Obituary: MP and TW3 writer Gerald Kaufman

It was while visiting his mother in Leeds in November 1962 that he saw the first episode of the BBC's satirical programme That Was The Week That Was. Back in his Daily Mirror office, he phoned the producer, Ned Sherrin, and told him he had an idea for a sketch. "He had no idea who I was," Kaufman later recalled, "but he said, 'Write it and I'll send a taxi in the morning to pick it up." It led to Kaufman becoming a regular contributor to the show, best known for his Silent Men of Westminster, a satire on MPs who never spoke in the House.