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Same here. News about him and his antics seemed to be forever in the news when I was a kid - which shows how old I am!
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He and his friends and a dog that got shot ISTR!
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>> order-order.com/2014/12/04/watch-peter-cooks-jeremy-thorpe-acquittal-sketch/
His strategy before the Old Bailey where (a) he was repersented by a lawyer who'd made his name in libel/defamation and (b) declined to give evidence was to say least high risk.
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I was surprised to be reminded he was still alive when his second wife, formerly the Countess of Harewood, died earlier in the year.
Interesting obituaries on the radio - David Steel just been interviewed by Eddie Mair on PM. Also how old fashioned Thorpe's speaking style was; I don't remember him sounding odd at the time. Consensus now though seems to be he didn't get as near the Cabinet as some suggested post 74. Even if he'd entered a coalition with Heath it would still have been a minority govt. And the public had just answered the question 'who runs the country' with answer along line of nor sure mate but not you!!
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Blackmailed because of sexuality. Damning indictment on a "civilised" society.
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>> Blackmailed because of sexuality. Damning indictment on a "civilised" society.
>>
Wasn't above a certain level of dodgyness himself. Reaped what he sowed.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Thu 4 Dec 14 at 19:19
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The dog was called Rinka if I recall correctly.
Funny how everyone can remember that.
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>> The dog was called Rinka if I recall correctly.
>> Funny how everyone can remember that
A great dane, IIRC.
I wonder what the truth of all that was? I think the airline pilot who plugged the dog and threatened Norman Scott was supposedly being blackmailed, then subsequently, having done a bit of porridge, said he had been paid to bump Scott off.
Seems a bit melodramatic now with the change in supposed attitudes to homosexuality in the intervening years. I say supposed, because many people had friends of the non-marrying sort then - I'm thinking of a close friend of my parents - but when it came to public figures being acknowledged as homosexual, the ball was over the wall.
At least that aspect of life has improved.
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If anyone would like my take on what happened at Minehead Magistrates' Court that day and the bungling on all sides that followed, I still charge 10p a word, plus VAT.
Wikipaedia and the like is not necessarily your friend.
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>> Wasn't above a certain level of dodgyness himself. Reaped what he sowed.
Agree first sentence. There were stories about his election to the Oxford Union bein less than lean. His involvement with the 'fringe banking' stuff in the seventies boom could easily have seen him off too.
Not clear how that meant he reaped (deserve?) the Scott farrago. It is though interesting to read the extent to which he was initially protected by media's solid refusal to cover Scott's initial attempts to publicise their relationship.
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Jeremy Thorpe's disgrace among politicians was hermetic and absolute. After his (or someone's, yuck) Scheisse hit the fan we saw him at a firework display in Orme Square where his wife had a house, as did some well-heeled friends of ours. The fireworks were courtesy of the Qatari Ambassador whose residence was also there. Thorpe was standing on his own, with a sort of empty space around him, and cut a touchingly solitary figure trying to carry on as normal.
Of course the Norman Scott/Rinka business was fairly distasteful. One didn't really want to know all the details, but the egregious Scott and his tabloid buddies made sure one did.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 5 Dec 14 at 16:52
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Motoring relevance - there's a photo of Norman Scott in today's DT next to a Triumph 2000 Mk1.
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Jeremy Thorpe - Boxsterboy
