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Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990) CONSERVATIVE
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Margaret Thatcher was born as Margaret Hilda Roberts in Grantham on 13th October 1925. Her father was a local grocer. Margaret Thatcher worked her way to university with a scholarship. She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford. She gained a degree in Chemistry. She worked as a research chemist.After marrying Denis Thatcher, a business executive, in 1951, she returned to study law, took a law degree, and worked as a tax lawyer. Denis’ and Margaret’s twin children, Carol and Mark, were born in 1953. Margaret had become interested in politics and was elected as MP in 1953 for Finchley, one of the best Conservative seats in the country. In 1970, under Edward Heath, Thatcher was made Minister of Education and Science. As she had to make some cuts, she decided to abolish free milk in schools, thinking it would be less harmful than other cuts. Public protest earned her the name, “Maggie Thatcher, milk snatcher.” After the Conservative government was defeated in 1974 by Harold Wilson and Labour, Thatcher challenged Edward Heath for the Leadership of the Conservatives. When Margaret Thatcher called into Heath’s office to tell him that she would stand against him, he did not even look up, but said, “You’ll lose. Good day to you.” She was elected leader by the Conservative MPs in February 1975. In 1976 the Russians called her “The Iron Lady” after she made a speech attacking the Soviet Union. She also earned other names like “Attilla the Hen” and “The Grocer’s Daughter.” In 1979 Earl Mountbatten was assassinated by Irish terrorists. The Ayatollah Khomeni and his Islamic Revolution took power in Iran. In 1980 Former Beatle John Lennon was shot dead outside his New York apartment. In 1979 a General Election in May brought the Conservatives to power again with Margaret Thatcher as Britain’s first female Prime Minister. Thatcher set about controlling the power of the trade unions with a series of new laws. The question was “Who governs Britain?” and it was soon clear that the answer was, “Thatcher does.” In 1980 the world watched as gunmen held 26 people hostage at the Iranian embassy in London. After a six-day stand-off the SAS launched a dramatic attack on the hostage-takers. In 1982 Thatcher ordered a British task force, made up of the three armed forces, to the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. The Argentinean armed forces had invaded that small British colony. In a swift but sharp campaign the British forces had travelled thousands of miles by sea and had recaptured the Falklands. On the strength of this victory Thatcher achieved a great Conservative victory at the June 1983 General Election. In 1983 £25 million in gold bars was stolen from the Brinks Mat warehouse at London's Heathrow Airport. In 1984 Britain agreed to give control of Hong Kong back to China in 1997. In 1985 the Italian cruise ship "Achille Lauro" was seized by Palestinian terrorists. 1. What was the subject of Margaret Thatcher’s first degree?
2. Which Ministry did Thatcher head in the Heath government?
3. Which colony was freed from Argentine in 1982?
4. What did the Russians call Margaret Thatcher?
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