In a change to the published programme, Janet & Barry will present their talk on TWAMPS (They were also MPs), about famous people who also spent time in the House of Commons.

This talk is based on a series of articles written some years ago for a monthly political magazine, Total Politics. During their parliamentary and academic lives, they were surprised how many times they came across a famous historical name in literature, business, military, science or whatever who had been at some point a Member of Parliament, but this aspect is often not known generally. From the almost 60 published pieces, and from later research, they have distilled the most interesting – often the most surprising – examples in the talk. Some never spoke in the House of Commons; others were active MPs and even promoted useful legislation. Many of them had thoughtful and amusing things to say about their election and parliamentary experiences. They round off the presentation with a section on famous people who tried to become MPs but were not elected, and a section on MPs with surprisingly well-known names (including a late 18^th century George Best, and two Charlie Chaplins!).