18 untold Margaret Thatcher facts That No one Knows

Little fact-lovers, let me introduce you to Margaret Hilda Thatcher.

She was a British stateswoman and a Conservative politician. 

From 1979 to 1990, she served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and from 1975 to 1990, she was the Leader of the Conservative Party.

She was actually the first female British prime minister and also the longest-serving in the 20^th century😲!

So, let us discuss some wonderful facts about this wonderful person.

Interesting Margaret Thatcher Facts

Margaret was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire

Hey there, little fact explorers, did you know that Margaret was born 👶 in Grantham, Lincolnshire?

She was born on October 13, 1925. Her dad was Alfred Roberts from Northamptonshire, and her mom was Beatrice Ethel Stephenson from Lincolnshire.

Margaret Hilda Roberts spent her childhood in Grantham, as she owned a grocery and tobacco shop there.

Before becoming a politician, Margaret worked for an ice cream company

In 1947, after graduating from Oxford with a degree in chemistry, Margaret worked at a food conglomerate. 

It was J. Lyons & Company, where she helped devise a way for whipping extra air into cream. 

The innovation spread due to Mr. Whippy, a chain of British ice cream 🍦 trucks.

Prior to working for J Lyons & Co., Margaret had a stint as a plastics company’s research chemist.

In July 1983, Thatcher was elected a fellow of the Royal Society body of scientists, and she worked in developing emulsifiers for ice creams.

She also tasted the quality of ice creams and cake filings. 

Margaret’s family sheltered an Australian Jewish girl

Margaret’s older sister, Muriel, amassed pen pals. In 1938, Edith Muhlbauer, one of them, wrote to request to stay with the family. 

Edith was the daughter of Vienna’s Jewish bankers, and the Nazi army had occupied the country.

Margaret’s father 👨 did not have the money to take in a 17-year-old girl permanently. 

So, he took the letter to the local Rotary Club, which agreed to pay for her passage and also rotate hosting duties.

In January 1939, Edith stayed with Margaret’s family and gave Margaret a firsthand account of Nazism. It affected Margaret deeply, and she read about Nazi anti-Semitism.

Thatcher almost ended her political career due to milk

In 1970, while serving as a secretary of education, Margaret ended a free milk 🥛 program for school children between the ages 7 and 11. 

She did this to meet the pledge of the Conservative government to cut spending.

Crucially, free school meals can help with learning. Thus, the Labor politicians and press were quite brutal to her and labeled her “Thatcher, the Milk Snatcher.”

The Sun asked in a headline, “Is Mrs. Thatcher Even Human?”

However, she didn’t budge from her position; however, being affected by the personal nature of insults, she did think about quitting.

At a Parliamentary seat, Thatcher lost her first two stabs

Margaret Roberts, soon to be Thatcher, lost the general election twice in the safe Labour seat in 1951 and 1952.

At the age of 24, she was the youngest person to stand for a seat in the House of Commons.

It was during the election of 1950.

She was Oxford University Conservative Association’s resident and gained the Conservative Party’s attention.

In the working-class district of Dartford, she faced an uphill battle, which leaned toward the opposition, Labor Party.

Although defeated, she gained good great media attention for cutting down the Labour majority by a third; however, she lost again in 1951.

Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady of the Western World

In 1975, Thatcher was the Conservative Party’s elected leader. 

In January 1976, she gave a speech regarding what she saw as complacency in the Soviet military build-up’s face.

The Reuters bureau chief in Moscow, Robert Evans, was trudging through what he would recall later as the city’s “miserably slushy’ day.

It was the day when he saw a copy of a Soviet army propaganda paper, 🗞️ Krasnaya Zvezda. 

The headline of the paper actually translated as “Iron Lady Wields Threats.”

After a few days, Margaret gave a speech to conservatives and explained herself as the “Iron Lady of the Western World.”

Thatcher survived an assassination attempt

I am really surprised to learn this interesting secret about the Iron Lady!

In 1984, the Irish Republican Army decided to assassinate Margaret.

A time bomb was planted at the Grand Hotel, Brighton🏰, and the venue of the Conservative Party annual conference.

Thatcher’s bathroom suite was badly damaged by the bomb blast, but the PM escaped unharmed, as she was in an adjoining room.

However, five people, including a member of Parliament, died, including Minister John Wakeham’s wife.

Margaret defied security advice to return to London; however, she instead chose to follow through with her official itinerary.

Thatcher argued for lower taxes for common citizens

In 1959, she promoted the Conservative Party’s goal of lowering taxes in household terms, according to Charles Moore’s Margaret Thatcher: From Grantham to the Falklands. 

While speaking against the Labor government, which was in power between 1946 and 1970, Margaret sharpened her wit 🧠 and developed a caustic public persona.

She even said, “One cannot control the price of a garment which has a mini-skirt in July, but a skirt for four inches below the knee in January. I doubt very much the president of the Board of Trade would even notice the difference.”

