What they all wanted: a seat here

In two series of Triumphs and Disasters, broadcast on The Westminster Hour in 2002 and 2003, the journalist and broadcaster Steve Richards remembers the contests which grabbed the headlines and talks to those who tasted success - and those who went red when the result was declared.

Steve Richards

1962: Orpington was the by-election which breathed new life into the Liberal Party and wounded Harold Macmillan's Conservative government. Victor Eric Lubbock, now Lord Avebury, is one of those interviewed.

Click here to listen to part one - Richards on Orpington

Winnie Ewing

1967: Hamilton was the by-election which made the Scottish National Party a serious force in politics and helped put devolution on the agenda. The winner, Winnie Ewing, is among the interviewees.

Click here to listen to part two - Richards on Hamilton

Dick Taverne campaigning in Lincoln

1973: Lincoln was the by-election which inspired those backing a centre party and foreshadowed Labour's furious battles between left and right. Dick Taverne re-lives his short-lived triumph for 'Democratic Labour', only to lose the following year to Margaret Jackson, now cabinet minister Beckett.

Click here to listen to part three - Richards on Lincoln

Rosie Barnes

1987: Greenwich was the by-election which revived the Social Democratic Party and undermined Labour, just four months before a general election. Winner Rosie Barnes remembers her moment in the spotlight.

Click here to listen to part four - Richards on Greenwich

Neville Chamberlain with his piece of paper, returning from Munich

1938: Just weeks after Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich, the voters of Oxford turned out in what had become a single-issue by-election: approving or rejecting the Conservative Prime Minister's peace strategy. The Tory candidate Quintin Hogg held on in the face of a united challenge from the opponents of appeasement. We hear the voice of Quintin Hogg from the BBC sound archives, as well as the views now of the man who went on to become Tory Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath, the former Labour deputy leader Lord Healey and the author and broadcaster Andrew Roberts.

Click here to listen to Richards on the Oxford by-election

Roy Jenkins

1981: Soon after the formation of the Social Democratic Party, Warrington was the by-election the SDP lost - but claimed as a triumph. Their candidate, the former Labour deputy leader Roy Jenkins, said, after losing to his former party by less than 2,000 votes, that this was "by far the biggest victory" he had ever been part of - because of the momentum it gave the SDP early in its life. Another member of the SDP's Gang of Four, former Labour cabinet minister Shirley Williams, was expected by many to stand for the new party and she reveals her belief that she would have won the by-election. Also interviewed: Roy Hattersley and the winning Labour candidate, Doug Hoyle.

Click here to listen to Richards on the Warrington by-election

Michael Foot celebrating his 90th birthday. Saved by Darlington?

1983: The Darlington by-election was an even bigger missed opportunity for the Social Democrats. With a general election impending, it was a huge opportunity for the SDP to do further damage to the Labour Party. But their candidate turned out to be inexperienced - he called himself an amateur politician - and easy prey for the other parties and the media covering the campaign. Labour's victory may have saved Michael Foot's leadership. The Social Democrat candidate, Tony Cook, has rarely talked about the by-election he lost. He does for Triumphs and Disasters. Also interviewed: Labour's campaign manager in Darlington, Jack Cunningham MP, Michael Fallon (Conservative candidate) and Cecil Parkinson, then Conservative Party chairman.

Click here to listen to Richards on the Darlington by-election

David Bellotti celebrates his victory

1990: The Eastbourne by-election came in the dog days of the Thatcher Government - just a month before Mrs Thatcher was forced out of office. It nearly did not happen. The vacancy was caused by the murder of the local Tory MP Ian Gow and there were calls for the other parties to give the Conservatives a clear run. But the election went ahead and resulted in a shock win for the Liberal Democrats, their first under the leadership of Paddy Ashdown. Interviewed: the victorious Liberal Democrat, David Bellotti, defeated Conservative standard-bearer Richard Hickmet, Labour candidate Charlotte Atkins (now an MP elsewhere in the country), the then deputy Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Howe and Conservative chairman, Kenneth Baker.

Click here to listen to Richards on the Eastbourne by-election