80 Fun Facts About Margaret Thatcher

In which Lincolnshire town was Margaret Roberts born in October 1925?

She and her elder sister Muriel were raised in the flat above the family shops on North Parade.

What kind of business did her father Alfred Roberts, an alderman and lay preacher, run?

He also owned a tobacconist's, served as mayor in 1945–46, and lost his aldermanship when Labour took the council in 1952.

Which subject did she read at Oxford?

She later said she was prouder of being the first prime minister with a science degree than of being the first woman in the job.

Which women's college was she at in Oxford, one she tried as prime minister to keep single-sex?

She arrived a year early in October 1943 after another scholarship candidate withdrew.

Which X-ray crystallographer, later a Nobel laureate, was her tutor and thesis supervisor at university?

Tutor and pupil corresponded into the 1980s, and a portrait of the scientist hung in 10 Downing Street.

Which 1944 book by Friedrich Hayek influenced her politics while she was at Oxford?

She became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1946.

Which company rejected her in 1948 as 'headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated'?

She was working at the time as a research chemist for BX Plastics in Colchester.

While standing for Parliament she worked as a research chemist for which food firm, reportedly on ice cream emulsifiers?

Her supervisor Hans Jellinek said in 1979 that she had done 'a very good job', 'showing great determination'.

Her only scientific paper, in 1951, concerned saponifying a compound with properties as what?

The paper on α-monostearin appeared in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

The 'Vermin Club' she joined as a young activist was formed in response to a remark by which Labour politician?

She attended the 1948 party conference at Llandudno as a graduate delegate.

Which Labour-held Kent seat did she fight and lose in both 1950 and 1951?

She was the youngest Conservative candidate in the country in 1950 and cut the Labour majority by 6,000.

In which year did she marry Denis Thatcher?

They met at a dinner after her adoption as a candidate; she first described him as 'not a very attractive creature – very reserved but quite nice'.

In which profession did she qualify in 1953, specialising in taxation?

Denis paid for her studies; their twins were born later the same year.

What were the names of her twins, born prematurely in 1953?

Their daughter later became a journalist and revealed her mother's dementia in 2005.

Which north London seat did she represent in the Commons from 1959 to 1992?

She had first been rejected for the Orpington by-election candidacy in 1954.

Her maiden speech supported her own private member's bill, which required local authorities to do what?

She won a backbench lottery to propose legislation, and the bill became the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960.

In 1961 Harold Macmillan gave her a first frontbench post as parliamentary secretary at which ministry?

She was the youngest woman ever to receive such a post.

In the 1970–74 Conservative government she sat in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for what?

Within days she withdrew Labour's circular pressing councils to go comprehensive, though 94 grammar schools were all she saved.

The nickname 'Milk Snatcher' came from her ending free school milk for children in which age group?

Cabinet papers later showed she opposed the cut but was forced into it by the Treasury.

Which sitting party leader did she beat on the first ballot of the 1975 Conservative leadership vote?

He resigned after the first ballot and was never reconciled to her leadership.

Whom did she beat on the 1975 leadership second ballot, then make her deputy?

Her support was strongest among MPs on the right, from southern England, and those who had not been to public school or Oxbridge.

Which actor, met by chance, arranged voice lessons for her with the National Theatre's coach?

The introduction came through her media adviser Gordon Reece, a former television producer.

Writing in The Observer, Clive James compared her 1973 speaking voice to what?

She had already begun working on her presentation with the adviser Gordon Reece.

The 'Iron Lady' nickname came from a 1976 headline in which Soviet Army newspaper?

A week later she embraced it, likening it to the Duke of Wellington's 'Iron Duke'.

By what title is Thatcher's 1976 speech that provoked the 'Iron Lady' tag known?

She quipped that she stood in a chiffon evening gown as 'the Iron Lady of the Western world'.

Which Conservative slogan attacked the government's unemployment record before the 1979 election?

The election followed a lost confidence vote after the strikes of the Winter of Discontent.

Which Labour prime minister did she replace when she entered Downing Street?

He had surprised everyone in September 1978 by not calling an election, and she branded his government 'chickens'.

