would help me all he could". Churchill toured the constituency, making speeches from the top of his car. His daughter Mary Soames was then in a Croydon maternity hospital about to give birth (to her son Nicholas), bringing the campaign positive publicity. Harris gained a majority of 11,664. Following the result, a national newspaper ran the headline "Oh what a beautiful morning". The song (from Oklahoma!) became his theme tune when touring Croydon. Harris never shone in Parliament. He was a moderate Tory and embraced change and democracy. He had no time for the right-wing, predicting that their politics would "die". In Croydon, however, he was extremely popular, working hard especially on casework for individual constituents, which he said was the most rewarding part of the job. He was given the honour to drive the last tram (before Tramlink returned) through the constituency with the Mayor of Croydon. He increased his majority and served as MP for Croydon North, then Croydon North West for 22 years until he stepped down at the 1970 general election. This at that time made him the longest-serving Croydon MP (a record later broken by Bernard Weatherill). Fred Harris had three children with his first wife – Roger who became an engineer in Kenya, Gillian, who also moved to East Africa, and Jacqueline who worked as secretary to the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. His wife died in 1955. In 1957 he married Joan Bagnall. He lived in Woldingham, Surrey and on his farm in Subukia, Kenya. Harris was very keen on sport. He had held a schoolboy cricket record and played football (soccer) in the Spartan League. He played tennis all his life and was an occasional croc hunter. He campaigned successfully for Croydon Council to build Croydon Sports Arena in South Norwood. He was also a racehorse owner, with Gordon Richards as a regular jockey. In the 1940s he had a considerable lucky streak, with 50 wins out of 90 outings. His horse 'Now or Never' won the Great Metropolitan at Epsom in 1948. Harris died in January 1979, aged 63, in Kenya, after a long illness. References External links 1915 births 1979 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politics of the London Borough of Croydon Councillors in the London Borough of Croydon UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs