Racist governor-turned comedian dies

Lester Maddox, the restaurateur whose segregationist defiance propelled him into the Georgia governorship in the 1960s, died today aged 87.

A high school dropout, he gained national notoriety for chasing blacks away from his fried chicken restaurant in Atlanta in 1964, the day after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law. He closed and then sold the restaurant rather than serve blacks.