Published: 05/11/2008 00:00 -
Updated: 19/02/2009 00:34
MARTIN Kyslun, who was so against the 2003 general election that he stood as a West Derbyshire candidate in protest, has died in a fall in London.
The 51-year old lived at The Mansion, in Church Street, and was in London visiting the owner at his Brompton Square home.
His widowed mother, Mrs Marjorie Kyslun, 83, of Daybrook, Nottingham, told us yesterday: "He went to see Paul (Manousso) and after a nice meal Paul suggested he go to bed because he looked tired. He heard a bang, but thought nothing of it, but when he went to check on Martin found that he had fallen down the stairs and had died instantly."
Mr Kyslun was a talented pianist and artist, being a descendant of the Dutch artist D'Hooghe on his mother's side, and one time studied music at Clarendon College. Nottingham.
Said Mrs Kyslun: "Martin was a lovely character. He had a great sense of humour and was willing to help people."
He came to live in the Ashbourne area 20 years ago and had been resident at The Mansion - one of Ashbourne's Grade I listed buildings and former home of Samuel Johnson's friend Dr John Taylor - since the mid-1990s when it was bought by Mr Manousso.
Mr Manousso told the News Telegraph: "Inspite of his eccentricities and the fact he was a character, he had a brilliant mind with an extraordinary grasp of philosophical and scientific matters.
"He was a brilliant pianist and was in fact multi talented and it is sad that he has died so young."
In 2003 Mr Kyslun believed the May general election was "morally obscene" and stood as a West Derbyshire constituency candidate to demonstrate his antipathy, but asked people not to vote for him.
He called himself The Count and even set up camp in front of the Ashbourne War Memorial.
At the time he told the News Telegraph: "I will not be voting for myself or for any other aspiring Count, but will be placing a large nought on my ballot form with a diagonal cross to mark my opposition to this parliamentary election.
"The nought is in consideration of the marks out of 10 I would give this election.
"Unlike some other democracies we do not have the opportunity to express our antipathy by having a box marked 'none of the above'."
He also stood for Parliament in 1997, inspired by Bob Goodall of Kniveton who stood as the country's first Independent candidate in 1944 because people were playing petty party politics during the war, which he thought was shameful.
Said Mr Kyslun: "When I first stood in 1997 it was upon Bob's door that I knocked because it was becoming difficult to acknowledge the honest difference between any of the parties.
"To have an election implies choice, while that choice is imperceptibly disappearing. In 1997, while not personally being persuaded that New Labour could make things better, I could never have imagined that a Labour government could so quickly squander the moral integrity of this country."
Although Mr Kyslun died on Saturday October 25, the funeral arrangements have yet to be made - the undertaker is still awaiting papers from the London Coroner's Office.
The funeral will take place in Arnold, Nottingham. Anyone wanting more information should call Mark at the undertakers on 0115 9766777.
The 51-year old lived at The Mansion, in Church Street, and was in London visiting the owner at his Brompton Square home.
His widowed mother, Mrs Marjorie Kyslun, 83, of Daybrook, Nottingham, told us yesterday: "He went to see Paul (Manousso) and after a nice meal Paul suggested he go to bed because he looked tired. He heard a bang, but thought nothing of it, but when he went to check on Martin found that he had fallen down the stairs and had died instantly."
Mr Kyslun was a talented pianist and artist, being a descendant of the Dutch artist D'Hooghe on his mother's side, and one time studied music at Clarendon College. Nottingham.
Said Mrs Kyslun: "Martin was a lovely character. He had a great sense of humour and was willing to help people."
He came to live in the Ashbourne area 20 years ago and had been resident at The Mansion - one of Ashbourne's Grade I listed buildings and former home of Samuel Johnson's friend Dr John Taylor - since the mid-1990s when it was bought by Mr Manousso.
Mr Manousso told the News Telegraph: "Inspite of his eccentricities and the fact he was a character, he had a brilliant mind with an extraordinary grasp of philosophical and scientific matters.
"He was a brilliant pianist and was in fact multi talented and it is sad that he has died so young."
In 2003 Mr Kyslun believed the May general election was "morally obscene" and stood as a West Derbyshire constituency candidate to demonstrate his antipathy, but asked people not to vote for him.
He called himself The Count and even set up camp in front of the Ashbourne War Memorial.
At the time he told the News Telegraph: "I will not be voting for myself or for any other aspiring Count, but will be placing a large nought on my ballot form with a diagonal cross to mark my opposition to this parliamentary election.
"The nought is in consideration of the marks out of 10 I would give this election.
"Unlike some other democracies we do not have the opportunity to express our antipathy by having a box marked 'none of the above'."
He also stood for Parliament in 1997, inspired by Bob Goodall of Kniveton who stood as the country's first Independent candidate in 1944 because people were playing petty party politics during the war, which he thought was shameful.
Said Mr Kyslun: "When I first stood in 1997 it was upon Bob's door that I knocked because it was becoming difficult to acknowledge the honest difference between any of the parties.
"To have an election implies choice, while that choice is imperceptibly disappearing. In 1997, while not personally being persuaded that New Labour could make things better, I could never have imagined that a Labour government could so quickly squander the moral integrity of this country."
Although Mr Kyslun died on Saturday October 25, the funeral arrangements have yet to be made - the undertaker is still awaiting papers from the London Coroner's Office.
The funeral will take place in Arnold, Nottingham. Anyone wanting more information should call Mark at the undertakers on 0115 9766777.
