{{Short description|British politician and journalist (1925-2014)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = File:Sir_Eldon_Griffiths.jpeg | honorific_prefix = | name = Sir Eldon Griffiths | honorific_suffix = | office = Minister for Sport | parliament = | majority = | predecessor = Denis Howell | successor = Denis Howell | term_start = 19 June 1970 | term_end = 4 March 1974 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|05|25|df=yes}} | birth_place = Wigan, Lancashire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|06|03|1925|05|25|df=yes}} | death_place = | spouse = {{marriage|Sigrid Gante|1949|1985|reason=divorced}}<br />{{marriage|Betty Stannard|1985|2010|reason=died}}<ref name="WW">{{Who's Who | title = GRIFFITHS, Sir Eldon (Wylie) | id = U18239 | type = was | volume = 2024 | edition = online}}</ref><br />{{marriage|Susan Donnell|2013}}<ref name="obit - Guardian"/> | party = Conservative | relations = | children = 2, including John Griffiths | alma_mater = Emmanuel College, Cambridge | occupation = | profession = Journalist and farmer | term_start1 = 14 May 1964 | term_end1 = 16 March 1992 | predecessor1 = William Traven Aitken | successor1 = Richard Spring | office1 = Member of Parliament<br />for Bury St Edmunds | prime_minister = Edward Heath }}
'''Sir Eldon Wylie Griffiths''' (25 May 1925 – 3 June 2014) was a British Conservative politician and journalist.
==Early life== Griffiths was born on 25 May 1925 in Wigan, Lancashire.<ref name="obit - Guardian">{{cite news|last1=Langdon|first1=Julia|title=Sir Eldon Griffiths obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/04/sir-eldon-griffiths|accessdate=14 June 2014|work=The Guardian|date=4 June 2014}}</ref> His Welsh father was a police sergeant. He attended Ashton-under-Lyne Grammar School.<ref name="obit - Guardian"/> Following the Second World War service in the Royal Air Force he gained a double first class degree in history from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and an MA from Yale University.<ref name=telegraph>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10872932/Sir-Eldon-Griffiths-obituary.html Eldon Griffiths Obituary in the Daily Telegraph]. Retrieved 4 June 2014</ref><ref name="obit - Guardian"/>
==Career==
===Journalism=== After university Griffiths worked in the Conservative Research Department and became a journalist and farmer. He was on staff of US magazine ''Newsweek'',<ref name="obit - Guardian"/> as managing editor.{{cn|date=September 2025}}
===Political career=== He became the MP for Bury St Edmunds after a by-election in 1964, and represented the seat until he retired in 1992. His ''Daily Telegraph'' obituary claimed he was "rangy, articulate, but dour... a political loner, and not over-popular on the Tory benches." However, it listed many achievements as MP and in other spheres.<ref>Daily Telegraph, London 4 June 2014</ref> He served as Minister for Sport during the Edward Heath government of 1970 to 1974. He also served as parliamentary spokesman for the Police Federation. In 1985, he was made a Knight Bachelor for "political service".<ref name="LG 15 June 1985">{{London Gazette |issue=50154 |date=15 June 1985 |page=1 |supp=y }}</ref>
===Academia=== For a brief period while an MP, Griffiths worked as a professor at the University of California, Irvine,<ref name="WW"/> a role in which ''The Times'' said led to him being called the member for Orange County.<ref>{{cite news |title=Times Diary |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/2f9473dc-41a3-11ec-96bf-de0821791f3f |work=The Times |access-date=17 November 2021|last1=Kidd |first1=Patrick }}</ref>
===Director appointments=== Griffiths was a director of one of Gerald Carroll's Carroll Group companies.<ref name=sunbus>"SFO looks at 500m fall of Carroll empire", Dominic O'Connell, ''Sunday Business'', 1 October 2000, p. 1.</ref>
==Personal life== In June 2013, aged 88, he announced his third marriage, to Susan Donnell.<ref>[http://www.buryfreepress.co.uk/news/latest-news/former-mp-of-bury-st-edmunds-to-marry-for-third-time-at-the-age-of-88-1-5183204 Former MP of Bury St Edmunds to marry for third time at the age of 88], Bury Free Press. Accessed 18 January 2023.</ref>
==Honours== He was a Freeman of the borough of St Edmundsbury.
==References== {{reflist}} *''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'', Times Newspapers Ltd, 1966 & 1987 *{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-eldon-griffiths | Eldon Griffiths }}
{{S-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds | years = 1964–1992 | before = William Aitken | after = Richard Spring }} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before=Denis Howell | title=Minister for Sport | years=1970–1974 | after=Denis Howell}} {{S-end}}
{{Ministers for Sport}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Eldon}} Category:1925 births Category:2014 deaths Category:People educated at Ashton-under-Lyne Grammar School Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Category:Yale University alumni Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Government ministers of the United Kingdom Category:Knights Bachelor Category:UK MPs 1959–1964 Category:UK MPs 1964–1966 Category:UK MPs 1966–1970 Category:UK MPs 1970–1974 Category:UK MPs 1974 Category:UK MPs 1974–1979 Category:UK MPs 1979–1983 Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II