The remarkable careers of John Freeman

The consensus is that the death of Rear Admiral Sir Morgan Morgan-Giles has left John Freeman, the last survivor of the 1945 House of Commons, as the oldest former MP.

But he is notable for far more than his longevity, as a recent New Statesman profile by Hugh Purcell revealed:

In the 1940s he was a war hero, and then an MP who reduced Winston Churchill to tears in the Commons. In the 1950s he was tipped to become Labour leader but resigned from politics and became a TV interviewer. In 1961 he resigned from the BBC and became the editor of the New Statesman. 

Four years later he resigned and became a diplomat, working first as Britain’s high commissioner to India and then as the ambassador to Washington. In 1971 he resigned and became the chairman of London Weekend Television and then Independent Television News. In 1984 he moved to California to teach, until his return and retirement in 1990.