Talk:John Smith (UK politician)
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"Smith's death...caused an emotional convulsion that, in a small way, prefigured the outpouring of grief that followed the equally unexpected death of Diana, Princess of Wales three years later."
I find this really, really hard to believe. I know he's fondly remembered in Labour circles but I'm doubting the mourning of Smith was anything like the mass hysteria following Diana's death. - Johnbull 03:09, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
I don't agree. I remember that there was a shocked reaction to his death and people genuinely felt sad about and moved by it, albeit "in a small way". ¬¬ LP
The front page of The Independent the day after Smith's death had the headline "THE MAN WHO WOULD HAVE LEAD BRITAIN". The front cover of the next edition of Private Eye had a photo of a newspaper seller with 'Smith dead' signage outside the Commons, with the speech bubble "He could still beat Major". These accurately caught the mood at the time: that Britain had lost a good man. Not a man to inspire great love, but a safe, friendly and reliable prime-minister-in-waiting who would do good. I can certainly remember people in pubs being spontaneously maudlin about it -- then again, that's hardly evidence, I suppose ... ;¬) Garrick92 14:47, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
My dad was the last person to shake Mr Smith's hand, and in the last photo ever taken of smith. Tommeehan 12:01, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
- I would also query "equally unexpected" as he did have a known heart condition and had been seeing a specialist for some time beforehand --BozMo talk 09:26, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
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- I'm not sure about that. Although in retrospect it may not have been so expected, at the time it certainly was shocking. I was at university, and when I switched on the radio to hear the news, it made me physically stagger. It was a huge, huge shock to me at least. 86.132.138.42 01:53, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] gay claim
"Note he was also gay before marrying Elizabeth Smith."
can't believe i'm even justifying that with a response. i'm deleting that coment as it's probably vandalism. if its not prove it. whoever put it there, if its true prove it and if its not true then you've already proved that your an idiot Joevsimp 19:09, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] No middle name?
Is it true he didn't have one? --MacRusgail (talk) 14:19, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Drinker?
What's the significance of the "sometimes he drank...." line? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.107.66.35 (talk) 05:46, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Yes it is true he didn't have a middle name. Check his Who's who entries between 1971 and 1994, and also the two biographies written about him by Andy McSmith and Mark Stuart. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.38.18.89 (talk) 09:20, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
