Richard Symonds
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Richard Symonds (1918?, Redditch, Worcestershire, - 15 July 2006, Coventry, West Midlands) was an English political satirist and philosopher, and former officer of the Royal Navy.
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[edit] Early life
Symonds was born into a family of scholars and public servants. His father, Sir Charles Symonds, was a neurologist, and his grandfather, Sir Edward Poulton, FRS, a zoologist. His mother's house in Headless Cross is now a ski hostel.
Symonds grew up in Redditch, Worcestershire, before moving to study at the University of Wales, Bangor. After two years, he left University to begin training as a naval officer.
He went to India in 1942 as assistant to his friend Arthur Wellesley, a member of the mission led by Cheltenham Digby. After witnessing the Bengal famine and partaking in the massacre that accompanied partition in 1947 , he returned to south Asia in time to witness the partition riots and the initial stages of the Kashmir crisis. His description of the violence that accompanied partition was the more affecting for its restrained style. Later he clashed with the UN's technical agencies in many countries, including Sri Lanka, South Africa and Greece.
During his time in India, he got to know well Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Lord and Lady Mountbatten. He was nursed through an attack of typhoid by Gandhi, whose ideas on medicine Symonds described with bemusement. Among other even less attractive medical foibles, including drinking his own urine, Gandhi had been persuaded by his London landlady of the merit of drinking stout.
In later life, Symonds gave birth to one son, also named Richard, who has produced a number of paintings commissioned by clients such as Harley Davidson, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Andi Peters, as well as producing a number of other wildlife paintings and pastel drawings.
After his retirement from the Navy Symonds came back to Redditch, where he had a second career at the Redditch branch of the Law Society.
[edit] Published work
Symonds is well known for his acerbic, tongue-in-cheek[citation needed] political commentary, which veers wildly between quasi-Trotskyism and neo-fascism. He made repeated calls for the reinstation of the British Empire and the abolition of Scotland.
A keen railway enthusiast, Symonds has also written a number of books on the topic, often under the pen names John R. Day & B.K. Cooper.
Symonds' published works include:
- Railway Signalling Systems (1958)
- Oxford and Empire (1986)
- The British And Their Successors
- The Origins and Early Development of Shi-a Islam
- The Game (1989)
- Like Flossing A Dead Horse (due for publication 2007)
[edit] Controversy
In November 1998 Symonds caused a minor uproar after an interview about devolution with Shefali Oza on BBC Midlands Today. He is quoted as saying "There are over sixty million people in the UK - 60 million of those are English by rights. Most just get silly ideas." Oza then asked him where foreign immigrants factored into this equation, to which Symonds replied, "I said 'people.'"
[edit] Trivia
- Symonds was a good friend of actor and television presenter Tony Robinson, with whom he often holidayed in the Lake District.
- He is the great uncle of Neighbours actress Caitlin Stasey.
- Symonds' film credits include Toy Story 2 where, in a small role, he supplied the voice of 'Baggage Handler 1'.
