Ludovic Kennedy
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Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster,
humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...
and author best known for re-examining cases such as the
Lindbergh kidnapping On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields (Amwell and Ho ...
and the murder convictions of
Timothy Evans Timothy John Evans (20 November 1924 – 9 March 1950) was a Welshman who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife (Beryl) and infant daughter (Geraldine) at their residence in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried, and was c ...
and
Derek Bentley Derek William Bentley (30 June 1933 – 28 January 1953) was a British man who was hanged for the murder of a policeman during a burglary attempt. Christopher Craig, then aged 16, a friend and accomplice of Bentley, was accused of the murde ...
, and for his role in the abolition of the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
in the United Kingdom.


Early life

Kennedy was born in 1919 in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, the son of a career
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
officer,
Edward Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
, and his wife, Rosalind Grant, daughter of
Sir Ludovic Grant, 11th Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
. His mother Rosalind was a cousin of the Conservative politician
Robert Boothby Robert John Graham Boothby, Baron Boothby, (12 February 1900 – 16 July 1986), often known as Bob Boothby, was a British Conservative politician. Early life The only son of Sir Robert Tuite Boothby, KBE, of Edinburgh and a cousin of Rosalind ...
, later Lord Boothby. He had two younger sisters, Morar and Katherine. Morar married the playwright
Royce Ryton Royce Thomas Carlisle Ryton (16 September 1924 – 14 April 2009) was an English playwright. He was educated at Lancing College. During the war he served in the Royal Navy; afterward, he went to train as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy ...
in 1954. Katherine married Major Ion Calvocoressi in 1947. He was schooled at
Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
(where he played in a jazz band with
Humphrey Lyttelton Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family. Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...
) and studied for a year at
Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
, until the outbreak of war. While at Oxford he was a member of the Bullingdon Club. Kennedy's father, by then a 60-year-old retired captain, returned to the navy and was given command of , a hastily militarised P&O ocean liner, known as an
Armed Merchant Cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...
which used on the
Northern Patrol The Northern Patrol, also known as Cruiser Force B and the Northern Patrol Force, was an operation of the British Royal Navy during the First World War and Second World War. The Patrol was part of the British "distant" blockade of Germany. Its ma ...
. On 23 November 1939, while on patrol southeast of
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
''Rawalpindi'' encountered two of the most powerful German warships, the small battleships (or battlecruisers) and trying to break out between Iceland and Britain into the Atlantic. ''Rawalpindi'' was able to signal the German ships' location back to base. Despite being hopelessly outgunned, Kennedy decided to fight, rather than surrender as demanded by the Germans. ''Scharnhorst'' sank ''Rawalpindi''; of her 312 crew, 275 (including her captain) were killed. Kennedy was posthumously
mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
and his decision to fight against overwhelming odds entered the folklore of the Royal Navy. His son Ludovic was 20 years old.


Naval officer

Ludovic Kennedy followed his father into the Royal Navy; he served as an officer on
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s, mostly in the same northern seas. His ship, , was one of those that pursued the battleship ''Bismarck'' following the
Battle of the Denmark Strait The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a naval engagement in the Second World War, which took place on 24 May 1941 between ships of the Royal Navy and the ''Kriegsmarine''. The British battleship and the battlecruiser fought the German battlesh ...
. He witnessed the final battle, until ''Bismarck'' was ablaze and its crew began to abandon ship but shortage of fuel forced ''Tartar'' to depart for home before ''Bismarck'' sank. Kennedy later wrote about this in his 1974 book ''Pursuit'', his chronicle of the chase and sinking of ''Bismarck''.


Return to university

Kennedy returned to Christ Church, Oxford at the end of the war to complete his English degree. He also edited the student newspaper ''
The Isis Magazine ''The Isis'' is a student publication at the University of Oxford, where the magazine was established in 1892. Traditionally a rival to the student newspaper '' Cherwell'', ''Isis'' was finally acquired by the latter's publishing house, Oxfor ...
''. At Oxford he helped found the Writers' Club and then sought a means of support while he completed a book on Nelson's captains. After leaving Oxford he began a career as an
investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
.


