1950, Plaistow, Silvertown, Stratford and Upton.
One crossword clue then, not from the crossword.
ERM elections (8).
28 Actually, that can’t be as Newham went from four to three in 1974.
30. Correct, now called Easington.
Q. On only one occasion have Labour and Conservatives each lost a by-election on the same day. When was it?
Hampstead is part of the second point. It was unchanged between 1885-1974 when it acquired a handful of voters from Upper Park Road, NW3.Most of Upper Park Road was in Hampstead and the change made the boundary even. In 1983 it was renamed Hampstead and Highgate having gained Highgate ward.
Which seats did Labour win in 1966, but fail to gain in 1997?
Re West Ham. The daughter in law of the Labour MP elected for West Ham, Plaistow in 1945 is the leader of Tower Hamlets Council
Uxbridge, Meriden, Bedfordshire South and Norfolk North come to mind.
38 I can’t think of any others, apart from Buckingham - but that was on very different boundaries.
A Merry Christmas to all PBers. Have a great day.
Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket candidate Catherine Taylor-Dawson received just one vote in Cardiff North in the 2005 GE. Who was the previous holder of the lowest number of votes and in which contituency
36. Caithness & Sutherland
Anglesey
Merioneth
Caernarvon
Cardigan
Brecon & Radnor
Norfolk North
Bermondsey
are a few than spring to mind…
34 I’m guessing it was in 1965 when Labour lost Leyton, and the Conservatives lost Roxburgh, but don’t know the date.
43. No, they were two months apart.
Happpy Christmas one and all. I wonder if GB’s enjoying his one day off?
Oh yes, I completely forgot the Scottish and Welsh seats.
I have a Conservative/Liberal loss in the same fortnight - Carmarthen and Rochdale in 1958.
[36] I’m pretty sure there was one in Bromley - Chislehurst, I think it was.
[18] What do you mean by London, Peter? If the present Greater London, what about Hornsey?
47. No, more recent than that.
As we are going back to 1885, it must be the LCC area as outer London was very different then.
The 1966 Chislehurst should have been named after the authority on which it was based, Chislehurst and Sidcup, which straddled the two London Boroughs of Bexley and Bromley. Little of that Chislehurst remains in th epresent Bromley and Chislehurst.
re Hornsey; I am looking at the 1885 map!!! It included all of the present Hornsey (minus the area of Finsbury Park that voted in Finsbury)alll of Finchley and part of Whetstone. It became a single Borough constituency in 1918.
49 8th November 1973, Labour lost Govan to SNP, Conservatives lost Berwick to the Liberals
Q. Which was the only year in British history without a parliamentary election?
NOvember 8 1973. The Liberals gained Berwick upon Tweed from the Cons and the SNP gained Glasgow Govan from LAbour.
What is the longest period that any of the three main parties has gone without gaining a seat in a Parliamentary by-election?
51. Bingo! never happened before or since, and it was a pretty good indicator of the GE result 3 months later…
54. I know the answer, but I’ll let it pass….
52 - 1998
57. Correct!
Q. Which Tory MP, defeated in 1997, had a father, mother, great-aunt and great grandfather who were all MPs?
[50] That was well off, so now I’m inside the LCC area I’m pretty sure it’s south of the river, in what was Kent before 1885, there are a few candidates there… I’ll take a pot-shot at Deptford.
Tim Rathbone
61. Well done! from a famous family of Liverpool philanthropists…
Q. What did Reginald Maudling say to Jim Callaghan at 11 Downing Street on 16th October 1964?
The Liberals had a 29 year gap between their gain in Eddisbury in March 1929 and Tiverton in March 1958.
60 - you are getting very close. Deptford was unchanged until it became Lewisham deptford in 1974.
63 Yes.
63. You of course mean Torrington, sir!
We still haven’t had an answer to youngest member of Privy Council?
nor to my 41
41 I would guess Bill Boakes at Glasgow Hillhead, 5 votes.
67. Boaks?
62 I can’t remember the exact quote, but something like “Sorry about the mess I’ve left you, old cock?”
66 - Is it Ed Miliband?
Oh Lord. I will have the wrath of the Bonham Carters (Torrington) and the Heathcoat Amory’s (Tiverton) on my head now.
I was about to say what fab names and then remebered that Torrington returned Percy Brown in 1959
68
My info might be incorrect.. on the GE 2005 analysis http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2005/rp05-033.pdf it said on Page 86
… beating the previous General Election low of 13 for
B.C. Wedmore, an independent, in Finchley in 1983
70. Yep! “Cherio, old cock, sorry about leaving you with such a mess….”
What a decent chap old Reggie was!
