Additionally he passed a private members bill which relaxed the earnings rule for pensioners, and assisted the peace process in Northern Ireland which led to the Sunningdale Agreement.
Derek Coombs was also briefly an officer in the Royal Artillery, a successful businessman, supporter of the arts and the founding chairman of Prospect magazine.
Derek Coombs married first, in early-1959 in Sutton Coldfield, the elder sister Patricia (b. Leeds North, late-1930[3]) of Peter O'Toole, and with whom he had two children, a daughter Sian (b. early-1967[3]) and a son Fiann (b. late-1968[3]).
In 2010 his younger son Adam, having just left Bryanston School, died in an accident while on his gap year, before he was due to begin a philosophy degree course at Manchester University.
Derek Coombs was concerned over what he called the “dumbing down” of the British press and aimed to create an intellectual magazine to counter the trend and provide a space for the sciences and thought pieces from across the political spectrum.
[4] In 1949-51 Derek served 2 years of National Service in the Royal Artillery as a Lieutenant in the British Army of the Rhine, much of which he spent demolishing former Nazi buildings.