John Peck

John Peck (August 1922 – 28 March 2004) was a British communist politician, known for contesting a large number of elections before finally winning one. Early life Born in Caistor in Lincolnshire, Peck grew up in Scunthorpe and was educated at Scunthorpe Grammar School. He flew with the Royal Air Force during World War II and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. Inspired both by experience of postings in Calcutta and the American Deep South, and also an uncle who was an active communist, he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in 1944. Political activism After the war, Peck worked in the steel industry and became an active trade unionist. He first stood for election for the CPGB in 1946, taking only 146 votes for the Scunthorpe seat on Lindsey County Council. In 1948, he moved to Nottingham to take up a full-time post for the CPGB area committee, and in 1955 began regularly contesting the Bulwell ward for Nottingham City Council. He also contested Nottingham North at the 1955 general election, the first of ten unsuccessful attempts to win the seat. In his election campaigns, Peck often used photographs of himself in his RAF uniform, wearing his medals, something which proved controversial with other CPGB members. Peck became a well-known figure in Nottingham, and in the 1960 film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, he is shown speaking to a meeting at the gates of a factory. He served as first secretary, then president, of the Bulwell Tenants Association, and during the 1970s he was vice-president and president of the Nottingham Trades Council.