71. No
[64] If that’s a clue, then I suspect you’re thinking of Greenwich, but that actually became Greenwich, Greenwich (I kid you not) in 1974…
Q. Which is the only seat to be gained from third place at two consecutive general elections? (post-war)
too much Margaux.. last night… you are right, it goes on to mention Boaks as a by election figure. I’ll never make a good researcher!
Which Prime Minister had two children who became MPs for parties other than his own?
78. L-G
Q. Which woman holds the record for longest unbroken service as an (woman) MP?
In 1945 Two MP’s were elected posthumously,(ie died after polling but before the result was declared.) Who were they?>
How many Devon constituencies were won by old Etonians in 1955?
Is anyone planning to drink a more appropriate wine - Chateau Haut Bages Liberal here.
81. Doh! please stop recycling my old questions…
75. Like Deptford and HAmpstead Greenwich stood alone until 1974, however the 1974 changes involved some changes. MOre than Hampstead but fewer than Deptford. You are nearly there !!
84
Please provide complete list of old questions and I’ll try to oblige…;)
80 I’ll guess it’s Bessie Braddock.
87. Nah, way off, she only did 25 years…
82 - Honiton, North, Tavistock, Tiverton and Plymouth Sutton. This leaves, Exeter Torrington and Plymouth Devonport plus the striking exception of Totnes whose MP went to Long Lawford Council School, Rugby.
[85] Well in that part of the world that only leaves (the one I was going to go for originally until the smell of the river got to me), Dulwich (serially prefixed by Camberwell and Southwark, of course - plain old Dulwich from 1983 to 1997).
Gwyneth Dunwoody. Exeter 1966-70, Crewe 1974-83, Crewe and Nantwich 1983 to date
I can’t believe Andrea is missing all this.
90 Nope. Dulwich acquired a lump of Peckham when Camberwell was reduced from four to two seats in 1950.
79 Yes, Gwilym became a National Liberal MP for Newcastle North, and Lady Megan became a Labour MP for Carmarthen.
89 Yes, and there were complaints from some of the grandees that Ray Mawby was allowed to sully this record by becoming an MP. Something like 20% of the Parliamentary Party were old Etonians then.
91. Yep, about a fortnight ago, she beat Barabara Castle’s record of 33 years 9 months. She also beat Irene Ward’s total service record of 37 yrs 9 months in August 2007. Next year she will beat Ward’s total span of service (42 yrs 4 months) and in about 2 years will beat Ward’s record to become the oldest woman MP (79 yrs.) However, I believe she is standing down at Crewe so can’t beat Ward’s final record of the oldest woman to win in a general election (75 yrs 3 months)
Re the Etonians, the first five were all OEs. Miss Joan Vickers(Devenport) was not and Sir Rolph Dudley Williams (Exeter) was a very distinguished engineer and had been educated at Plymouth College. George Lambert Torrington went to Harrow.
It would be inordinately remiss of me not to drop in and wish all old friends on PB the most warm compliments of this festive season, Christmas joy and great good fortune in the New Year.
May God bless you all.
Surely Irene Ward’s service is 1931-45 for Wallsend and 1950-74 for Tynemouth. 37 years.
She was an extraordinary woman, as a woman to have that length of service in those constituencies in that region in that time is some record.
In the late 1960s she was barred from the commons for standning in front of the Mace in a row with Harold Wilson. When named by the Speaker, the Sargeant at Arms was absolutely terrified at what to do.
[97] God bless you too, Jack, and if there’s any chance whatsoever of your returning we’ll declare an extra Bank Holiday and Grumpy Gordon, Slimy Dave and Nick the Unknown can put it in their pipes & smoke it
97. Haha! Jack is Michael Foot! The Devon connection!
After you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable must be the truth! Elementary, Watson….
[93] I give up. Come on, tell us - no one else is playing…
On the crossword that never was. I think speculation about this got out a bit out of hand. One of the young Turks, Peter the Punter, I believe, suggested it might be a good idea and wee St.John was entrusted with the task.
To be fair to Mike he didn’t comment either way but the expectation that it would happen reached fever pitch. Nick Palmer MP signed off a few days ago clearly expecting that it would go ahead.
