John Wentworth Pardoe (born 27 July 1934) is a British retired businessman and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician. He was Chairman of Sight and Sound Education Ltd from 1979 to 1989.

Early life and education

Pardoe was the son of Cuthbert B. Pardoe and Marjorie E. W. (''née'' Taylor). He attended

King's College School, Cambridge King's College School is a coeducational independent preparatory school for children aged 4 to 13 in Cambridge, England, situated on West Road off Grange Road, west of the city centre. It was founded to educate the choristers in the King's ...

, and was a chorister in the

Choir of King's College, Cambridge The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's Coll ...

. He then went to

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors , ...

, a boarding

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

for boys in the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. T ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, followed by

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

. He was active in the famous

Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

drama club; one critic of their 1955 revue panned future comedian

Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 19 ...

, whilst predicting a bold comedic future for Pardoe. He gained an MA at Cambridge.

Early career

Pardoe worked for Television Audience Measurement Ltd from 1958 to 1960, Osborne Peacock Co. Ltd from 1960 to 1961 and ''Liberal News'' from 1961 to 1966.

Political career

In the 1964 general election, Pardoe unsuccessfully stood as the Liberal candidate against

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

. In the 1966 election, the Liberal Party increased its number of MPs from nine to twelve: one of them was Pardoe, who captured the

North Cornwall North Cornwall ( kw, An Tiredh Uhel) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is also the name of a former local government district, which was administered from Bodmin and Wadebridge . Other towns in the area are Launceston, Bude, P ...

seat from the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

James Scott-Hopkins Sir James Sidney Rawdon Scott-Hopkins (29 November 1921 – 11 March 1995) was a British Conservative politician. Born in Croydon, Scott-Hopkins was educated at Eton College and the University of Oxford. He joined the British Army in 1939. He w ...

. He rapidly became the party's Economic Affairs spokesman in parliament and was respected for the intellect of his views, if not for the often partisan nature of his comments. Pardoe was Treasurer of the Liberal Party from 1968 to 1969. In the 1960s, Pardoe was a member of

Mebyon Kernow Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall (, MK; Cornish for ''Sons of Cornwall'') is a Cornish nationalist, centre-left political party in Cornwall, in southwestern Britain. It currently has five elected councillors on Cornwall Council, and s ...

as well as the Liberal Party. In 1976, after the resignation of

Jeremy Thorpe John Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. In May 1979 he was tried at th ...

, Pardoe was a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party. He lost to

David Steel David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, (born 31 March 1938) is a British politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leade ...

, who received 12,541 votes to Pardoe's 7,032. Pardoe played the fairy-tale Liberal prime minister in

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's Christmas

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

, ''

Black Cinderella Two Goes East ''Black Cinderella Two Goes East'' (sometimes referred to as ''Black Cinderella II Goes East'') was a radio pantomime broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 25 December 1978. The programme is notable for being one of only a few radio programmes (co)-produc ...

'' in 1978, on the basis that Liberal prime ministers exist only in fairy tales. At the 1979 general election, he lost his seat, possibly because of his outspoken support for neighbouring MP

, who was then about to stand trial at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

for conspiracy and incitement to murder. At the general election of 1987, Pardoe served as campaign manager of the SDP-Liberal Alliance.

Outside politics

From 1967 to 1973, Pardoe was a consultant to the

National Association of Schoolmasters The National Association of Schoolmasters (NAS) was a trade union representing male schoolteachers in the United Kingdom. History The origins of the NAS can be traced back to the formation of the National Association of Men Teachers (NAMT) in 1919 ...

. He was a director at William Schlackman Ltd from 1968 to 1971, Gerald Metals (1972–83) and a Member of the

London Metal Exchange The London Metal Exchange (LME) is a futures and forwards exchange with the world's largest market in standarised forward contracts, futures contracts and options on base metals. The exchange also offers contracts on ferrous metals and precious ...

from 1973 to 1983. Pardoe was a presenter of

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

's ''Look Here'' television programme from 1979 to 1981. In the same period, he was also a Senior Research Fellow at the

Policy Studies Institute The Policy Studies Institute (PSI) is a British think-tank and research institute. PSI began in 1931 as Political and Economic Planning and became the Policy Studies Institute in 1978 on its merger with the Centre for Studies in Social Policy (est ...

. From 1985 to 1989, he was a member of the Youth Training Board.

Personal life

In 1958, Pardoe married Joyce R. Peerman; the couple have two sons and a daughter. Pardoe lives in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, north west London. His recreations are walking, reading, music and carpentry.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pardoe, John 1934 births Living people Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Cornwall Presidents of the Liberal Party (UK) UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for North Cornwall Choristers of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge People educated at Sherborne School Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge