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Saturday 26 July 2014

Rake to Rebel


"A champion of English freedom" reads the inscription on this monument to John Wilkes.  As a young man he had  a reputation as a rake (a bit of a lad about town) but at the age of 30 he put his energies into being a politician albeit with (for the time) rather radical views.

He campaigned to have parliamentary speeches published in full and introduced the first bill to reform parliament.  During the American War of Independence he supported the American rebels.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have just looked him up on Wikipedia. He sounds like my kind of guy.

Sharon said...

Quite a guy!

Luis Gomez said...

Great shot Mo.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Beautifully composed image of Wilkes Mo.

Lowell said...

Very interesting! Some folks never learn a thing and never grow up. Wilkes learned a lot and grew a lot. If you have any more of these folks send them across the pond. We need 'em!

John said...

I think Melvyn Bragg has a tv programme coming up abou him an his contemporaries.

John said...

I'm not really a bad speller, bu my iPad missed a couple of letters on my last comment.

William Kendall said...

The monument contrasts so well with the building itself.

Jack said...

He seems like quite a guy. I love the way you shot him from behind. That building is the perfect background.

Janice Kay Schaub said...

I love London. A special city. I am a country girl and do not like cities, but I am in love with London.
I will be following your blog to see more. I live in the USA now and miss London and England so much.
Janice

Jenny Woolf said...

Men in those days always looked rakish - I think it was the outfits ! :) I didn't know about this statue. Where is it?

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