But at the end of the day Mike had a long hard think about the risks. He recognised that he could alienate many of his regular viewers who had expressed their objection to unnecessary crosswords. Augustus Carp and Sean T had made their views clear on the matter.
I think in the short term Mike was right to pull the crossword. But to claim he would have gone ahead with it if the formatting had been easier beggars belief.
A very happy Xmas to all of you and great to see a post from Jack W . Hope that the next one will be before Xmas 2008 .
98. Yes, that is what I said. 37 years 9 months total service for Ward.
see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwyneth_Dunwoody#Records
Sorry Rod you also said 42 years. I have to say, Barbara Castle, Irene WArd and Gwyneth Dunwoody. Somehow Harriet Harman doesnt seem quite the same
I see they have counted the service span because both GW and IW were out for a Parliament.
106. All my own work, Peter.
76 - Is it East Dunbartonshire?
Merry Christmas to you all!
97. Jack W
Was that a ghost of Christmas past?
101. It is Lambeth Norwood. The boundary was unchanged until 1983 when Angel ward was added from the short lived Lambeth Central.
97. And the same to you.
I must go now, as I have presents to deliver. Merry Christmas.
108. Yes, it is!
Q. Who was the only defeated SDP MP to stand again in a by-election?
Dear All
What an enjoyable morning. I am now summoned to prepare vegetables. Have a great day. Thanks to Rod for getting this off the ground, delighetd to see JW back and thanks to you all.
Will look in later
97. Great to hear from you Jack W. I hope you are enjoying good health.
Please come back and join us again in the New Year. You have been sorely missed.
32. Answer to crossword clue.
ERM elections (8)
Midterms.
Happy Christmas!!!
115 - ouch! my brain hurts and if they’re all like that, I’m glad I haven’t spent the morning trying to do a crosswordfull.
Thanks for all the good Christmas wishes - here’s to pb.c and its posters.
117. Cheers tpkfar and best wishes to you.
Q. What claim to fame does the Liberal MP for Colne Valley 1910-1916 hold?
119 - wasn’t he declared insane?
120. Correct, the Rev. Charles Leach, the one and (so far only) MP to be removed under the Lunacy Act… I’m surprised its repeal is not in John Loony’s manifesto…
Q. Despite their landslide victory, Labour lost two seats in the 1945 General Election. What were they?
102 stjohn - It sounds as though you’ve been put to a good deal of wasted time and effort as regards the crossword that never was.
I just can’t imagine who could possibly have objected to this.
Oh well, back to peeling the Brussels sprouts for her indoors!
Happy Christmas everyone.
123. Peter. I think it will still happen. But my money is firmly on 2010.
We are having Goose today! Never had it before.
A hoppy Chrastmis from the worst typist on PB.com
2010 a double header - crossword and a general election
Continuing the quiz
What is the electoral connection between Sir Anthony Eden and Daisy, Countess Warwick (Edward 7th’s mistress)
127. they were one and the same person? LOL (sorry, I’ve started on the port…)
Just to say that we’ll get StJohn’s cross word up in the next week. I’ve been in email contact.
[127] She fought him in his first election, coming a poor third. That was 1923. I only know this ‘cos I’m reading a biography of Eden at the moment.
127 - both were candidates for Leamington and Warwick - she Labour?
129. Cheers Mike. My post at 102 was meant to be funny but may have been too cryptic? Along the lines of the election that never was.
Happy Christmas to PBers everywhere from the not-so-sunny English Riviera.
And good to hear from JackW again.
Which seat (with variatons of it through boundary changes) is the only seat to have had an SNP candidate at every election since 1945?
134. Surely Motherwell, scene of their first victory in the April 1945 by-election.
Some unanswered questions remaining..
Q. Who is the youngest member of the Privy Council?
Q. Who was the only defeated SDP MP to stand again in a by-election?
Q. Despite their landslide victory, Labour lost two seats in the 1945 General Election. What were they?
I’m off to the pub for an hour. The phrase “free pint for our regulars” is not negotiable…
More questions later…hic..
135 - sorry but no. The former MP for Motherwell has a connection with it.
137. Well, that’s a surprise. In that case, dunno, ‘cos didn’t Dr. McIntyre stand in virtually every seat in Scotland over the subsequent years?
136 - Prince William
139 It is Perth (and E Perthshire) in 1959 he polled 23.1% of the poll to take 2nd place. I met him quite a long time ago during the 1974 and 1979 campaigns in Dundee East.
