Biography for
Margaret Thatcher (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

13 October 1925, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, UK

Birth Name

Margaret Hilda Roberts

Nickname

Iron Lady
Maggie
Thatcher, the Milk Snatcher
Attilla the Hen

Height

5' 5½" (1.66 m)

Mini Biography

Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, England, the younger daughter of Alfred and Beatrice Roberts. Her father was a greengrocer and respected town leader, serving as lay-leader with their church, city-alderman and then as mayor. He taught Margaret never to do things because other people are doing them; do what you think is right and persuade others to follow you. She attended Oxford University from 1943 to 1947 and earned a degree in Chemistry, but it was clear from early on that politics was her true calling. She stood as a Conservative candidate from Dartford in the 1950 and 1951 elections. She married Denis Thatcher in December 1951 and they had twin children, Mark Thatcher and Carol Thatcher. She practiced tax law for a time in the 1950s, but was elected to Parliament from Finchley in 1959. Two years later, she was appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Pensions. In 1970, she was appointed Minister for Education and earned the title 'Thatcher the Milk Snatcher,' for eliminating free milk for schoolchildren in a round of budget-cutting. After the Conservative Party lost both general elections in 1974, she defeated Edward Heath for the leadership of the party. She was elected Prime Minister in May 1979 and served for eleven and a half years, longer than any other British Prime Minister in the 20th Century. As Prime Minister, she was staunchly capitalist and bent on wiping socialism from the face of Britain. During her tenure, she cut taxes, spending and regulations, privatized state-industries and state-housing, reformed the education, health and welfare systems, was tough on crime and espoused traditional values. Her time in office was eventful, having to contend with an economic recession, inner-city riots and a miners' strike. Her first great triumph in office was the Falklands War in 1982, when she sent British troops to reclaim British possessions off the coast of South America that had been invaded and occupied by Argentina. The British won that war and it showed the world that Britain was once again a power to be reckoned with. Her time in office saw unprecedented economic prosperity. She was staunch political allies with Ronald Reagan and through their tough foreign and defence policies, brought the Cold War to an end and a victory for the Free World. It was she who persuaded President George Bush to send troops to Saudi Arabia right after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. The Poll Tax and her refusal to endorse a common currency for Europe led the Conservative party to force her out of office in a bloody internal coup. She was forced to resign as Prime Minister in November 1990. Since she left office, she was introduced to the House of Lords in 1992 as Baroness Thatcher. She travelled the world, touring the lecture circuit promoting her causes and is president of numerous organizations dedicated to her causes. In the last few years her health has suffered and she no longer speaks in public.

IMDb Mini Biography By: jeff fallis

Spouse

Denis Thatcher

(13 December 1951 - 26 June 2003) (his death) 2 children

Trade Mark

Asprey handbag

Bouffant hair

Power suits

Trivia

She served as the United Kingdom's first and to date only female Prime Minister from May 4, 1979 to November 28, 1990.

Raised to the peerage in 1992, thereafter known as Baroness Thatcher

Was targeted for assassination by the IRA. In 1984, she was staying at the Grand Hotel in Brighton for the annual Tory Conference. She was working on her speech when a bomb exploded in the Hotel. She escaped unharmed, but the bomb was meant to kill her. One Conservative MP, one Conservative politician and 4 female attendees all lost their lives. Other members of her government to suffer injuries included Norman Tebbit and John Wakeham .

Children: twins Mark Thatcher and daughter Carol Thatcher.

In South Africa they have named a nectarine after her.

Was a tax lawyer.

Is Britain's only 20th-century PM to serve three consecutive terms.

Was a research chemist.

She was an enthusiastic fan of the television comedy series "Yes Minister" (1980). One of its stars, Paul Eddington, was later awarded a CBE for his services to acting.

Before entering politics she was a scientist, at one time working on the chemistry of ice cream.

Voted the 3rd worst Briton in Channel Four's poll of the 100 Worst Britons.

The song "Tramp the Dirt Down" by Elvis Costello, was written about her. Elvis Costello says in the song that he will dance on her grave when she dies.

Has her look-alike puppet in the French show "Les guignols de l'info" (1988).

Subject of the Morrissey song "Margaret on the Guillotine".

The character of Helen A (played by Sheila Hancock ) in the "Doctor Who" (1963) television adventure "The Happiness Patrol" (broadcast in 1988) is often said to have been based on her.

Subject of the Beat song "Stand Down Margaret" in 1980.

Her likeness was used on the sleeves of two Iron Maiden singles; on the cover of the single 'Sanctuary', she is depicted as having been killed by Maiden's demonic mascot, Eddie, for apparently ripping up and Iron Maiden poster. She gets her revenge, however, on the cover of the single 'Women In Uniform' as a military uniform-wearing Maggie holding a machine gun waits around a corner to ambush Eddie as he approaches with a woman in uniform on either arm. However, despite the graphic sleeves, Maggie finally met with Iron Maiden in 1981.

Educated at Huntingtower Road Primary School and then Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School.

