(8 November 1938 – 29 September 2011)
At the 1970 general election, he stood in the marginal Scottish constituency of Aberdeen South, and ousted the sitting Labour MP, Donald Dewar.[2][3] He was re-elected there at three further elections, until the 1983 general election when he moved to contest Roxburgh and Berwickshire believing that this was a 'safer' seat. However, Aberdeen South was held by the Conservatives,[4] while Roxburgh and Berwickshire fell to the Liberal candidate Archy Kirkwood.[5]
Sproat returned to Parliament nine years later, moving to England and succeeding Sir Julian Ridsdale as MP for Harwich in the 1992 general election.[6][7] He served as Minister for Sport in John Major's government from 1993 to 1997, but at the 1997 general election he was defeated by the Labour candidate Ivan Henderson.[8] Sproat stood again in Harwich at the 2001 election, but Henderson was returned with an increased majority.[8]
Sproat did not contest the 2005 general election, when Douglas Carswell regained the seat for the Conservatives.
A lifelong cricket fan, he was founder publisher of the Cricketers' Who's Who (Green Umbrella) which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2009.[citation needed] In 1979 he married Judith Mary Kernot, who survived him.
A tireless campaigner to clear the name of his literary hero, P.G. Wodehouse, he single-handedly secured Wodehouse's knighthood in 1975 and later wrote 'Wodehouse at War' (pub Milner & Co. Ltd. 1981) proving the author's innocence.
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