Monday 2 April 2012

Our Charlton Peer

I noticed an obituary On Monday on Lord Wedderburn of Charlton who passed away age 84 on March 9th and thought it worthy of some investigation.
He was born in Deptford, where I and a number of other fellow season ticket holders were school chums and, like us, chose to support CAFC and not the equidistant Millwall.
When it comes to politics, we are all entitled to different views and unless you are 100% left wing it’s unlikely that you would agree with many of his views and the principles that he consistently stood up for (including opposing draft legislation on union strike ballots).
Politics aside, he was a lawyer with recognised expertise in industrial and union legislation, had a conviction dating back many years that EC membership weakened Britain’s sovereignty, was a visiting professor at UCLA and Harvard in the ‘60’s (no mean feat alone) and a professor at the LSE (to crown his left wing credentials).
His list of achievements is many and diverse.
When made a Lord in 1977 he opted for a title that reflected his lifelong support of our club, so he stole the thunder from all you budding Lords of the realm with CAFC affiliations.
It’s a pity that he will not be here to see the run-in but let’s hope we can reward his lifelong support with some end of season glory.
It’s gong to be a potential cliff hanger but if we can keep on collecting the points, despite indifferent form, then it augurs well.
A toast to the old chap on getting there will seem in order.

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