Eldon_Griffiths
Eldon Griffiths
British politician and journalist
Sir Eldon Wylie Griffiths (25 May 1925 – 3 June 2014) was a British Conservative politician and journalist.
Sir Eldon Griffiths | |
|---|---|
| Minister for Sport | |
| In office 19 June 1970 – 4 March 1974 | |
| Prime Minister | Edward Heath |
| Preceded by | Denis Howell |
| Succeeded by | Denis Howell |
| Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds | |
| In office 14 May 1964 – 16 March 1992 | |
| Preceded by | William Traven Aitken |
| Succeeded by | Richard Spring |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1925-05-25)25 May 1925 Wigan, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 3 June 2014(2014-06-03) (aged 89) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) |
Sigrid Gante
(m. 1949; div. 1985)Betty Stannard
(m. 1985; died 2010)Susan Donnell (m. 2013) |
| Children | 2, including John Griffiths |
| Alma mater | Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
| Profession | Journalist and farmer |
Griffiths was born on 25 May 1925 in Wigan, Lancashire.[3] His Welsh father was a police sergeant. He attended Ashton-under-Lyne Grammar School. Following the Second World War service in the Royal Air Force he gained a double first class degree in history from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and an MA from Yale University.[4][5]
Journalism
After university Griffiths worked in the Conservative Research Department and became a journalist and farmer. He was managing editor of Newsweek.
Political career
He became the MP for Bury St Edmunds after a by-election in 1964, and represented the seat until he retired in 1992. His Daily Telegraph obituary claimed he was "rangy, articulate, but dour... a political loner, and not over-popular on the Tory benches." However, it listed many achievements as MP and in other spheres.[6] He served as Minister for Sport during the Edward Heath government of 1970 to 1974. He also served as parliamentary spokesman for the Police Federation. In 1985, he was made a Knight Bachelor for "political service".[7]
Academia
For a brief period while an MP, Griffiths worked as a professor at the University of California, Irvine,[1] a role in which The Times said led to him being called the member for Orange County.[8]
Director appointments
Griffiths was a director of one of Gerald Carroll's Carroll Group companies.[9]
In June 2013, aged 88, he announced his third marriage, to Susan Donnell.[10]
He was a Freeman of the borough of St Edmundsbury.
- "GRIFFITHS, Sir Eldon (Wylie)". Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 2024 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Sir Eldon Griffiths obituary, theguardian.com, 4 June 2014.
- Langdon, Julia (4 June 2014). "Sir Eldon Griffiths obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
- Eldon Griffiths Obituary in the Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 June 2014
- Eldon Griffith obituary in The Guardian Retrieved 4 June 2014
- Daily Telegraph, London 4 June 2014
- "No. 50154". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 1985. p. 1.
- Kidd, Patrick. "Times Diary". The Times. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- "SFO looks at 500m fall of Carroll empire", Dominic O'Connell, Sunday Business, 1 October 2000, p. 1.
- Former MP of Bury St Edmunds to marry for third time at the age of 88, Bury Free Press. Accessed 18 January 2023.
- The Times Guide to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Ltd, 1966 & 1987
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds 1964–1992 |
Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Sport 1970–1974 |
Succeeded by |
 | This article about a British journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
   | This article about a Conservative Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom representing an English constituency and born in the 1920s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |