David Butler, who died in 2022, was in many ways a remarkable man. He was often on television, especially at times of elections, and was blessed with mathematical skills. As a young boy he spent a lot of time looking at cricket scores and working out batting averages and relished the dates, events and results of cricket matches.
He came from an intellectually bright family. His cousin was the well known politician Rab Butler who held many government offices, his father was a Latin professor and his maternal grandfather was the historian, A.F. Pollard. David did well at school and eventually got a university degree from New College, Oxford. His time at university was interrupted by the war and he became a tank commander with the Staffordshire Yeomanry and was part of the allied forces that crossed the River Rhine.
He certainly lived an interesting life but is best known for inventing a new science known as psephology. This derived from the Greek word for ‘pebble’ and came from the ancient practice of the Greeks where pebbles were used to cast their votes. His science was essentially to analyse voting trends and to predict election results. This he did initially on the very first televised election broadcast by the BBC and he did that sort of work until 1979.
