David Cook was the voice of the middle political ground and an avid historian who became Lord Mayor
(World News UK)

Former Alliance Party deputy leader, David Sommerville Cook, who in 1978 became Lord Mayor of Belfast, believed in bringing a voice of the middle ground of politics. Born in England on January 25 1944, he moved to Northern Ireland with his parents and sisters after his father was appointed headmaster of Campbell College in Belfast in 1954. His political career began in his 20s when he was a founder member of the Alliance Party in 1970. It was eight years later in two nights of high drama in Belfast City Council when he wrote his name indelibly in the political...