136-Not sure, but:
“Despite their landslide victory, Labour lost two seats in the 1945 General Election. What were they?”
Carmarthen and Mile End?
Hoopy Crumplebeep everybody! I did my share of Christmas 2 days ago and got back yesterday.
18. My first guess was Kensington & Chelsea, but I think that is wrong because I think Kensington alone used to have 2 constituencies.
I am guessing the answers without cheating or trying to look them up:
12. David Cameron? William Hague? Er… David Millipede? er…
20. Ha ha ha groan
25. Macdonald
26. Alan Williams, I think
34. Um… the Liberal surge in 1972? Er… Rochadale 26.10.72 and Sutton & Cheam 7.11.72… oh no, er… SNP? Glasgow Govan! 1973… 8th November 1973: Glasgow Govan and Berwick-upon-Tweed
36. Oh loads, (looks at map in front of me on the wall) e.g. Norfolk North, Brecon & Radnor, Ceredigion, Caernarfon, Ynys Mon/Anglesey, Caithness & Sutherland, the one that is now Uxbridge, etc.
41. 5 votes by Whatsisname Trivedi at Thingy, and also Bill Boaks somewhere
52. 1992 and 1998
80. Gwynneth Dunwoody?
113. Roy Jenkins
119. Disqualified for insanity
122. Carmarthen, and er…
Daisy & Anthony: Innocent @ 131 is correct - both were candidates at the 1923 election in Warwick & Leamington
I’m back, and suitably refreshed…
139. Don’t think he’s a PC yet, and unless I’m wrong the youngest is a party political figure. Who?
141. Yes, well done. Mile End to the Communists and Carmarthen to the Liberals….
Q. How many Members of Parliament were killed on active serice during WW2?
145. should read “on active service”..
145 - 14
147. Not a bad guess, but no..
145 - 15 -if you include one that drowned. You have the grandchildren scouring all books and internet sites - a good way of keeping them amused
149. No, still quite a way off (the official statistic), I’m afraid…
Mile End voted Conservative, Labour and Communist in successive elections. Dan Frankel, who was Labour MP between 1935-45 lived on until the late 1980s.
151. “lived on until the late 1980s.” i.e. for 43 years, about 17 years shorter than the longest post-service lifespan of any modern MP. Horace Trevor-Cox died in 2005, 60 years after losing his seat!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Trevor-Cox
152. And Wing-Commander Millington is approaching the 58th anniversary of his leaving the Commons…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Millington
15 of the 20 Premiership football clubs have stadiums in constituencies currently represented by Nick Palmer’s colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party. Which 5 clubs don’t ?.
Merry Christmas everyone. Nice to see JackW popping up - the WIND from your ARSE is sorely missed.
Q - Which PM introduced the Stamp Act? No Googling - too easy!
Q. Which was the only seat since the War in which two sitting MPs contested the General Election, both being defeated?
156 - Islington North, 1983. Michael O’Halloran and John Grant
157. Well done!
Q. Who was the last Chancellor to lose his seat? [Alistair Darling might beat this…]
Q Which PM fulfilled his life’s 3 wishes (one of them 3 times over)?
159. Rosebery
Both Chelsae and Fulham are in Hammersmith and Fulham constituency. I need to check boundaries of others before speaking out.
Incidentally Anfield and Goodison are both in Liverpool Walton constituency.
154: Is Fratton Park, Portsmouth, in Mike Hancock’s (LD) seat?
And could the Madejski be in Rob Wilson’s? (Con)
Q. Only two seats have gone the “wrong” way in two consecutive changes of government (i.e. gained by the party that lost nationally, or vice versa) Which are they?
154 - Is one of them Aston Villa? I think they play in Clare Shorts constituency.
Q. Which member of the Lisbon Lions was also an Edinburgh councillor?
Villa, Portsmouth, Chelsea and Fulham are all correct. One to go..
145. John Whiteley, Stuart Russell, John Rathbone, Richard Porritt, Edward North, Somerset Maxwell, Dudley Joel, John Campbell, Victor Cazalet, John Cartland, Rupert Brabner, Robert Bernays, James Baldwin-Webb, Percy Alden, I make that 14
155. Tony Benn?
Which are the only two English local authority areas which have premiership football, premiership rugby union and county championship cricket?
Does Old Trafford come into Altrincham & Sale?
166. No, still some way off the official total(s) (between which there is a difference of 1 anyhow. Some are on the face of it quite subjective, odd inclusions)
168 Trafford must be one.
Jack [97}- good to hear from you but hadn’t you heard - We dont think God exists anymore!
