A MAN who died in a house fire at Abbot’s Hill in Ramsgate town centre last weekend has been identified as 70-year-old historian Sid Lubin. At their latest meeting, members of Broadstairs and St Peter’s Labour Party stood in silent tribute for their former colleague.

They also expressed sympathy for Mr Lubin’s wife, Linda, who was rescued from the fire. Cllr Barry Coppock, one of Thanet’s senior Labour members, said: “Sid was a great stalwart of the party and a life-long member.

He started his career as a teacher in west London and later became a lecturer at the West London Polytechnic. He was general secretary of the National Association of Labour Teachers that then became the Socialist Education Association affiliated to the Labour Party.

“He was a BA and a BSc and a distinguished academic. He was a respected historian and lectured widely in Europe on Latin America, China and the Middle East. He came to Ramsgate when he retired in the late 1970s and immediately threw himself into local Labour activities.

"For many years he was an extremely active worker in the Labour and Co-operative movements.”