Journalism and broadcasting

Kennedy wrote for a number of publications, including ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''. From 1953, he edited and introduced the ''First Reading'' radio series on the
BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...
, presenting young writers such as
Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...
and
Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (1 ...
. Later he became a television journalist and a newsreader on
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
's
Independent Television News Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, ...
alongside
Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...
and
Chris Chataway Chris Chataway (born ) is an Australian Anglican priest and musician who has served as Dean of Perth since 1 February 2020. He previously served as Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Cath ...
. He presented the BBC's flagship current affairs programme ''
Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...
'' for several years. Kennedy was interested in
miscarriages of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...
, and he wrote and broadcast on numerous cases. Kennedy was interested in
naval warfare Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large la ...
. He wrote and presented a substantial number of television documentaries for the BBC on maritime history in the Second World War, beginning with
Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...
, followed by the dramatic narrative of the
sinking of the Bismarck The last battle of the German battleship ''Bismarck'' took place in the Atlantic Ocean approximately west of Brest, France, on 26–27 May 1941 between the and naval and air elements of the British Royal Navy. Although it was a decisive actio ...
in which he was involved. Other subjects included the
U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
war, the story of
HMS Belfast } HMS ''Belfast'' is a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy. She is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the River Thames in London and is operated by the Imperial War Museum. Construction of ''Belfast'', the ...
, and the
Dieppe Raid Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was an Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a regiment o ...
and
St Nazaire Raid The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) a ...
. ''The Life and Death of the Scharnhorst'' (1971) brought him into contact with survivors of the battlecruiser that had sunk his father's ship ''Rawalpindi''. The series included ''Target Tirpitz'' (1973), a history of the extraordinary attempts to sink the feared German battleship; two of the films led to books. In 1980 he presented an episode of the BBC television series '' Great Railway Journeys of the World'', in which he crossed the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. From 1980 to 1988 he presented the television review programme '' Did You See...?'' He interviewed
Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...
's character Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling in ''A Life in Pieces'' in 1990. He appeared as himself in several episodes on the political comedy series ''
Yes Minister ''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fro ...
'', often being called ''Ludo'' by
Jim Hacker James George Hacker, Baron Hacker of Islington, , BSc ( Lond.), Hon. D. Phil (Oxon.) is a fictional character in the 1980s British sitcom ''Yes Minister'' and its sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister''. He is the Minister of the (fictional) Departmen ...
portrayed by
Paul Eddington Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor best known for playing Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom '' The Good Life'' (1975–78) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom ''Yes Minister'' (1980–84) an ...
. Kennedy was the subject of an episode of '' That Reminds Me'' (2002: season 4, episode 1). Kennedy also expressed to another journalist that there were too many Blacks on television. ''
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
'' magazine sometimes referred to him as 'Ludicrous Kennedy'. In the long-running BBC sitcom ''
Till Death Us Do Part ''Till Death Us Do Part'' is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1975. The show was first broadcast in 1965 as a ''Comedy Playhouse'' pilot, then as seven series between 1966 and 1975. In 1981, ITV continued the sitcom ...
'',
Alf Garnett Alfred Edward "Alf" Garnett is a fictional character from the British sitcom '' Till Death Us Do Part'' and its follow-on and spin-off series '' Till Death...'' and ''In Sickness and in Health''. He also appeared in the chat show ''The Thoughts ...
– while attacking BBC personalities – spoke of him as a ''Russian Mick'' (''"Mick"'' being a derogatory term for an Irish person), meaning "that ''Ludovich Kennedy!"''


Writing

Kennedy's book ''Pursuit: The Chase and Sinking of the "Bismarck"'' () detailed the career of the ''Bismarck'', her sinking of British
battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...
''Hood'', and her destruction by the Royal Navy.


