On a Clear Day

David Blunkett was born in 1947 in the slums near Sheffield Wednesday football ground. Currently a member of the Shadow Cabinet and born blind, David Blunkett's struggle to the top has been one of determination. The optic nerve behind each eyeball had failed to develop owing to the incompatibility of his parents' genes - a one in a million chance. It was only when Blunkett went to university that he decided to take a guide dog. Ruby was the first of four retrievers to help him with the "inconvenience" of his blindness, and subsequently became the first dog allowed in the Palace of Westminster. When the House began to be televized, it was his guide dog, Offa, who won over the British public. Now Lucy, a black retriever, sits by him in the House of Commons and travels back to his constituency in Sheffield. This book is an account of beating the system by a man and his dog.