Compliments of the season to you and yours!
166. and 147. I notice that you’ve already said that 14 is wrong
My source for 166. was a list of scribbled notes I have in some papers which I copied from editions of Dod’s guides in the local library, which gives the biographical details of MPs including causes of death. Presumably there must be lots of gaps or some inaccuracies.
173. There is a book of remembrance at the House of Commons in which the names are inscribed. Churchill also gave a written Commons answer in early 1945. There was a net difference of 1 name between theses two sources, but the official answer is still significantly different to yours…
James Purnell
160 - well done; very quick.
Rosebery once said he had 3 wishes - to marry a rich wife, to win the derby and to become PM. As well as the top job, he also married the wealthiest woman in England and won the Derby 3 times.
re 171. Well done Sean
170. If you want the “official” total to be more than 14, then we could include some of these, which (according to my notes) are as follows:
Lt-Col. Sir Arnold Talbot Wilson 2.31.5.40 “missing on active service presumed killed”
Lt-Col. Emil Pickering d.14.3.42 “riding accident”
John Jagger d.9.7.42 “car crash”
Maj. Frank Heilgers d.16.1.44 “railway accident”
Harold Hales d.7.11.42 “boating accident (Thames) found at Weybridge 8.12.42″
Lt-Col. Walter Guinness d.6.11.44 “assassinated by the members of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel Organisation (Stern Gang) in Cairo”
174. Incidentally, Alden and North are on neither list. Who were they and what happened to them?
167 - nope. Needs to be a PM.
Which PM had 3 future PMs in his cabinet?
173 - the grandchildren counted the number from the by-elections 1939 to 1945 - although we thought the one who drowned when the liner City of Benares was torpedoed could be included. One also listed as air crash. Another has scandal - I must read about that one.
175. Yes, well done! Mr. Photoshop himself is the youngest Privy Councillor, born 1970. (Prat)
re 181, That must be Churchill with Atlee, Eden and Harold Macmillan who was Secretary of State for air for two months.
I don’t think Prince William is a member of the Privy Council.
Is it the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Andy Burnham?).
169 Sean No Old Trafford is in Stretford and Urmston constituency.
Also, Sale rugby now play at Stockport County’s ground so not actually in Trafford anymore, although the colts teams still play in Sale I think.
185. Burnham (another prat) is a few weeks older than Purnell…
184 - possibly, but there is an earlier example I was thinking of.
Newcastle upon Tyne
By-elections prompted by death of member on wartime active service
20
Chelmsford by-election, 1945: John Macnamara was killed in action fighting in Italy.
Berwick-upon-Tweed by-election, 1944: George Charles Grey was killed in action fighting in Normandy, France.
Bury St. Edmunds by-election, 1944: Frank Heilgers was killed in a train crash in Ilford.
Acton by-election, 1943: Hubert Duggan died of tuberculosis contracted on active service. a
Darwen by-election, 1943: Stuart Russell died of fever on active service in Egypt.
Chippenham by-election, 1943: Victor Cazalet was killed in a plane crash in Gibraltar while escorting General Sikorski.
Birmingham Aston by-election, 1943: Edward Orlando Kellett was killed in action fighting in North Africa.
Buckingham by-election, 1943: John Whiteley was killed in a plane crash in Gibraltar while escorting General Sikorski.
Bristol Central by-election, 1943: Lord Apsley was killed in action in a plane crash in the Middle-East.
King’s Lynn by-election, 1943: Somerset Maxwell died of wounds received at the Battle of El Alamein.
Salisbury by-election, 1942: James Despencer-Robertson died suddenly, apparently from overwork as military secretary at Southern Command Headquarters. b
Llandaff and Barry by-election, 1942: Patrick Munro died while taking part in an exercise for the Home Guard at Westminster.
The Wrekin by-election, 1941: James Baldwin-Webb drowned when the SS City of Benares was torpedoed.
Dudley by-election, 1941: Dudley Joel was killed in action while serving with the Royal Navy.
Bodmin by-election, 1941: John Rathbone was killed in action on bombing operations over Germany.
Hitchin by-election, 1941: Sir Arnold Wilson was killed in action over northern France while a gunner in Bomber Command
King’s Norton by-election, 1941: Ronald Cartland was killed in action during the retreat to Dunkirk.
