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Lord Soper, Methodist soapbox speaker, dies at 95


From NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>
Date 04 Jan 1999 14:34:30

Jan. 4, 1999	Contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York     {1}

By United Methodist News Service

Lord Soper, a prominent British Methodist minister, member of the House of
Lords and charismatic soapbox orator, died Dec. 22 in London at the age of
95.

Born on Jan. 31, 1903, and ordained in 1927, Donald Oliver Soper focused his
ministry on the poor in London and served as superintendent of the West
London Mission for 42 years. He was elected president of the British
Methodist Conference in 1953 and was made a life peer of the parliamentary
House of Lords in 1965. He received the World Methodist Council Peace Award
in 1981.

Despite those achievements, it was his public speaking that gained Soper
both national recognition and notoriety. For years, he was a familiar
fixture at Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park, where the lifelong
Socialist tackled issues ranging from gambling to war. The BBC banned him
from its airwaves during World War II because of his pacifist stance.
According to the New York Times, he supported women's ordination and
homosexual rights decades before such causes became fashionable.

"He had an extraordinary endowment of gifts: a handsome physical presence
and good looks; a magnificent speaking and singing voice; a mind like
quicksilver; a ready tongue and an ability to think creatively on his feet,"
stated an editorial in the Methodist Recorder, a London-based newspaper.
"All these gifts were put to the service of Christ and the Gospel. He
excelled as a spontaneous, unscripted speaker, in Hyde Park, the Oxford
Union, or the House of Lords. In his open-air meetings, he handled hecklers
with humor and devastating repartee."

A plaque on Tower Hill in East London commemorates the fact that "Donald
Soper, Methodist minister, spoke weekly at Tower Hill for over 65 years."  

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/


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