Tuesday 21 April 2015

Dick Cole, the Wonder Boy ... in the Western Morning News


In today’s Western Morning News, there is a feature which reflects on the fact that I have a superhero namesake. Written by Simon Parker it is as follows:

Cameron may appeal to the posh, Miliband might have the backing of the unions and Nigel Farage has found favour with the far-right – but there’s one party leader who will be calling on his superhero namesake to help clinch him a seat in Parliament on May 7.

Dick Cole, who has led Cornish party Mebyon Kernow for nearly 20 years, says he is delighted to discover that he shares a monicker with a 1940s comic-book favourite called Wonder Boy.

Raised by the benign Professor Blair (no relation!) of the Farr Military Academy, Dick Cole the Wonder Boy went on to fight all manner of baddies. And his modern-day equivalent is now hoping to invoke the spirit of the original “wonder boy” to vanquish his own foes in the guise of Tory, Labour, Lib-Dem and UKIP candidates in the St Austell-Newquay seat. “My political opponents have described me as many things over the years, though never a super-hero,” laughed Dick.

“But maybe with Wonder Boy on our side in the run-up to the May 7 general election, it will be Mebyon Kernow and its supporters who will be having the last laugh.”

With 25 councillors – including four on Cornwall Council – MK’s political influence west of the Tamar is greater than ever. Campaigning on a ticket of giving prosperity for all, social justice and environmental protection, the left-of-centre party formed in 1951 states that its core aim is to “build a confident and outward-looking Cornwall that has the power to take decisions, directly affecting the people of Cornwall, locally”.

On May 7, MK will field candidates in all six of Cornwall’s seats. They are Dick Cole (St Austell-Newquay), Andrew Long (South East Cornwall), Loveday Jenkin (Camborne-Redruth), Jerry Jefferies (North Cornwall), Stephen Richardson (Truro-Falmouth) and Rob Simmons (St Ives).

In the Wonder Boy comic-books, which ran for several years in the US and UK, the brilliant Professor Blair trained Dick to be an “all-round wonderful man” with great strength, stamina and agility, as well as having the power to heal more quickly than other humans... which might prove handy if the MK leader finds he is licking his wounds on the morning of May 8.

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