Miscarriages of justice

He wrote several books that questioned convictions in a number of notable cases in British judicial history. One of the first
miscarriages of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...
he investigated was the conviction and hanging of
Timothy Evans Timothy John Evans (20 November 1924 – 9 March 1950) was a Welshman who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife (Beryl) and infant daughter (Geraldine) at their residence in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried, and was c ...
in his 1961 book ''
Ten Rillington Place John Reginald Halliday Christie (8 April 1899 – 15 July 1953), known to his family and friends as Reg Christie, was an English serial killer and alleged necrophile active during the 1940s and early 1950s. Christie murdered at least eight peo ...
'' (). Evans was found to have murdered his baby daughter in 1950, but Kennedy contended that he was innocent, and that the murders of his wife and baby had been committed by the
serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
John Christie. Christie was hanged three years after the hanging of Evans, following the discovery of six more bodies at 10 Rillington Place, none of which could be ascribed to Evans. Indeed, two of the skeletons found at the house dated back to the war – long before Evans and his family had moved in. After a long campaign, Evans was
posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...
pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
ed in 1966. The scandal helped in the abolition of the death penalty in the UK. In 1970 Kennedy's book was turned into a film entitled '' 10 Rillington Place''; the British crime film starred
Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisio ...
as Christie,
John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...
as Timothy Evans,
Judy Geeson Judith Amanda Geeson (born 10 September 1948) is an English film, stage, and television actress. She began her career primarily working on British television series, with a leading role on '' The Newcomers'' from 1965 to 1967, before making he ...
as Beryl Evans and
Pat Heywood Patricia Heywood (born 1 August 1931 in Gretna Green, Dumfriesshire, Scotland), is a Scottish character actress who has appeared in stage productions, films and television. She is married to Oliver Neville, the former principal of the Royal Acad ...
as Ethel Christie. In 1985, Kennedy published ''The Airman and the Carpenter'' (), in which he argued that
Richard Hauptmann Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 – April 3, 1936) was a German-born carpenter who was convicted of the abduction and murder of the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The Lindbergh kidnap ...
did not kidnap and murder
Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
's baby, a crime for which he was executed in 1936. The book was made into a 1996
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
film ''
Crime of the Century "Crime of the century" is an idiomatic phrase used to describe particularly sensational or notorious criminal cases. Chua-Eoan, Howard (n.d.)"Crimes of the Century: The Top 25" ''Time''. Retrieved September 10, 2021. In the United States, it is of ...
'', starring
Stephen Rea Stephen Rea ( ; born 31 October 1946) is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in films such as ''V for Vendetta'', ''Michael Collins'', ''Interview with the Vampire'' and ''Breakfast on Pluto''. Rea was nominated for the Academy Award ...
and
Isabella Rossellini Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born 18 June 1952) is an Italian-American actress, author, philanthropist, and model. The daughter of the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted ...
. In 1990, Kennedy became the advisory committee chairman of ''Just Television'', a television production company dedicated to exposing miscarriages of justice. In 2003, he wrote ''36 Murders and 2 Immoral Earnings'' (), in which he analysed a number of noted cases, including the Evans case and those of
Derek Bentley Derek William Bentley (30 June 1933 – 28 January 1953) was a British man who was hanged for the murder of a policeman during a burglary attempt. Christopher Craig, then aged 16, a friend and accomplice of Bentley, was accused of the murde ...
and the
Birmingham Six The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the Cou ...
, a number of which were affected by claims of police failure,
police misconduct Police misconduct refers to inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: false confession, coerced false confession, intimidation, false arre ...
or
perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
. In it he concluded that the
adversarial system The adversarial system or adversary system is a legal system used in the common law countries where two advocates represent their parties' case or position before an impartial person or group of people, usually a judge or jury, who attempt to det ...
of justice in the UK and the United States "is an invitation to the police to commit perjury, which they frequently do", and said that he preferred the
inquisitorial system An inquisitorial system is a legal system in which the court, or a part of the court, is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case. This is distinct from an adversarial system, in which the role of the court is primarily that of a ...
. Kennedy also wrote: * ''Sub-Lieutenant: A Personal Record of the War at Sea'', 1942 * ''One Man's Meat'', 1953 * '' Murder Story'', 1954 * ''Trial of
Stephen Ward Stephen Thomas Ward (19 October 1912 – 3 August 1963) was an English osteopath and artist who was one of the central figures in the 1963 Profumo affair, a British political scandal which brought about the resignation of John Profumo, the Sec ...
'', 1964, * ''Very lovely people; a personal look at some Americans living abroad'', 1969, * ''Nelson and His Captains'' (also called ''Nelson's band of brothers''), 1975, * ''Presumption of Innocence: Amazing Case of Patrick Meehan'', 1976, * ''Death of the Tirpitz'' (also called ''Menace – The Life and Death of the Tirpitz''), 1979, * ''Wicked beyond belief: The Luton murder case'', 1980, * ''On My Way to the Club'', 1990, (his autobiography) * ''Euthanasia: The Case for the Good Death'', 1990, () * ''Truth to Tell: Collected Writings of Ludovic Kennedy'', 1992, * ''In Bed with an Elephant: Personal View of Scotland'', 1995, * ''All in the Mind: A Farewell To God'', 1999, (a critique of Christianity)


