Mr Spinks

Mr. Spinks was the put-upon agent to Leonard Swindley when he stood as a candidate in a Weatherfield County Borough Council election in 1962.

The by-election was called in September that year upon the death of St. Mary's Ward's sitting councillor, Councillor Woodstock. Swindley was confirmed as the candidate of the Progressing Property Owners and Small Traders Party (PPOP) shortly thereafter, with Spinks joining his campaign as his agent. Spinks also made up all of Swindley's posters and leaflets at the printing press which he ran in his day job.

Genial and mild-mannered, Spinks was perfectly matched with the bumbling Mr. Swindley, but quickly found that the job came with some challenges he didn't anticipate. The first test of his mettle came when Swindley threw him into a confrontation with the Glad Tidings Mission Hall's caretaker, Ena Sharples. Having decided to hold a public meeting at the Mission, Swindley was required to put Ena in the picture and, expecting an argument from the pensioner, sent his unsuspecting underling to do the deed instead. As expected, Ena was her usual difficult self and refused to be of any help, but Spinks nevertheless won her admiration by cleaning the entire Mission single-handedly after she amusedly handed him some "cleaners" - a mop and bucket.

While cleaning, Spinks found an old love letter on the floor which Martha Longhurst instinctively snatched from his hand. Martha took the letter from "Jack" as evidence that Ena had been unfaithful to her late husband Alfred, but it was eventually identified as Annie Walker's, sent to her by Jack during the war and misplaced during the gas main evacuation the previous year.

Spinks was also delegated by Swindley to repair the Mission's boiler in time for the meeting, despite him not being an electrician. He deemed his efforts a success after getting the boiler to glow a dull red - particularly as he was under orders from Ena not to poke it - however during the gathering the device overheated and exploded, covering Spinks and Swindley in soot.

The election was held in November, with Spinks acting as an election official at the Bessie Street School polling station. Prior to his engagement, Spinks joined Swindley in courting the ditherers and coordinating their team's activities from their committee room at 5 Coronation Street. In his role as agent, Spinks steered Swindley away from more old-fashioned ways of winning votes like pushing prams, although his own suggestions like having loudspeaker vans and big rallies proved too fanciful for Swindley to take up. Swindley did, however, follow Spinks's advice of not remaining at the polling station after casting his vote.

Once the polls closed, the election was called for Joe Armstrong, with Swindley coming a distant third with 405 votes. Spinks was nevertheless gratified by the result and said as much in an impromptu speech in which he told Swindley what a pleasure it had been working with him.


 * Mr. Spinks was a pre-Ernest Bishop role for actor Stephen Hancock, his second appearance in the programme after playing the Babyshop Assistant in 1961. Hancock's future screen wife Eileen Derbyshire was in the latter two of his four appearances as Mr. Spinks, but the pair did not share any scenes.

1962

 * Mon 29th Oct
 * Wed 31st Oct
 * Mon 26th Nov
 * Wed 28th Nov