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Sidney Weighell

4 of 14 portraits by Hans Schwarz

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sidney Weighell

by Hans Schwarz
pastel, crayon and ink on paper, 1984
29 7/8 in. x 22 in. (760 mm x 560 mm)
Purchased, 1985
Primary Collection
NPG 5793(2)

Sitterback to top

  • Sidney Weighell (1922-2002), General Secretary to the National Union of Railwaymen. Sitter in 8 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Hans Schwarz (1922-2003), Painter; sculptor; illustrator; author. Artist or producer of 14 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG 5749: Trade Unionists (Joe Gormley; Thomas Jackson; Sidney Weighell) (finished work)

Events of 1984back to top

Current affairs

The Provisional IRA bomb the Grand Hotel in Brighton where various politicians, including the Prime Minister, where staying for the annual Conservative Party conference. The bomb killed five people including a conservative MP, but no members of the cabinet. Thatcher began the next session of the conference the following morning at 9.30 as planned saying: 'all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail.'

Art and science

Dr Alec Jeffreys discovers that patterns in an individual's DNA can be identified and that each person has a unique 'genetic fingerprint'. The technique was soon utilised by forensic scientists to help in criminal investigations, and in order to identify human remains, for paternity testing, and to match organ donors.
Ted Hughes is appointed poet Laureate.

International

Ethiopia suffers severe drought and famine. The Ethiopian government responded by uprooting large numbers of peasants in the worst affected areas and by setting up new villages for the displaced people. However, the planned villages were frequently poorly equipped and many people chose to flee rather than acquiesce with government plans leading to further decline in food production and bringing the total death toll to over 1 million.

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