Politics and campaigns

In 1958, Kennedy stood for election to
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
as the
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
candidate in the Rochdale by-election called after the death of the sitting
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
MP, Wentworth Schofield in December 1957. He lost to the
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
candidate,
Jack McCann John McCann (4 December 1910 – 16 July 1972) was a British politician, who served as the Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Rochdale (UK Parliament constituency), Rochdale. McCann was ...
, but achieved an increase in the Liberal vote, pushing the Conservatives into third place. The Rochdale contest was the first British by-election to receive live television coverage (locally, by
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
). He stood for Rochdale at the 1959 general election, with a vote share increased from the by-election, but again came second to Labour. In addition to his writing and campaigning on
miscarriages of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...
, Kennedy campaigned on a number of other issues. A lifelong
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, he published ''All in the Mind: A Farewell To God'' in 1999, in which he discussed his philosophical objections to religion, and the ills he felt had come from Christianity. He was a Distinguished Supporter of the
British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...
, he contributed to ''
New Humanist ''New Humanist'' is a quarterly magazine, published by the Rationalist Association in the UK, that focuses on culture, news, philosophy, and science from a sceptical perspective. History The ''New Humanist'' has been in print for more than 13 ...
'' magazine, he was an Honorary Associate of the
National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...
and a Distinguished Supporter of the
Humanist Society Scotland Humanist Society Scotland is a Scottish Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, registered charity that promotes humanism, humanist views and offers Humanist Celebrant, humanist wedding, funeral, and baby-naming ceremonies. It is a member of ...
. He was also an advocate of the legalisation of
assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...
, and was a co-founder and former chair of the
Voluntary Euthanasia Society Dignity in Dying (originally The Voluntary Euthanasia Legalisation Society) is a United Kingdom nationwide campaigning organisation. It is funded by voluntary contributions from members of the public, and as of December 2010, it claimed to hav ...
. His book, ''Euthanasia: The Case for the Good Death'', was published in 1990. Kennedy resigned from the Liberal Democrats in 2001, citing the incompatibility of his pro-voluntary euthanasia views with those of the then Liberal Democrat leader
Charles Kennedy Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...
(no relation), who was a Roman Catholic. He then stood as an independent on a platform of legalising voluntary euthanasia in the 2001 general election for the
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
constituency of
Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...
. He won 2 per cent of the vote and subsequently rejoined the Liberal Democrats.


Personal life

In February 1950 he married the dancer and actress
Moira Shearer Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006), was an internationally renowned Scottish ballet, ballet dancer and actress. She was famous for her performances in Powell and Pressburger's ''The Red Shoes (1948 film), Th ...
in the
Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applie ...
,
Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
. He later remembered their meeting in 1949, when he was reluctantly persuaded by a friend to accept a complimentary ticket to a fancy dress ball held at the Lyceum ballroom in London. Shearer – who had recently become famous for her role in '' The Red Shoes'' – was presenting the prizes at the occasion, and Kennedy later recalled that "I felt a tremor run through me when I caught sight of her. She looked even lovelier than in the film." Summoning up his courage, he approached the 23-year-old dancer and asked her to dance. She would be delighted, she told him, only "I don't dance very well." She was not, Kennedy revealed, a competent ballroom dancer. The couple had one son and three daughters (Alastair, Ailsa, Rachel and Fiona) from a 56-year marriage that ended with her death on 31 January 2006 at the age of 80.Obituary
in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', 2 February 2006. Retrieved 11 October 2014.


Honours

He received an
honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
from the
University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
in 1985. He was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to journalism, on the recommendation of
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
's government. Major's predecessor
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 ...
had vetoed Kennedy's knighthood.


Death

Kennedy died of
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
in a nursing home in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on 18 October 2009, aged 89.


References


External links


Details of HMS ''Rawalpindi''


– ''Daily Telegraph'' obituary * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Ludovic 1919 births 2009 deaths 20th-century British non-fiction writers Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford British anti–death penalty activists British male journalists ITN newsreaders and journalists Euthanasia activists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Deaths from pneumonia in England Knights Bachelor Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Panorama (British TV programme) People educated at Eton College Journalists from Edinburgh Royal Navy officers of World War II Scottish atheists Scottish humanists Scottish male writers Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish television presenters Bullingdon Club members