Cyril Smith was born in Rochdale on 28th June 1928. He first came to the public's notice as the newly elected Member of Parliament for Rochdale in the 1972 General Election.
Though he had already been a major player in Rochdale politics for many years. He had been just 22 years of age when he was first elected to the Rochdale Council.
A lifelong member of the Liberal Party, in 1966 he was appointed Mayor of Rochdale and was awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. In 1988 he was knighted Sir Cyril Smith and was appointed as Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester in 1991. By now his political career was drawing to an end and in that same year he announced his retirement as MP for Rochdale.
Sir Cyril always was a larger than life character, both in terms of his ebullient outspoken personality and his enormous size - he was affectionately known around the town as "Big Cyril", (though he has by now shed much of that mighty frame).
Upon retirement he was offered a peerage, but declined a seat in the House of Lords, regarding the honour of a knighthood as suffiient recognition of his services to politics and his local community. As a lifelong bachelor, he shared his home with his mother Eva until her death in 1994.
Respected for his tireless work in the constituency and for his support of the underdog - very much a peoples' champion. Sir Cyril now enjoys an active life on the lecture and public speaking circuits, which include the QE2.
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