Mentioned in the Pink Floyd song "The Post War Dream" from their 1983 album "The Final Cut".

Mentioned in Mark Knopfler's song "Why Aye Man".

Descendant from the first marriage, with John Grey, 7th Lord Ferrers of Gorby, of Elizabeth Widville, Queen of England by her second marriage with King Edward IV.

In August 2008 daughter Carol Thatcher revealed that her mother had been displaying symptoms of dementia for the past seven years.

Broke her right arm in a fall at her London home in June 2009 and underwent surgery.

During her time as British Prime Minister, she cut income tax on the country's top earners by more than half. When she was elected in 1979, the top rate of income tax had stood at 83% since 1974. She immediately reduced it to 60% and in 1988 her government reduced it again, this time to 40%.

Personal Quotes

If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.

Capitalism only works by spreading to more of the population what used to be the privileges of the few.

Free choice is ultimately what life is about.

Good Conservatives always pay their bills. Unlike socialists, who just run up other people's.

I would never be prepared to give up our own currency.

The enemy is socialism and the Labour Party.

It is exciting to have a real crisis on your hands, when you have spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment.

There is no such thing as Society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.

On her successor as Prime Minister, John Major: "I don't think I was unkind to him. I supported him a lot - I chose him!"

I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.

No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions. He had money as well.

That has been a bit of a problem for the Conservatives - Mr Blair and the Labour Party sound too much like us.

Being Prime Minister is a lonely job. In a sense, it ought to be - you cannot lead from a crowd. But with Denis there I was never alone. What a man. What a husband. What a friend.

I am profoundly concerned about unemployment. Human dignity and self-respect are undermined when men and women are condemned to idleness.

To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U- turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning.

"Every Prime Minister needs a Willie." (On her Conservative colleague Willie Whitelaw )

I think sometimes the prime minister should be intimidating. There's not much point in being a weak, floppy thing in the chair.

The Russians said that I was an iron lady. They were right. Britain needs an iron lady.

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

There will never be anybody else so compelling as Enoch Powell. He had a rare combination of qualities all founded on an unfaltering belief in God, an unshakable loyalty to family and friends and an unswerving devotion to our country. He was magnetic. Listening to his speeches was an unforgettable privilege. He was one of those rare people who made a difference.

On self-respect: Self-regard is the root of regard for one's fellows.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

If you do not have charge of your own currency, you do not have charge of your own freedom. The idea that we should give up our own currency is utterly repugnant and I do not think many people would want to give it up. The moment you go to Europe - it's an awful thing, it's a spineless thing.

On my way here I passed a local cinema and it turns out you were expecting me after all, for the billboards read: The Mummy Returns (2001).

Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay. (On the need for a law to prevent the promotion of homosexuality, which became Section 28)

I gave Mr Wilson a little piece of advice. It was just a suggestion but one I felt was in his interests and those of the country he's led to its present pass. Go, I said, and go now. It's always gratifying to be listened to. (On the resignation of Harold Wilson as Prime Minister in 1976)

I must tell you that what we have got is an attempt to substitute the rule of the mob for the rule of law, and it must not succeed. (On the miners' strike of 1984-5)

If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim.

Our party is the party of equality of opportunity.

I am happy that my successor will carry on the excellent policies that in fact have finished with the decline of socialism and have brought great prosperity to this country, which have raised Britain's standing in the world and in fact have brought about a truly capital-owning democracy.

Some socialists seem to believe that people should be numbers in a state computer. We believe they should be individuals. We're all unequal. No one, thank heavens, is quite like anyone else, however much the socialists may pretend otherwise. And we believe that everyone has the right to be unequal. But to us, every human being is equally important. A man's right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master, they're the essence of a free economy and on that freedom all our other freedoms depend.

People from my sort of background needed grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn (Tony Benn).

I firmly believe in law and order and in standing up for authority, otherwise we should have no free society.

I am going to have to make it quite clear that Britain is a place where those who have ability can use that ability and if they're successful they can stay here. So many of our successful people intend to go overseas. We want to build a country for successful people here and we use their success to help others. I firmly believe that those who work harder or who have greater ability should get greater rewards and keep them and that as they prosper themselves, so they should prosper others. If you're prepared to save I think you should get some benefit from that. (Speaking in 1975 after being elected leader of the Conservative Party)

It was Anthony Eden who chose for us the goal of "a property-owning democracy". But for all the time that I have been in public affairs, that has been beyond the reach of so many, who were denied the right to the most basic ownership of all - the homes in which they live. They wanted to buy. Many could afford to buy. But they happened to live under the jurisdiction of a socialist council, which would not sell and did not believe in the independence that comes with ownership. (On the Housing Act 1980, which gave five million council house tenants in England and Wales the right to buy their house from their local authority)

[on proposed British integration into the European Union] No, no, no and never.

[on the meaning of consensus] The process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects.

To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only this to say: "You turn if you want. The lady's not for turning."

Where Are They Now

(March 2004) In retirement from the lecture/ after dinner speech circuit after several small strokes left her frail