Hague's fairy godfather

Alumnus to be proud of no 113, Lord Owen, may turn out to have made his most significant contribution to British politics by intervening in the 1989 Richmond by-election. An apparent sitter for the Liberals, Owen's Social Democrats insisted on standing as well. The Tory candidate, one William Hague, sneaked in with 37.2 per cent of the vote. It remains a matter of doubt whether those political skills were acquired as a student at Sidney Sussex, Cambridge, or St Thomas's Hospital, London.