Sir Clement passed away yesterday at the grand age of 84. Much has been written about him, from his hound dog looks on his dog food adverts, to his culinary skills and Parliamentary membership.
The one thing which has been overlooked is that he was a passionate and (almost) life long supporter of the mighty greens, Plymouth Argyle FC.
I say lifelong as he had attended Dartington College near Plymouth and while there decided to take a local club 'under his wing'.
He became a Plymouth Argyle fan, and remained a Pilgrim throughout his life, frequently mentioning the clubs in his columns and radio and TV appearances.
Last February, however, Freud claimed he had abandoned his love of Argyle. During an 'audience with' session in Headington he was asked if he still followed the club. He replied: "No not anymore - I can’t pronounce the names of any of the players. We used to have people from Plymouth. Sometimes we even went to Bristol and signed somebody! Nowadays, you have three Estonians, others from countries I’ve never heard of."
This is a sad reflection on 'local' football, but money talks and even 4th division teams have players with unpronounceable names.
Still Clement will always be regarded as a true celebrity Green, a cameo he shares with that other aging politician Michael Foot. Michael was born in Plymouth and for many years served as MP for Devonport. I wonder if he is a candidate in the Twickenham RFC death list?
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