{{Short description|British politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = MP | name = | parliament = UK | constituency_MP = Middleton and Prestwich | term_start = 31 March 1966 | term_end = 29 May 1970 | predecessor = John Barlow | successor = Alan Haselhurst | birth_name = Denis Walter Coe | birth_date = 5 June 1929 | birth_place = Whitley Bay, Northumberland, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2015|3|3|1929|6|5}} | death_place = | party = Labour | education = }} '''Denis Walter Coe''' (5 June 1929 – 3 March 2015) was a British Labour Party politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the marginal Middleton and Prestwich constituency from 1966 to 1970, when it was gained by the Conservative Alan Haselhurst.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Denis Coe: Labour MP who went on to found British Youth Opera and the National Bureau for Handicapped Students |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/denis-coe-labour-mp-who-went-on-to-found-british-youth-opera-and-the-national-bureau-for-handicapped-10131332.html|website = The Independent| date=24 March 2015 |accessdate = 2015-12-28|language = en-GB}}</ref>
Coe was born in Whitley Bay, Northumberland.<ref name="NewsGuardian">{{cite news|url=http://www.newsguardian.co.uk/latest-news/Childhood-in-borough-a-highlight.4319350.jp|title=Childhood in borough a highlight for ex-MP|date=2008-07-26|accessdate=2008-09-03|author=Thompson, L.|work=NewsGuardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804065304/http://www.newsguardian.co.uk/latest-news/Childhood-in-borough-a-highlight.4319350.jp|archive-date=4 August 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> He earned a Scout Silver Medal for Gallantry after saving a young girl from drowning in Cullercoats Bay when he was 14. He served in the armed forces before returning to the North East to begin a career in teaching. He later left the area again to move to London, where he studied economics at the London School of Economics. This triggered his move into politics and he was elected to Middleton and Prestwich as a Labour MP in 1966.
Following the 1970 election, Coe worked in the arts world and went on to establish the British Youth Opera. In 2008, he published his memoirs – Variety Certainly Adds Spice.<ref name="NewsGuardian"/>
==References== {{Reflist}} *{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-denis-coe | Denis Coe }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Middleton & Prestwich | years = 1966 – 1970 | before = Sir John Barlow, Bt. | after = Alan Haselhurst }} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coe, Denis}} Category:1929 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:UK MPs 1966–1970 Category:People from Whitley Bay Category:Politicians from Tyne and Wear
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