In which year did she become prime minister?

The Conservatives won a 44-seat majority.

On the steps of Downing Street she paraphrased a prayer attributed to which saint?

'Where there is discord, may we bring harmony,' she began.

Which playwright wrote the 1980 speech line 'You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning'?

It was aimed at cabinet 'wets' and a press expecting a U-turn during the recession.

In which year did Argentina's junta invade the Falkland Islands?

Argentina surrendered on 14 June after 74 days; 255 British servicemen died.

Which Royal Navy submarine torpedoed and sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano?

Half of Argentina's 649 war dead were aboard the cruiser.

Which republican prisoner began the 1981 Maze hunger strike and was the first of ten to die?

Thatcher's line was 'Crime is crime is crime; it is not political', though the government privately contacted republican leaders.

Which organisation bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton in October 1984 in an attempt to kill her?

Five people died, including the wife of minister John Wakeham; she insisted the party conference open on time the next morning.

Which Irish Taoiseach signed the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement with her at Hillsborough?

All 15 Unionist MPs resigned their seats in protest and Ian Paisley drew 100,000 to an 'Ulster Says No' rally.

Who led the National Union of Mineworkers during the 1984–85 strike?

He refused a national ballot, having lost three earlier ones, and the High Court declared the strike illegal.

Which hardliner did she install as chairman of the National Coal Board ahead of the miners' strike?

He had earlier halved the workforce at British Steel; fuel stockpiles and riot-trained police completed her strategy.

Roughly how long did the miners' strike last before the union conceded without a deal?

The cost to the economy was put at £1.5 billion at least; 97 pits had closed by 1992.

The 1986 'Big Bang' removed many restrictions on which institution?

Exchange controls had already been scrapped by her first chancellor in 1979.

Which state-owned industry did she refuse to privatise, calling it 'the Waterloo of this government'?

She relented shortly before resigning; her successor sold it off in 1994.

Which Chinese leader did she meet in Beijing in 1982 to open talks on the future of Hong Kong?

She was the first British prime minister to visit China; the Joint Declaration followed in 1984.

Reagan angered her in 1983 by invading which Commonwealth island without consulting her?

Despite very different personalities the two leaders bonded quickly over a shared distrust of communism.

US cruise missiles stationed from November 1983 at which RAF base triggered mass protests by CND?

More than 160 missiles were based there.

In April 1986 she let US F-111 bombers fly from British bases to strike which country?

Fewer than one in three Britons approved; she cited the right of self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Which minister resigned over the 1986 Westland affair and challenged her for the leadership in 1990?

He wanted a European consortium to rescue Westland; she favoured Sikorsky.

In a 1987 magazine interview she said 'there is no such thing as society'. Which magazine?

She went on: 'There are individual men and women and there are families'.

In which city did she warn in 1988 against 'a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels'?

She had campaigned to stay in the EEC in 1975 and signed the Single European Act in 1986.

What was the official name of the local tax, popularly called the poll tax, that charged every adult the same?

It later emerged that she had failed to register for it herself and was threatened with a penalty.

The poll tax was introduced in 1989 in which part of the UK, a year ahead of England and Wales?

A March 1990 London demonstration turned into riots that left 113 injured and 340 arrested.

To which US president did she say 'This was no time to go wobbly' after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990?

She had resigned by the time the Gulf War began in January 1991.

Which little-known backbencher challenged her for the leadership in 1989, winning 33 votes to 314?

Her supporters treated the result as proof there was no discontent in the party.

Whose 13 November 1990 resignation speech, with its broken-bats image, was instrumental in Thatcher's downfall?

He was the last remaining member of her original 1979 cabinet.

On the first ballot of November 1990 she won 204 to 152, but fell how many votes short?

She vowed to 'fight on and fight to win' before her cabinet persuaded her to withdraw.

Which member of her cabinet succeeded her as prime minister in November 1990?

He was her chancellor; she lobbied for him, then cooled on him in later years.

How many consecutive general elections did she win as Conservative leader?

The press called it a 'historic hat trick' in 1987; two of the wins were landslides.

