Coming back to life, becoming a lord and communicating with the Queen - the remarkable story of Rothwell's Leon Parrish

Leon, 76, was clinically dead and lived to tell the tale, offered comfort to the late Queen Elizabeth II, and even became a lord.

He documented his unique life story in 2020, when he released his book ‘The Story of Lord Leon and the Gaffer Above: Observed by the Boy from the Tin Bath’.

The dad-of-two was diagnosed with stomach cancer while in his 30s, while he had young children, a mortgage, and was in the process of trying to build up his vehicle dismantling business.

“It was bad times,” he said. “The doctor told me if I didn’t have this operation, within the next week he’d give me 10 months to live.

"I sat in the hospital car park for an hour thinking ‘how do I tell my wife that?’”

When he eventually went in for the operation, it did not go smoothly and he ended up in a coma.

It was during this time he died on the operating table.

"I actually died on the table of peritonitis,” he explained. “The gaffer upstairs sent me back down – I did live.”

The ordeal meant Leon had to grow accustomed to life without stomach muscles, but he has not let this hold him back.

He has since enjoyed an array of unique experiences and resilience is very much a part of his identity.

Leon never met his dad and was raised in Hunslet as his family battled financial hardship.

His mum had a daughter to a man who died of pneumonia, before having Leon with another man. She then went on to have six sons with Leon’s stepdad.

“We had one bedroom upstairs and every time it rained, we got six buckets to collect rain dripping through the ceiling,” he explained. ”We just survived.

"How my mum fed us all and coped with us all, I don’t know. Even she doesn’t know, as we get older we all help her out.

"She really looked after us.”

A childhood of financial struggles and a rather significant health scare later in life was not enough to slow Leon down.

Among his various ventures was an attempt to make his way into parliament.

In the 1997 general election, he unsuccessfully ran as an MP for the Referendum Party, a Eurosceptic party, in the Leeds East constituency.

After Leon and fellow party members stood for election, party leader Sir James Goldsmith treated them to a five-day holiday in Majorca.

It was while away on holiday that Leon began speaking to a Leeds councillor who mentioned that Rothwell, where Leon lives, was not too far from Methley.

As it turned out, the councillor had the title of Lord of Methley, a title he no longer wanted, and Leon then bought it to become Lord of Methley for a period.

Leon’s exploits are all documented in his book, which he claims is a “true account of a poor boy’s achievement”.

The late Queen Elizabeth II was even aware of the book, as Leon sent her a copy when he felt she needed comfort.

"Bless her, I didn’t expect a reply,” Leon explained. “She’d been through a lot so I put a few kind words together for her about Prince Philip.

"I said ‘here’s a book, sit in a corner, relax somewhere, have a read,- it might cheer you up.

"To my astonishment, we got a letter through from her.”

The reply had the date July 19 2022 on it, exactly two months before Her Majesty’s funeral.

"I was like, ‘wow’,” Leon said. “A scruffy lad from Hunslet getting a letter from our Queen.”

Leon’s book is currently available to purchase on Amazon and is free with Kindle Unlimited.