The Passing Of Lord Sutch

Â"Vote insanity. You know it makes sense,Â" was Lord SutchÂ's catchphrase. With his sad passing, Britain is a duller place, reports CBS News Correspondent Tom Rivers.

Screaming Lord Sutch was truly an original -- an eccentric's eccentric. He founded the official Â"Monster Raving Loony PartyÂ" over 30 years ago. Since then, he fought in 40 elections. He never won, but that's not the point: He would rather have had 1,001 laughs than 1,000 votes.

He injected humor - and some lateral thinking -- into British campaigns. He dressed in his trademarked fake-leopard or fake-tiger-skinned top hat and tails. He bellowed out a string of zany positions on the stump through a battered old megaphone.

Although not taken seriously, everybody knew him -- and everyone loved him. And not all of the things he stood for were wacky. Some of his forward thinking actually was turned into legislation years after the loony one began espousing how the world should operate.

He was behind relaxing the pub drinking laws, which finally happened. His plan of reforming BritainÂ's animal quarantine laws by issuing Â"pet passportsÂ" could also become a reality soon.

He came into this world as David Sutch. He legally changed his name to Lord Sutch in the swinging '60s.

The lovable eccentric had more than one string to his bow; he founded his own rock band, Â"Screaming Lord Sutch and SavagesÂ" which had an ever-changing line-up that over the years included the likes of Jimmy Page and Keith Moon.

He was also one of the pioneers of commercial pirate radio in Britain when he set up his own station on an abandoned army observation platform in the Thames estuary.

Lord Sutch was found dead in his London home on Thursday. He was 58 years old.

Written by Tom Rivers
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