Manchester Exchange by-election, 1940: Peter Eckersley was killed in action in a plane crash while serving with the Fleet Air Arm.
Heywood and Radcliffe by-election, 1940: Richard Porritt was killed in action fighting in Belgium.
Wells by-election, 1939: Anthony Muirhead committed suicide owing to his fear that a leg-injury might prevent his service in the War.
188. Lord Liverpool, who had Canning, Wellington and Peel on board….
Would Birmingham be the other? Cricket, Rubgy, Football?
184 - actually whilst all 3 served in Churchill’s Cabinets, I don’t think they overlapped. Attlee wasn’t in the caretaker cabinet when Mac was SoS for Air.
190. Well done, Marcia’s grandchildren. However, you should have read the footnote I added to the bottom of that wikipedia list I created (and the link) to the effect that not all deaths resulted in by-eections; some were overtaken by the 1945 general election….
So the answer is 22 or 23, depending on the source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_of_members_of_parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom#Second_World_War
Some odd one’s aren’t there, like the chap who topped himself at the outbreak, because he felt he wouldn’t be able to do his bit!
191 - Yes. There seem to be more than I had first thought!
I was thinking of Henry Campbell-Bannerman who had Herbert Asquith, David Lloyd-George, and Winston Churchill in his 1906 cabinet.
I suppose a question (which I don’t know the answer to) would be which PM had the greatest number of future PMs in their cabinet?
168. I thought of Leicester but their days in the Football Premiership are long gone, same with Leeds. Should be easy just think of the rugby clubs as there are only a dozen in the premiership but apart from Trafford I can’t get it.
194- I have given them a prize - washing the dishes.
Have a good evening everyone.
I forgot to take off their moniker.
195 Campbell-Bannerman is the one I always forget about. I keep thinking Asquith became Liberal PM in 1905.
179. According to my notes:
Percy Alden b. 6.6.1865 Liberal, Tottenham (1906-1918); Tottenham South (Labour) 1923-24 d. 6.44 “enemy action”
(When I was making these notes in the library, I noted down the details of anybody who had ever been an MP, and whose cause of death was in any way unusual - so on closer inspection Mr Alden was an elderly former MP who was (presumably) killed as a result of bombing, rather than “on active service”)
18 - am confused as usual, but if nobody’s yet given the right anwser for longest unchanged constituency, was it the CITY of LONDON?
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL PUNTERS!
In the spirit of the season, will somebody please go a round for Bob Cratchit, send Ebenezor’s nightshirt to the cleaners, find a new crutch for Tiny Tim?
And give Mrs Cratchit a proper Christmas goose!
179. P.S. another former MP:
Edward North b. 31.1.1900 Con. Nuneaton 1931-35 d.10.1.42 “killed active service”
181. Churchill? Eden, Macmillan, Home (I presume) (i.e. without checking)
190. I might have just missed some when I was making my notes.
201 - Constituency is City of London and Westminster, I think, and that’s probably seen some changes. Longest unchanged must be the Isle of Wight, surely?
201 Sorry - just read the actual question! No idea on the London one.
While we’re on the subject of merry morbidity, here are some more quiz questions. I’ll give the cause and year of death, and you have to provide the name. They are all MPs, but not necessarily still an MP at the time of death.
(a) accidentally strangled himself (1994)
(b) IRA car bomb (1990)
(c) suicide by car exhaust fumes (1989)
(d) starved himself to death (1981)
(e) unknown cause (unknown date, 1920 or later)
(f) murdered on the steps of his home (1922)
(g) plane crash in Canada (1928)
(h) killed by a buffalo (1889)
(i) killed by a tiger (1858)
(j) assassinated while Governor-General of India (1872)
(k) killed in a house fire (2000)
(l) fell from the London-to-Glasgow express train at Chesterfield (1922)
(m) shooting accident (1952)
(n) plane crash at Hendon (1933)
(o) plane crash off the coast of Denmark (1939)
(p) ambushed by Irish irregulars (1922)
(q) assassinated while Governor Genral of the Bahamas (1973)
(r) murdered by burglars, body found a month later (1977)
(s) drowned trying to rescue children (1948)
(t) lost on a flight from Liberia to Cameroon, wreckage found 8 months later (1964)
205. No, IOW was was subdivided in to several seats prior to 1885, Newport, Newtown, Yarmouth and the IOW proper. PMs Perceval, Canning, Wellington, Melbourne, and Palmerston had all sat for Newport (IOW) at sometime in their careers….
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