So you can run something by him and you’ll get a perspective that you can’t get from anyone else

So you can run something by him and you’ll get a perspective that you can’t get from anyone else. But in the early years it was very much a mentor/ protege relationship – he had very high ambitions for me. He wanted me to go in politics; he’s always said I should be Prime Minister. That’s obviously not a goer; but in terms of the practice of my life, such as the obligation to people less fortunate than yourself, Frank has had a huge influence on me. In a way, he was what I really wanted my bishop father to be – he represents Christian socialism in action.The absolutely gripping thing about Frank is that he has actually lived history. He didn’t really interview me; I told him that I’d been sent down from university, and he simply replied that the person who had just given up the job had been sent down from Hornsey College of Art for exactly the same thing.

I started the next day.Age isn’t an important difference in our relationship now, even though there are 42 years between us. He looked very much as he looks now – the unmistakable egg-shaped head, the wild strands of hair flying out, and the round, gold specs. Frank had his number two with him – Rear Admiral Sir Matthew Slattery, former head of BOAC It was quite extraordinary. I remember Frank in a black tie, still mourning his daughter, Catherine; he wore that tie all the time I worked there. It was 1970, and I’d just been sent down from Liverpool University for leading a campaign on South Africa. I was traumatised – desperate to find somewhere to purge my political sins. I knew Frank’s secretary through a family connection, and discovered that he was looking for a new director for the New Horizon Youth Centre, so I got in touch.
The centre was unbelievably grotty.

At 92, he still attends the House of Lords every day, and is a regular speaker there

JON SNOW: Frank must have been 65 when I first met him; I was 22. Frank Pakenham, Lord Longford, defected from the Conservatives to the Labour Party in 1936 to become a prominent politician. He and his wife of 66 years are both devout Catholics; they have seven children (a further daughter died in a car accident in 1969). He was brought up in Sussex and Yorkshire, where his father was Bishop of Whitby in the Sixties, and now lives in London with his partner Madeline and their two children. Jon Snow, 50, journalist and anchor of Channel 4’s Seven O’Clock News, started his career as director of London’s New Horizon Youth Centre, which was established by Lord Longford to combat homelessness.

According to Terry Benford, this type of sledge is “what we call a salad bowl in the trade; and you can’t control it at all because your feet are inside.”STOCKISTSLaserluge and Swiss Bob available by mail order, tel: 01933 359939; Snowfox, Pan Bob and Fun Bob, tel 01604 410181; Rolly Toys, tel: 01843 604448; TP Activity Toys, tel: 01299 827728 !. This was Dawn Trevor-Roberts favoured position because “it’s more exciting with your face close to the surface, and if you get into trouble you just roll over.” Sit-up sledgers found the string “too thin to hold on to” (Carol Homden), which meant the steering was haphazard, but tucking their feet inside made them feel safe. It could slip over.” Fred Caplin listened patiently, but insisted, “I like driving.”***ROLLY TOYS SLEDGEpounds 20This red, injection-moulded plastic model with yellow handles above aluminium brake levers won points for the way its brake levers dug robustly into the snow or dry ski surface and instantly allowed testers to steer around trees and people. Simon Trevor-Roberts complained that the seat “gets you right in the back,” but then it probably wasn’t designed for children over 6ft tall.***TP ACTIVITY TOYS BLUE SLEDGEpounds 14.95In plain blue, with no seat or footwell but smooth, graceful lines like a canoe and a plaited blue and red cord to steer, this sledge won points because you could, if you were inclined, lie flat on your front in it. But Kevin Smith declared the Ski Bob to be too high: “The kids are bouncing a lot on it, and the adults might overturn it.

The steering isn’t as responsive as it should be and there are no brakes. “It’s good because it’s got stars on [the front] and you can steer it,” explained Joe Caplin. Parental indulgence waned as soon as they realised the bob was too unwieldy to be dragged back up the hill by small children. It’s a comfortable sitting position, though.”***ROLLY TOYS SKI BOBpounds 50-60For the little boys among our testers, this purple sledge with a raised seat, parallel ski runners, a miniature steering wheel and front like a motorbike was the most instantly appealing. They fought over it, sat on it two at a time and then came back for more, which made the parents think it was good value, in spite of the price. This confused the children, who instinctively held on to the tow rope instead of the brake levers.