LORD BATH IS TURNING 80!

LORD BATH, one of the most inspiring and original gentlemen of our time, is turning 80 on 6th of May!

Members of the Eccentric Club are wishing Lord Bath good health, love, prosperity and many happy returns!

Lord Bath (The Most Hon. The Marquess of Bath) - Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, styled Viscount Weymouth between 1946 and 1992, and known as an English politician, artist and author, was born in London in 1932. He grew up at his family's seat, Longleat, a great Elizabethan house set in Wiltshire parkland landscaped in the 18th century by Capability Brown. After attending Ludgrove School and Eton College he was commissioned into the Life Guards as a lieutenant in 1951. He was then educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and travelled across Europe.

Realising the strength in diversity amongst people he grew to believe that Wessex would be better off as a devolved region within the United Kingdom and stood in the February 1974 General Election as a Wessex Regionalist. Shortly after the election he was one of the founders of the Wessex Regionalist Party. He stood for the party in the first ever elections to the European Parliament in 1979. After inheriting the Marquessate of Bath from his father in 1992 sat in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat. He has written several novels.

In 2008 Lord Bath was celebrated as one of the greatest English eccentrics in the book "In Search of the English Eccentric" written by another member of the Eccentric Club, Henry Hemming.

In March 2012 Lord Bath attended a charitable dinner in the presence of the Eccentric Club Patron the Duke of Edinburgh.

THE GREATEST BRITISH ECCENTRIC 2012

...And the Winners are...

And so now we have our new heroes, new stars, new titans of the originality and creativity, new ambassadors of the Eccentricity saving the world around them by their noble work!

A fair competition and days of tense online and offline voting, uneasy considerations and decisions made by the Committee members, the endless flow of supporters of various nominees, resulted in Six individuals being recognised for their endeavours and awarded in various categories with the most prestigious 'eccentric' titles of 2012.

All deeds of titles and trophies shall be handed over to the winners at a special ceremony in Mayfair - details of which shall be announced shortly.

The overall winner, THE GREATEST BRITISH ECCENTRIC 2012 and the winner in the category 'The Most Eccentric Artist 2012' is a gentleman known to his followers as Professor Elemental, most famous for his origination of the unique modern music style of 'chap-hop', also occasionally referred to as 'the Victorian Hip-Hop' (you may view/hear a sample of his performance here).

Professor Elemental was proposed by the members of the general public and until now was unknown to many of our club members. But his originality and witty promotion of traditional British and eccentric values dear to the hearts of many of us, won him a great deal of support amongst the club members. Along with the trophies, Professor shall be awarded with a free annual membership of the club.

Ray Frensham, our club member, well known and loved by many of you, and a splendid actor, rather popular with the viewers of the motion pictures in which he appeared (The Pirates of the Caribbean, etc), has duly won the title of 'The Most Eccentric Dandy 2012'.

Sarah Angliss, a fascinating lady, equally skillful as an engineer, musician, composer and performer, won the title of 'The Most Eccentric Inventor 2012', primarily, due to the founded by her band, Spacedog, where the humans play along with the robots built by Sarah.

Lyndon Yorke, the Chief Judge of the event, well known for his robo-bands and orchestras got most excited about stumbling upon such a soul-mate candidate. (The Committee is considering making enquiries about booking the Royal Albert Hall for the gala performance of the Allied Robotic Symphonic Orchestra!).

The outspoken but witty and charming Rob Lowe, the 'salt of the earth' eccentric from Derby, was unanimously voted as the winner in the category 'Just Too Eccentric!', an arguably the most eccentric category of all!

Rob's ability to transform all the time and surprise those who knows him with his continuous new projects with a great variety of seemingly unrelated subjects, has clearly helped his established reputation of one of the most eccentric gentlemen of our time to win the title.

Colin Shaddick, the Eccentric Club co-ordinator in Devon, who, along with Mr Frensham and Mr Lowe won titles, trophies and medals in The Greatest British Eccentric 2009, was announced this year as 'The Most Eccentric Thinker 2012', and those who have the benefit of being acquainted with the great variety of styles and subjects of Mr Shaddick's poetic works and his mystical relationship with the spirit of the late John Mytton, Esq., would agree that the new title splendidly suits Mr Shaddick.

Finally, another non-club entry in his own right and the winner of the regional 'Greatest Eccentric of Derby' contest held in 2009 in… Derby, Mr Roger 'Quizrunner' Morgan was awarded for his 'Most Eccentric Life Story 2012'.  Are you intrigued?..

Then keep on reading our updates regarding the time and place of the Awards Ceremony which is soon to follow! There and only there may you meet all these splendid individuals, the most eccentric people in this country, and hear from them in person - their stories, their ideas, their thoughts…

And in the meantime - feel free to propose new candidates for the new eccentric titles to be won in 2013 - just click here!

(Photographs above: Ray Frensham by Jose Cabral; Lord Bath and Rob Lowe by David Levenson)