Margaret married Dennis Thatcher

Little friends, have you heard this interesting secret about Margaret? No? Let me tell you.

In 1949, Margaret met Dennis Thatcher, who was a wealthy and successful businessman. 

He drove Margaret to her Essex train🚉.

She even described him, “not a very attractive creature – very reserved but quite nice.”

Margaret married Denis Thatcher in 1951 at Wesley’s Chapel, and two years later, the couple welcomed twins Carol and Mark.

Margaret was a very popular guest on BBC’s Any Questions

Margaret Thatcher was a very popular guest on the radio panel of BBC named Any Questions?

She appeared in the show ten times from the year 1966 to 1970. 

Also, she seemed to make a sport out of cutting off those male guests who were long-winded.

Thatcher was more popular out of government than while she was in her premiership

In YouGov’s poll of the general public in 2019, 21 percent of respondents chose Margaret as the greatest leader of the UK since 1945.

However, rankings by academics and historians place her fourth most successful ✌️ among the century’s 20 prime ministers!

During her premiership, 54 percent of the people were dissatisfied with her performance. In working-class areas, she was least popular.

Margaret’s popularity rose from 40 to 59 percent on account of the repulsion of British forces of the Argentineans from the Falklands.

In 1990, the proposal of a Poll tax sunk her popularity by around 20 percent.

Thatcher opposed the creation of a Scottish Assembly

Little friends, have you heard this amazing secret about Thatcher?

In domestic affairs, Thatcher opposed the creation of a Scottish Assembly and also Scottish devolution.

She said Conservative MPs to vote against the Wales Bill in December 1976. 

It was successfully defeated, and when a new Bill was proposed, Thatcher supported amending the legislation to allow the English vote in the 1979 referendum regarding Scottish devolution.

Margaret Thatcher: The 20^th Century’s Longest-Serving Prime Minister

As well as being the most controversial figure to hold the post, she is also the longest-serving prime minister of the 20^th century.

Despised and loved in equal measure, she was hailed by many as a strong champion of free-market capitalism. 

She even got the credit for putting Britain back on the path to prosperity after the economic unease during the late 1970s.

In 1979, after becoming victorious, she won re-election in 1983 and 1887.

In 1990, when Margaret resigned as prime minister and conservative leader, by then, she had already served 11 years and 209 days!

Margaret Thatcher lobbied for Pinochet’s Release, though he was quite infamous

Thatcher gained a lot of controversy for her association with General Pinochet.

In 1973, Pinochet overthrew Chile’s socialist government and was quite infamous for looting the nation blind while beating the citizen into submission.

In 1998, the former dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, went to the UK for medical treatment🏥. 

A Spanish judge ordered his arrest, and the British government placed him under house arrest.

Although they never met, Thatcher was angry at Pinochet’s arrest, as he offered intelligence to Thatcher’s war room during the Falklands War. 

Also, Pinochet was her ally against the spread of communism in Latin America!

During his house arrest, Pinochet received a gift from Thatcher

While under house arrest in the United Kingdom, Pinochet received a gift 🍷. 

It was a bottle of liquor from Margaret Thatcher and had a note reading,” Scotch is one British Institution that will never let you down.”

Later in March 2000, the UK released Pinochet back to Chile on medical grounds.

Also, he never faced a trial for human rights crimes. Really interesting, isn’t it?

Thatcher returned to public life to eulogize Reagan

Ronald Reagan, the former U.S. President’s administration overlapped a lot with Thatcher’s premiership.

These two were staunch allies and friends.

In 2004, when Reagan died, Thatcher retired from public speaking because of a series of strokes. 

At the request of the former president, she gave a eulogy via a prerecorded video at Reagan’s state funeral.

She said Reagan “sought to mend America’s wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world, and to free the slaves of communism.” She further added, “These were causes hard to accomplish and heavy with risk.”

Thatcher was an active protector of climate

Little friends, did you know this interesting secret about Thatcher?

Thatcher actively supported a climate protection policy. She even participated in the passing of the Environmental Protection Act of 1990. 

She also helped in the founding of the Hadley Center for Climate Research and Prediction 🌦️ and the ratification of the Montreal Protocol on preserving the ozone.

Also, she helped to put climate change, acid rain and even general pollution in the British mainstream in the late 1980s.

Final days of the Iron Lady

Margaret Thatcher died on April 8, 2013. At that time, she was 83 years old and suffered a stroke.

Since December 2012, after having difficult with stairs, she had been residing at a suite in the Ritz Hotel in London.

Her death certificated list the causes of death as a, “cerebrovascular accident” and also “repeated transient ischaemic attack.”

On April 17, she received a ceremonial funeral⚰️, along with full military honors, with a church service at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Summing up

So, little fact-explorers, how are you feeling after exploring so many interesting facts about Margaret Thatcher?

We have tried to collect as much information about her as possible…and we are sure that you are satisfied.

Looking forward to get your feedback really soon! 😲!