his part, Poulson denied the charges, saying "I have been a fool, surrounded by a pack of leeches. I took on the world on its own terms, and no one can deny I once had it in my fist". Many of his contacts, in particular T. Dan Smith and George Pottinger, were similarly convicted and gaoled, though not the three MPs: it was found that there was a legal loophole through which members of parliament could not be considered as in charge of public funds. The Poulson scandals did much to force the House of Commons to initiate a Register of Members' Interests. A subsequent Select Committee inquiry which reported in 1977 found that all three had indulged in "conduct inconsistent with the standards which the House is entitled to expect from its Members". After serving periods in Armley Gaol, Wakefield and Oakham prisons, Poulson was released on 13 May 1977 from Lincoln Prison after Lord Longford had appealed on his behalf. Longford had successfully argued that to keep a sick man in gaol was an "indefensible cruelty". His bankruptcy was discharged, with creditors receiving 10p in the pound, in 1980. A condition of the discharge was that half the proceeds of his autobiography would go to his creditors; the resulting book, The Price, gives his side of the corruption scandal and maintains his innocence. Only a few copies of the book remain in circulation as it was withdrawn and pulped by the publishers through fear of libel actions. Poulson died in the General Infirmary in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, on 31 January 1993. His wife and two daughters survived him. Contributions Among buildings designed by Poulson are the City House (1962) and International Pool (1965–1968), both in Leeds, and Forster House in Bradford, which was demolished in 2005 as part of the Forster Square redevelopment. The International Pool in Leeds was closed in 2007 and razed to the ground in 2009. The site is now used for car parking. In an indirect way, Poulson did make a contribution to the UK's broadcasting culture. A special edition of the investigative ITV series World in Action, The Friends and Influence of John L Poulson, became a cause célèbre in the debate about the power of Britain's television regulators to interfere with broadcast journalism. The Poulson programme was banned by the then regulator, the ITA, even though its members had not seen it.