Background
Penhaligon was born on D-Day and brought up in Truro where he attended Truro School and then Cornwall Technical College where he studied mechanical engineering. Penhaligon worked for Holman Brothers in Camborne as a research and development engineer working on rock drilling. By 1973 he had qualified as a Chartered Mechanical Engineer; he also took over from his father a sub-post office in Chacewater from 1967 (after his marriage in 1968 to Annette Lidgey, she ran the business). His Liberal activities led to some work in local broadcasting.
Penhaligon's decision to join the Liberal Party was inspired in 1963 when he was an important witness to a murder case. His evidence, which supported the case of the defendants, was not enough to prevent them from being convicted and hanged. Penhaligon was appalled by the practice of capital punishment. He led the Truro Young Liberals and built up the local party (which had been the weakest in Cornwall) into one of the strongest; he was the chair of the Cornish Young Liberals from 1966 to 1968. However he was not selected as Liberal candidate for Truro in the 1966 general election (nor for any other seat), and he was also rejected for Falmouth and Camborne in 1968 apparently because his strong Cornish accent was thought unattractive.
In the 1970 general election he fought the Devon constituency of Totnes when the previous candidate Paul Tyler transferred to Bodmin. He polled poorly in the context of an election in which the party as a whole suffered. However, Penhaligon had acquired useful experience of fighting election campaigns and picked up additional tips from Wallace Lawler's practices in inner-city Birmingham.
He was a school friend of Roger Taylor, drummer from the rock band Queen.
Read more about this topic: David Penhaligon
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