Tag Archives: peter cook

RIP Sir Ludovic Kennedy

By Stephen Tall | Published 19th October 2009 - 7:34 pm

The BBC reports:

The author, broadcaster and campaigner Sir Ludovic Kennedy has died aged 89. A former BBC Panorama journalist, Sir Ludovic spent decades investigating miscarriages of justice, including the case of the Birmingham Six. He contributed to the abolition of the death penalty and was also president of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society.

Nick Clegg has joined in the tributes to Sir Ludovic, a member of the Liberal party and later the Lib Dems, for most of his life:

Ludovic Kennedy was one of the great thinkers of his generation. His pursuit of justice and his championing of sometimes unpopular and

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YouTube ‘cos we want to: comedy special

By Stephen Tall | Published 18th July 2009 - 8:30 am

Welcome to the weekend edition of our new LDV feature rounding up some of the best/worst/most curious political videos doing the rounds. Or, as with this week, a trio of three politically-related comedy clips.

First up, let’s start with a classic: Peter Cook’s famous satiric ‘biased judge’ interpretation of the Jeremy Thorpe trial as performed at Amnesty’s Secret Policeman’s Ball. You don’t have to know the full background to the trial to enjoy the performance. (Though it does help, and if you want to know more, read this book).

Next up, it’s Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie enjoying the ‘Young Tory of the Year’ show – some things never change:

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YouTube ‘cos we want to: Jeremy, David and Paddy

By Stephen Tall | Published 12th June 2009 - 7:30 pm

Another instalment in our occasional series rounding up political videos doing the rounds – for this special Friday night edition, we’re delving back a little further into the archives to recall three of the great Liberal leaders of the past few decades.

First up, here’s the only clip I can find of Jeremy Thorpe, being questioned by a studio audience alongside Jimmy Saville (how times change):

By the way, if you’ve never seen Peter Cook’s magisterial ‘biased judge’ summing up from 1979 at the conclusion of the Thorpe trial, click here and enjoy 12 minutes of the finest satirical comedy ever staged.

Second’s up is David Steel, here represented by the famous excerpt from his leadership speech in 1981 – yes, that’s right, the “go back to your constituencies and prepare for government” one:

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