Having moved to Leicester in 1963 when he became a student at Leicester University, joining the local party whose brief revival that year quickly faded.
Roger managed to establish himself as the main voice for Liberalism in the city as well as contesting the Gainsborough constituency in Lincolnshire. He fought the seat four times, his campaigns being the stuff of legend.
As this excellent tribute says, Roger went on to fight Jeremy Thorpe's old seat of North Devon, to be leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Leicester City Council and then leader of the council itself, and after that a popular Lord Mayor.
If you click on the picture of a youthful Roger above, you will be taken to a 1975 news report about the strike at Imperial Typewriters in 1975. Roger is interviewed about the formation of an action group that attempted to prevent the factory from closing.
Extraordinary, isn't it? In the mid 1970s it wasn't possible to consider a future without typewriters......
ReplyDeleteRemember Roger fondly a great raconteur and wonderful source of inspiration and advice when i first entered politics. We went to many a glee club together particularly remember Harrogate 1987 though how i remember i don't know!
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