Author Thomas Paine praised by Lewes MP Norman Baker

An Anglo-American political activist, author and revolutionary is praised by the MP who now represents the Sussex town where he lived for six years.

Lib Dem Norman Baker cheered Thomas Paine, author of pamphlets including Common Sense, at the start of the American Revolution, said to have inspired the Patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Britain.

Paine - who was born in Thetford, Norfolk - also lived in France, becoming involved in the French Revolution, and wrote the Rights of Man in 1791.

Giles Dilnot looked into the legacy of Paine, who is remembered by a beer bearing his name, and a plaque in Lewes, East Sussex.

This is the third in a Daily Politics series on political thinkers and their ideologies, which will run most Fridays in the coming months (see video links above right)

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