- John Lyttelton, 11th Viscount Cobham
John William Leonard Lyttelton, 11th Viscount Cobham (
15 June 1943 –13 July 2006 ) was a nobleman in theUnited Kingdom . He was known as "Johnny Lyttelton" to his friends and family.He was educated at Eton, where his father had been before him, and at
Christ's College, Christchurch , while his father wasGovernor-General of New Zealand . He later attended theRoyal Agricultural College inCirencester .He married Penelope Ann Cooper in 1974, and inherited the family's titles and 200-year-old
Worcestershire mansion,Hagley Hall , on his father's death in 1977. Facing steepdeath duties and high maintenance costs, he auctioned his family's 700-year archive for £164,000. The hall was converted into a conference venue, although it also remained the family home. He was a member of the Conservative Party, butshyness prevented him from taking the seat in theHouse of Lords that hishereditary peerage entitled him to. He left the Conservatives in 1992, in protest atMichael Heseltine 's announcement that manycoal mine s would be closed. His first wife was a special adviser toDavid Mellor when Mellor wasSecretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in 1992. Lady Cobham was later to leave her husband for Mellor, and they were divorced on30 August 1995 . Lord Cobham had to sell family heirlooms to pay his former wife a £1 million divorce settlement. He later confessed to having contemplated suicide over the break-up of his marriage, and admitted sitting in hisdrawing room holding a loadedshotgun . [http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/mail/news/tm_objectid=17390065&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=viscount-cobham-dies-aged-63-name_page.htmlViscount Cobham dies aged 63] , "Birmingham Mail",15 July 2006 ]Lord Cobham remarried on
1 August 1997 , toLisa Clayton , the first British woman to have sailed single-handed and non-stop around the world.He opposed the introduction of the ban on
fox hunting , and said he would rather go to prison that to prevent hunting from taking place on his estate.Lord Cobham died in
Spain . He had no children, and his titles were inherited by his younger brother, Christopher.References
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1826310,00.html Obituary] , "
The Guardian ",22 July 2006 Footnotes
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