# Robin Cook is Dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2005, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-cook-is-dead/315954 "2005-08-07T03:58:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-cook-is-dead/315954/1 "2005-08-07T03:58:35Z")
Former UK Foreign Minster Robin Cook is dead. He suffered a heart attack while hiking on a mountain in Scotland. His wife was by his side. Cook gained attention when he resigned from the Cabinet over the British participation in the invasion of Iraq. He seems to have been a man who had convictions, and that is admirable. May angels speed him to his rest. (sigh) ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-cook-is-dead/315954/2 "2005-08-07T04:09:14Z")
My train of thought: The thriller writer is dead? The thriller writer was UK’s Foreign Minister?! :eek: … oh. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-cook-is-dead/315954/3 "2005-08-07T05:32:00Z")
Not just you, **LaurAnge**. I was all set to make a “not dead, but in a coma” joke and everything. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-cook-is-dead/315954/4 "2005-08-07T11:49:46Z")
Funnily enough, whenever a Brit sees a film entitled “Robin Cook’s …”, he thinks, “Did that ginger geezer who mumbles write a book, then?” He seemed to me like a very honourable bloke - for a politician - when he resigned because of his opposition to the invasion of Iraq. But dumping your wife in the VIP lounge at Heathrow to shack up with your secretary (13 years your junior) wasn’t the best move he ever made. ---
**Author:** ![beckwall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-cook-is-dead/315954/5 "2005-08-07T18:09:29Z")
I’m in the USA, so my info may be wrong, but here’s what I heard about the breakup at the airport - the tabloids, which apparently are very cruel about exposing things - were going to meet the wife at the airport and tell her about the affair. Kinda a no win situation, however he could have avoided it by never having the affair to begin with. I do think that he was an admirable and straightforward man, as far as politics were concerned. He obviously had very strong convictions when it came to the invasion and war in Iraq. He was only 59 years old. I have a tough time when people in my age group start dropping dead. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-cook-is-dead/315954/6 "2005-08-07T18:20:18Z")
He had one slightly strange side-line (especially for a politician) . This was his newspaper column giving horse-racing tips in the _Glasgow Herald_ . Here is a short obit :- [Robin Cook](http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/people/famousfirst558.html)