Live Review: Healey's World - an evening with Lord Denis Healey, Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, Tuesday, February 1st
On a sparsely furnished stage surrounded by slides, Lord Healey looked very much like the world's most charismatic geography teacher.
And this was certainly the role he adopted for the first hour of the evening, with fascinating anecdotes to accompany every photograph, he guided a captivated audience through Healey's World.
His early photos document the first snaps of an eight-year-old Denis Healey growing up in post-War Yorkshire, his time at Oxford University and service as a 23-year-old soldier in North Africa and Italy during the Second World War.
His 42,000-strong collection of slides also capture the memories of a 47-year-old defence secretary visiting the Kremlin during the Cold War and an 80-year-old tourist abroad with his family.
Perhaps Lord Healey's most memorable comment was in regard to a photo of a particularly hideous gargoyle above Notre Dame when he explained to the audience: "...and, this of course, is Maggie Thatcher."
In the second half the audience had the chance to put questions to a man often regarded as one of the most enduring political figures of the modern era.
In a world of spin it is rare to get such a frank and informed view on the situation in Iraq, the single currency and Tony Blair.
He dealt with an awkward question on devolution with the surety and intelligence you would expect from a man who refused to be bullied into Vietnam.
Lord Healey told the Western Telegraph: "Photography is definitely the first love of my life.
I still take photographs now, whereas I'm not terribly interested in politics anymore."
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