Gil Langley - Journalist and Politician

Journalist and Politician

Following his retirement from cricket, Langley worked as a sports journalist and became involved in political issues, entering the South Australian House of Assembly as an Australian Labor Party representative for the Electoral district of Unley at the 1962 South Australian election. He increased his popularity during constituent visits by performing electrical related tasks like fixing toasters. Following the 1965 election, Langley became part of the first Labor government in South Australia for 32 years and would later serve as Speaker of the House of Assembly from 1977 to 1979 before his retirement from politics in 1982. Considered "one of the great and delightful eccentrics" of the South Australian parliament, Langley was an old style Labor politician who had become disillusioned with the direction his party had taken under Don Dunstan on social issues like liberalising homosexuality laws.

In the Australia Day Honours of 1984, Langley was made a member in the general division of the Order of Australia, in 2001 he was named an Inaugural Sturt Football Club Hall of Fame inductee and in recognition of his services to cricket, the Gil Langley Function Room at Adelaide Oval was named in his honour.

He spent much of his retirement playing lawn bowls and died after a long fight with Alzheimer's disease, survived by two sons, two daughters and nine grandchildren.

Langley's nephew, Jeff Langley, played cricket for South Australia and Queensland between 1969–70 and 1979-80.