Michael Foot

1913 - 2010

It is with great sadness that we record the death of Michael Foot, President of the Thomas Paine Society. Whilst hardly unexpected given his age and increasing frailty, his passing is, nonetheless, a great loss to all those who shared his passion for the British radical tradition and for its continuance.

Michael was not only a great advocate of that radical spirit and a chronicler of it, he was himself a part of it, and will be remembered that way.

Thomas Paine was one of Michael's heroes; Michael admired him for his unflinching commitment to the cause of equality and freedom for the common people against vested interests and oppression. No mean literary talent himself, Michael loved Paine's writing style and would enthusiastically read aloud from him at the slightest bidding! It is not surprising that Michael was asked to co-edit The Thomas Paine Reader for Penguin in 1987.

Michael was a founding member of the TPS, was elected to be its first President, and remained in that capacity until now. He was active with us whenever he could be; I especially value the support that he gave to John Keane and me when we were organising our 1994 Paine Symposium; he always did his best to attend our AGMs – as a member and supporter, simply – and despite his frailty, he insisted upon attending as recently as 2006.

As I write this, the newspapers and websites are (quite rightly) full of tributes to this extraordinary man. Allow me to add two personal memories…………

In 1987, Michael was guest of honour at the dinner held in Thetford to mark Paine's 250 th anniversary. After the proceedings had closed, I was waiting on the Norwich-bound platform of Thetford station when Michael appeared on the opposite side, returning to London . He was listening intently to his Walkman on headphones. When I next met him a couple of months later, I couldn't resist asking him what he'd been listening to – expecting Mozart to be the answer; he thought briefly, and then replied “must have been the football results, I seem to remember Argyle were playing that day.”

And then……in 1995, after a TPS meeting in Lewes, walking down the High Street with him, making our way to the railway station to catch a train back to London; so many people just wanted to stop and say hello, and Michael responded happily to them all, chatting about this and that, asking them what they thought……..we missed our train. But then I had the pleasure of just sitting and chatting with him in the pub – he liked a Guinness – for the next hour. We all know that Michael was a wonderful speaker, but he was also something that so few politicians today seem to be – he was also a great listener.

Such a fine man, and such great company.

Chad Goodwin, TPS Chair 5 March 2010