Dickens is known for his anti-paedophile work, including the naming of diplomat Sir Peter Hayman as a paedophile in the House of Commons.

[1] He worked as an Aviation Design Draughtsman at BSP Industries in Borehamwood, Herts, whom he represented as a talented goalkeeper; he became a member of St Albans Rural District Council from 1967 to 1974, and was its chairman in 1970–71.

[1] In 1972 Dickens was awarded the Royal Humane Society's Testimonial on Vellum after he saved two boys and a man from drowning in the sea off Majorca.

[1] A Conservative politician, Dickens stood unsuccessfully for Middlesbrough in February 1974 (coming second out of two, behind Labour, on 33.7%)[2] and for Ealing North in October 1974 (finishing second of three, with 39.7%).

[1] Described as "Falstaffian" and "the original 'rent-a-quote' man",[1] over his time in parliament he campaigned for causes as diverse as the return of hanging and the banning of dangerous teddy bears.

[7] In 1981, Dickens named the former British High Commissioner to Canada, Sir Peter Hayman, as a paedophile in the House of Commons, using parliamentary privilege so he could not be sued for slander.

[7] A Home Office review that year concluded that any information requiring investigation was referred to the police, but revealed that Mr Dickens' dossier was "not retained".

[12] Prime Minister David Cameron asked the Home Office Permanent Secretary to investigate what had happened to the missing dossier.

"[1] Michael Brown, who had been his whip, remembered "a superb constituency man who held down a Tory majority in difficult northern, working-class seats..."[1] Tristan Garel-Jones wrote that "Despite the conscious self-deprecation, he was shrewder than he let on.