Over the coming months, Manchester’s People’s History Museum is seeking to sign up 100 people or organisations to sponsor a Radical Hero.
The latest addition and bringing the list of radicals to a total of one hundred and one came from former Home Johnson whose personal hero was Scottish trade union activist, orator, politician and journalist, James ‘Jimmy’ Reid.
Reid was famously one of the leaders in the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Work-in and also a great supporter of Scottish independence.
Commenting on the campaign, Johnson said, ‘The People’s History Museum is the only place dedicated to telling the story of British people’s fight for democracy. The legacies of these great social and political pioneers are a precious gift and support for this campaign is vital to ensuring that these stories can continue to be told’.
The list of radicals features politicians, suffragists, campaigners and writers, among others. Prime Ministers in the line-up include William Gladstone, Stanley Baldwin, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.
Early feminists also appear, with Nancy Astor, the first woman to sit as an MP and suffragist writer and activist Charlotte Despard. Others include Viv Anderson, the first black footballer to represent England, writer George Orwell, songwriter and musician Billy Bragg and gay rights activist Leo Abse.
