Fun Facts About Margaret Thatcher
- Margaret Thatcher's "Iron Lady" nickname came from the Soviet Army journal Red Star, which ran a 1976 headline "Iron Lady Raises Fears". She embraced it a week later.[1]
- Before politics, Thatcher studied chemistry at Oxford under Dorothy Hodgkin, the X-ray crystallographer, who considered her a "good" student.[1][3][4]
- In 1948 the chemical company ICI rejected Thatcher for a job, assessing her as "headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated".[1]
- As a girl, Thatcher told a friend she could not believe in angels, having calculated they would need a breastbone 6 feet long to support their wings.[1]
- The TV critic Clive James compared Thatcher's 1973 voice to "a cat sliding down a blackboard", and the actor Laurence Olivier arranged lessons for her with the National Theatre's voice coach.[1]
- In 1938 Thatcher's family briefly sheltered a Jewish teenager who had escaped Nazi Germany, and young Margaret saved pocket money to help pay for her journey.[1]
- Nelson Mandela and Margaret Thatcher were born 7 years apart, and both died in 2013.[1][2][5][6]
- Margaret Thatcher was alive at the same time as Claude Monet — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1925–1926).[1][2][7][8]
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position. As prime minister, she implemented policies that came to be known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady," a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.[1]
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Questions About Margaret Thatcher
When was Margaret Thatcher born?
Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925, and died on April 8, 2013.
How old was Margaret Thatcher at death?
Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925, and died on April 8, 2013, at age 87.
What was Margaret Thatcher known for?
Margaret Thatcher was known for: The Iron Lady, British Prime Minister. Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position. As prime minister, she implemented policies that came to be known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady," a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.
Who was alive at the same time as Margaret Thatcher?
Margaret Thatcher's closest contemporary was Nelson Mandela. Their lives overlapped for 88 years.
Sources
- Margaret Thatcher — Wikipedia. Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Margaret Thatcher (Q7416) — Wikidata
- Dorothy Hodgkin — Wikipedia
- Dorothy Hodgkin (Q7487) — Wikidata
- Nelson Mandela — Wikipedia
- Nelson Mandela (Q8023) — Wikidata
- Claude Monet — Wikipedia
- Claude Monet (Q296) — Wikidata
- Portrait: Margaret Thatcher stock portrait (cropped).jpg — Wikimedia Commons. derivative work by Begoon, Copyrighted free use