Her 11 years and 209 days made her the longest-serving PM since which 19th-century figure?

His 13 years came in three separate spells; the longest continuous run was Lord Liverpool's.

Which company hired her as a 'geopolitical consultant' in 1992 for $250,000 a year?

She also earned $50,000 a speech.

Which was the first volume of her memoirs, published in 1993?

A second volume on her earlier life followed in 1995, and Statecraft in 2002.

Her 1992 life peerage made her Baroness Thatcher 'of' which place?

It is the Lincolnshire district containing her home town.

From 1993 to 2000 she was honorary chancellor of which American institution?

She was simultaneously chancellor of Britain's private University of Buckingham.

In 1998 she called for the release of which arrested former dictator, citing his help in the Falklands War?

She visited him under house arrest near London in 1999; he was freed on medical grounds in 2000.

How did she deliver her eulogy at Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004?

She attended against doctors' orders and flew on to California for the interment.

Unveiling her statue in the Commons in 2007, she said she 'might have preferred iron' but which metal 'will do'?

She was the first living prime minister honoured with a statue in Parliament; it faces Churchill's.

Where was she staying when she died of a stroke in April 2013?

She had moved there from her Chester Square home because of difficulty with the stairs.

Where were her ashes interred, beside her husband's?

The funeral service was at St Paul's, attended by the Queen — only the second former PM's funeral she attended after Churchill's.

Which actress played her in the 2011 film The Iron Lady?

Lindsay Duncan had played her two years earlier in the BBC drama Margaret.

Which actress played her in the fourth season of The Crown?

Lesley-Anne Down took the role in the 2024 biopic Reagan.

Under what pseudonym did Patrick Magee check into Brighton's Grand Hotel in September 1984?

He borrowed the name of the IRA bomber convicted for the 1973 Old Bailey attack and paid £180 for three nights; a partial palm print on his registration card later helped convict him.

How many people were killed by the Brighton bomb that exploded at 2:54 am on 12 October 1984?

The blast dislodged a five-ton chimney stack that crashed through the floors; Thatcher, in the Napoleon Suite, was unhurt.

Which chain opened early so bombed-out Brighton delegates could buy clothes before 9 am?

Party treasurer Alistair McAlpine hired a coach and taxis at 8 am and the Conservative Party paid for the new outfits.

In which year was Patrick Magee released under licence as part of the Good Friday Agreement?

He had received eight concurrent life sentences in 1986 with a 35-year minimum; in 2000 he met Jo Berry, daughter of the MP he killed.

How many seats did the Conservatives win in Thatcher's 1983 landslide, the most decisive since 1945?

The 'Falklands Factor' and renewed growth helped; Labour took 27.6% of the vote and the Alliance 25.4%.

Thatcher's only Commons defeat as PM came on a 1986 bill that would have legalised what?

Seventy-two Conservatives rebelled against the Shops Bill, the last time a government bill fell at second reading.

Which small nationalised firm was sold to its own workers as Thatcher's first privatisation?

After the 1983 election the government grew bolder and, starting with British Telecom, sold off most of the big utilities.

At which 1984 summit did the EEC agree an annual budget rebate for the United Kingdom?

Thatcher had told the 1979 Dublin council, 'We are simply asking to have our own money back'; the rebate covered 66% of the gap.

How long did the Wapping dispute of newspaper printers last, a year after the miners' strike?

It ended in a second big union defeat; Thatcher had assured that police would defend the plants against pickets.

What did Thatcher's government begin designating in 1981 to tackle inner-city stagnation?

The idea started in Britain and was later copied by the United States and some EU countries, exempting depressed areas from certain rules and taxes.

Which French president agreed the Channel Tunnel project with Thatcher?

The socialist Mitterrand said France would pay its share from public funds, while Thatcher insisted the British share be privately financed.

Which 1988 measure banned councils from 'promoting homosexuality'?

Her 1987 conference speech had complained that children were being taught they had 'an inalienable right to be gay'.

What was the date of Thatcher's formal resignation as prime minister?

She had led the first leadership ballot on 20 November with just under 55% but fell four votes short of the required margin.