On a Clear Day

by David Blunkett (Author), David Blunkett (Author), Alex MacCormick (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1996

  $8.20

  David Blunkett was born in 1947 in the slums near Sheffield Wednesday football ground. Currently a member of the Shadow Cabinet and born blind, David Blunkett's struggle to the top has been one of determination. The optic nerve behind each eyeball had failed to develop owing to the incompatibility of his parents' genes - a one in a million chance. It was only when Blunkett went to university that he decided to take a guide dog. Ruby was the first of four retrievers to help him with the inconvenience of his blindness, and subsequently became the first dog allowed in the Palace of Westminster. When the House began to be televized, it was his guide dog, Offa, who won over the British public. Now Lucy, a black retriever, sits by him in the House of Commons and travels back to his constituency in Sheffield. This book is an account of beating the system by a man and his dog.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $3.25

  This extraordinary autobiography includes new chapters and has been updated since it was first released in 1995. This is by no means a conventional 'political' autobiography, but rather an inspiring, and often hilarious account of a man overcoming disability and beating the system - with the help of a dog. David Blunkett was born blind, which makes his struggle to the top - he is now the Home Secretary - all the more remarkable. At the Manchester Road School for the Blind he began learning braille and at sixteen joined the Labour Party, then Sheffield University beckoned. David chose to train with a guide dog, and Ruby, his golden labrador, was allowed to sit by him in the Commons, as were her successors, Offa and Lucy. Being an MP meant that the author could start to bring about the changes he hoped to effect. David Blunkett talks candidly about the good times and the bad.