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Anthony King (political scientist)

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Anthony King
FBA
King giving a talk on "The Blunders of our Governments" at the Essex Book Festival, 2014
Born
Anthony Stephen King

(1934-11-17)17 November 1934
Canada
Died12 January 2017(2017-01-12) (aged 82)
NationalityCanadian-British
Alma materQueen's University, Ontario
University of Oxford
Spouse(s)
Vera Korte
​
​
(m. 1965; died 1971)​

Jan Reece
​
(m. 1980)​
Scientific career
FieldsGovernment, psephology
InstitutionsUniversity of Essex
Thesis Some aspects of the history of the Liberal Party in Britain, 1906–1914

Anthony Stephen King FBA (17 November 1934 – 12 January 2017) was a Canadian-British professor of government, psephologist and commentator. He taught at the Department of Government at the University of Essex for many years.

Early life

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King was born in Canada[1][2] on 17 November 1934,[3] the son of Marjorie and Harold King.[3] He gained a B.A. in History and Economics at Queen's University, Ontario.[4][5] In the 1950s, he moved to UK as a Rhodes Scholar[1] to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford, after which he gained a D.Phil.[4][2] with thesis titled "Some aspects of the history of the Liberal Party in Britain, 1906–1914".[6]

Career

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He initially taught at Magdalen College, Oxford, before transferring to Essex, from which he never officially retired.[1][7] From 1969, he was Professor of Government at Essex, where he also led a Wednesday brainstorming class of selected bright students from the Department of Government.[8] King taught the course GV100 – Introduction to Politics.[9] He also taught at Princeton and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in the United States.[8]

He regularly appeared on election results programming and analysed their implications. For each UK General Election from 1983 to 2005, he was BBC television's analyst on their election night programming.[2] On a monthly basis, he analysed political opinion polls on voting intentions for The Daily Telegraph.[2] He also wrote many books on politics and was co-editor of the Britain at the Polls series of essays and, in 2008, The British Constitution.[5]

King was co-author with David Butler of two Nuffield College election studies (those for 1964 and 1966) and author of Britain Says Yes: the 1975 Referendum on the Common Market and Running Scared: Why America's Politicians Campaign Too Much and Govern Too Little.[3] He was also co-author with Ivor Crewe of the semi-official SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party[10] and The Blunders of our Governments.[1][5] He edited The New American Political System,[11] New Labour Triumphs: Britain at the Polls 1997,[5][12] Britain at the Polls 2001[5][13] and Britain at the Polls 2005.[5]

King was a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords (the Wakeham Commission).[14][15] In 2010, he was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy.[8][16] He also served as an associate at the Institute for Government, a non-partisan charity that aims to improve the effectiveness of central Government in the UK.[17] During the latter part of his life, his research focused on: the changing British constitution; the British prime ministership; American politics and government and the history of democracy.

King was also a member of the Academia Europaea, a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an honorary life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.[8]

Personal life

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King married twice.[3] His first wife Vera Korte, whom he married in 1965, died in 1971.[3] He married his second wife Jan Reece in 1980.[3]

King lived at Wakes Colne in Essex.[18] He died on 12 January 2017 at the age of 82.[1][2]

Publications

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  • British Members of Parliament: A Self-portrait (1974)[3]
  • "The View from Europe" with David Sanders in Charles O. Jones, ed., The Reagan Legacy: Promise and Performance (1988)[4]
  • "Margaret Thatcher as a Political Leader" in Robert Skidelsky, ed. Thatcherism. ISBN 0-701-13342-2 (1988)[4]
  • Britain at the Polls 1992 (editor)[3]
  • The New American Political System. ISBN 0-333-55053-6 (editor) (1990)[3]
  • SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party with Ivor Crewe (co-winner of the 1996 W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize awarded by the Political Studies Association for the best book in the field of political science) (1995)[3][4]
  • Running Scared: Why America's Politicians Campaign Too Much and Govern Too Little (1997)[3]
  • New Labour Triumphs: Britain at the Polls (editor) (1998)[12]
  • The British general election of 1966 with David Butler. ISBN 0-333-77870-7 (1999)[19]
  • Does the United Kingdom Still Have a Constitution? ISBN 0-421-74930-X (2001)[3]
  • Leaders' Personalities and the Outcomes of Democratic Elections. ISBN 0-198-29791-2 (editor) (2002)[3]
  • The British Constitution. ISBN 0-199-23232-6 (2007)[20]
  • The Founding Fathers v. the People: Paradoxes of American Democracy. ISBN 978-0674045736 (2012)[21]
  • The Blunders of Our Governments with Ivor Crewe. ISBN 1-780-74405-6 (2014)[22]
  • Who Governs Britain? ISBN 0-141-98066-4 (2015)[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Kettle, Martin (12 January 2017). "Anthony King, face of BBC election night coverage, dies aged 82". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Political expert Professor Anthony King dies aged 82". BBC News. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m The International Who's Who 2004. Psychology Press. 2003. p. 889. ISBN 9781857432176.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Professor Anthony King". University of Essex. Archived from the original on 14 January 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "University of Essex professor Anthony King dies". Gazette. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  6. ^ King, A. S. "Some aspects of the history of the Liberal Party in Britain, 1906–1914". University of Oxford SOLO catalogue.
  7. ^ "Academic Staff: Professor Anthony King". Archived from the original on 20 November 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  8. ^ a b c d "Professor Anthony King elected Fellow of the British Academy". University of Essex, UK. 23 July 2010. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  9. ^ "University of Essex :: Module Directory detail". Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  10. ^ Crewe, Ivor; King, Anthony (1995). SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party (illustrated, reprint, revised ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198293132.
  11. ^ King, Anthony, ed. (1990). The New American Political System (2, illustrated, revised ed.). AEI Press. ISBN 9780333550533.
  12. ^ a b King, Anthony Stephen, ed. (1998). New labour triumphs: Britain at the polls (illustrated ed.). Chatham House Publishers. ISBN 9781566430579.
  13. ^ King, Anthony Stephen, ed. (2002). Britain at the polls, 2001 (illustrated, revised ed.). Chatham House Publishers. ISBN 9781889119748.
  14. ^ "Standards in public life – Previous members". Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  15. ^ "Royal Commission on Reform of the House of Lords: A House for the Future" (PDF). HM Government. January 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2006. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  16. ^ "Results of 2010 Fellowship Elections". British Academy. Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  17. ^ "Our people". Institute for Government. Archived from the original on 16 September 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  18. ^ https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/15019347.university-of-essex-professor-anthony-king-dies/
  19. ^ Butler, David; King, Anthony Stephen (1999). The British general election of 1966 (illustrated, reprint ed.). Macmillan. ISBN 9780333778708.
  20. ^ The British Constitution (illustrated, reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. 2007. ISBN 9780199232321.
  21. ^ The Founding Fathers v. the People: Paradoxes of American Democracy (first ed.). Harvard University Press. 2012. ISBN 9780674045736.
  22. ^ King, Anthony; Crewe, Ivor (2014). The Blunders of Our Governments (revised ed.). Oneworld Publications. ISBN 9781780744056.
  23. ^ "Who Governs Britain? review – a timely examination of how the distribution of power has shifted". The Guardian. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2017.

Sources

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