Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, England.  She died on April 8, 2013 at the age of 87.  “It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning,” a statement from her spokesman, Lord Tim Bell, said.

Former Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher

Baroness Margaret Thatcher was the first and only woman to serve as the British Prime Minister.  She held her office from 1979 to 1990, longer than anyone else in the 20th century.  She led Britain to significant growth and back on the world stage at the time when the top tax rate on earned income was over 80% and inflation was over 20%.  She was an inspiration for many women around the world and still is.  She will be remembered as a woman with strong core values and was prepared to make bold decisions.  In 1976, the nickname “The Iron Lady” was given to her by the Soviet army newspaper “Red Star”. To this day, the nick name is synonymous with Margret Thatcher.

She will be missed.

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{Margaret Thatcher in 1950, at Buckingham Palace garden party as a Conservative candidate for Dartford}

“Being powerful is like being a lady.  If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” M.T.

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{Britain’s first woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street with her husband Denis, 1979}

“I came to office with one deliberate intent:  to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society – from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation.  A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.” M.T.

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{Margaret Thatcher at Conservative party conference, 1982}

“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.” M.T.

{Margaret Thatcher with President Ronald Reagan at the White House in Washington, DC, 1988}

“People think that at the top there isn’t much room.  They tend to think of it as an Everest.  My message is that there is tons of room at the top.” M.T

{Margaret Thatcher in front of a bronze statue of herself, inside the Palance of Westminister, London in 2007}

“This lady is not for turning” M.T. 

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{Margaret Thatcher’s last House of Commons Speech on November 22, 1990} .

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Margaret Thatcher’s legacy will live on.  Soon to be released is her biography, titled “Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume One: Not For Turning”  written by Charles Moore and published by Allen Lane.

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Sources/images:  Wikimedia, Photo 1 by  Margaret Thatcher Foundation  ⎪  Vogue, Photo 2 by PA Photos  ⎪  The Guardian, photo 3  by Tim Graham/Corbis  ⎪  The Guardian, hoto 4 by Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features  ⎪  Daily Mail, photo 5 by Getty images & photo 6 by PA  ⎪  You Tube Margaret Thatcher   ⎪

Sources/quotes:    ⎪  “I came to office…” Speech to Small Business Bureau Conference, 2/8/1984  ⎪  “I always cheer up…” TV interview for Italian television (RAI)  ⎪  “This lady is not turning”  Speech to Conservative Party Conference  & Youtube  ⎪

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posted by: Bill & Kay               3