Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

local sportsman, he could attract a sizeable ‘personal’ vote which might prove crucial if the contest were to be close. The Liberals, having been pre-empted, complained bitterly and put forward their own candidate, also under the coalition banner, to oppose the Unionist. Mr Fred Henderson was chosen: he grizzled about the adoption of Falcon but attached no blame to the Unionist personally as he had been in Palestine at the time when Cator had jumped the gun. To complete the field, Mr William Taylor was nominated by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) under the ‘Agriculture and Labour’ banner. It was expected that he would pick up the majority of the Labour vote. Captain Falcon received a letter, a confirmation which became known as a ‘coupon’, from Lloyd George and Bonar Law (respectively leaders of the Liberal and Unionist parties in Parliament) endorsing him as the official coalition candidate ahead of Mr Henderson. He returned to Norfolk and turned his attention to canvassing. He found himself thrust into the deep end immediately, being scheduled to speak at Wroxham Village Hall virtually straight off the boat. To his consternation he was asked a long and convoluted question about housing, a subject about which he knew virtually nothing. According to his son Michael Gascoigne, his rather lame and abject response was to say, ‘We can’t all live in castles’ and hope for the best. Much to his amazement his answer provoked widespread cheers and applause. Turning to the Unionist party activist sitting next to him at the speakers’ table, he furtively asked what on earth was going on, only to be told that the man who had asked the question was the owner of the local public house which, by happy fortune, was called ‘The Castle Inn’. His campaign was thus up and running to a good start. At a meeting at Blofield, Falcon apologized that his military duties had left him out of touch, but he thought that the men who had been abroad should have some representatives in Parliament. He was anxious to stand as a Coalition candidate in order to support Mr Lloyd George in making a good peace: the one man the soldiers had always known to be at their backs was Lloyd George. He then elaborated on the Coalition programme at some length. All three candidates appeared on the same platform at North Walsham, addressing a female audience. Falcon stated that he always had at heart the health of the people and one of the main 44 At Westminster