Julian Critchley

Sir Julian Michael Gordon Critchley (8 December 1930 – 9 September 2000) was a British journalist and Conservative Party politician.

Born in Islington, the son of a distinguished neurologist as a boy Critchley was brought up in Swiss Cottage, north London, and Shropshire, where he attended preparatory Brockhurst School in Church Stretton, and later Shrewsbury School. He returned to London to take his Higher Certificate, and was rejected from National Service after contracting polio. After a year living and studying at the Sorbonne Paris, he went up to Pembroke College, Oxford in 1951, where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament, firstly for Rochester and Chatham from 1959 to 1964 and then for Aldershot from 1970 until his retirement at the 1997 election. While out of parliament from 1964 to 1970, he worked as a journalist, including as a TV critic for The Times; he continued to be active as a journalist and author throughout the remainder of his career. Having lost Rochester and Chatham in 1964, he stood again for the seat in 1966 election, but was once again defeated by Labour's Anne Kerr.