Margaret Thatcher
Date of birth: 1925-10-13
Place of birth: Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, UK
Known for: Acting
Also known as: Margaret Hilda Roberts, The Iron Lady, Maggie, Thatcher, the Milk Snatcher
Biography
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, DStJ, PC, FRS, HonFRSC (née Roberts; 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was a British stateswoman and Conservative politician who was 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 economic policies known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist before becoming a barrister. She was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her secretary of state for education and science in his 1970–1974 government. In 1975, she defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become leader of the opposition, the first woman to lead a major political party in the UK. On becoming prime minister after winning the 1979 general election, Thatcher introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high inflation and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an oncoming recession. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised greater individual liberty, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and rising unemployment. Victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her landslide re-election in 1983. She survived an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing and achieved a political victory against the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984–85 miners' strike. In 1986, Thatcher oversaw the deregulation of UK financial markets, leading to an economic boom, in what came to be known as the Big Bang. Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide in 1987, but her subsequent support for the Community Charge (also known as the "poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her increasingly Eurosceptic views on the European Community were not shared by others in her cabinet. She resigned as prime minister and party leader in 1990, after a challenge was launched to her leadership, and was succeeded by John Major, her chancellor of the Exchequer. After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher (of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire) which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. In 2013, she died of a stroke at the Ritz Hotel, London, at the age of 87. A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is nonetheless viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted a realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain; the complex legacy attributed to this shift continues to be debated into the 21st century.
Movie Credits
Laboratory Greece
2019-12-08
A journey through Greece and Europe’s past and recent history: from the Second World War to the curr
In the Grip of Gazprom
2023-02-07
The war in the Ukraine has changed the way many European countries view Russian politics. Suddenly i
Laissez-faire
2015-01-30
A historical perspective to understand Neoliberalism and to understand why this ideology today so pr
Her Majesty's Prime Ministers: John Major
2023-02-07
As a school dropout, the teenage John Major could simply never have dreamt that he would one day bec
Portillo on Thatcher
2008-02-25
Former cabinet minister Michael Portillo assesses the legacy and continued influence of Margaret Tha
Ice Under His Feet
2022-05-19
Masha and Ilya were born around the time Vladimir Putin came to power. The girl and the boy, just li
Margaret Thatcher: The Woman Who Changed Britain
2013-01-01
Margaret Thatcher arrived in power and Britain changed forever. Her policies polarised the nation an
Influence
2020-01-27
Charting the recent advancements in weaponized communication by investigating the rise and fall of t
Cabinet Confidential
2001-11-17
A revealing one-off documentary that provides an inside view of how Tony Blair and former prime mini
How to Be Prime Minister
1996-09-22
It begins with cheers but almost always ends in tears. Yet, as the election looms, competition for t
Maggie and Me
2013-04-08
As a young reporter, Jon Snow reported live on Margaret Thatcher becoming Britain's first female Pri
Thatcher's Not Dead
2022-09-01
This film sketches a very personal and decidedly political portrait of the Iron Lady who left the gr
Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady
2012-04-10
Margaret Thatcher - The Iron Lady is the first major documentary to look back on the development and
The Emperor's New Clothes
2015-04-24
An uproarious critique of the world financial crisis. Building on actor, comedian, and provocateur R
Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach
2016-06-30
A surprisingly candid behind-the-scenes account of the career of Ken Loach, one of Britain’s most ce
Margaret: Death of a Revolutionary
2013-04-13
A radical film about a radical woman. Martin Durkin's controversial thesis is that Margaret Thatcher
Remembering Reagan at His Ranch
2004-06-22
Ronald Reagan said of his beloved Santa Barbara, California ranch, “No place before or since has eve
Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks
2019-08-14
The fantastic story of how an ancient martial art, Chinese kung fu, conquered the world through the
The Falklands War: The Untold Story
1987-04-01
Five years after the war in the Falklands between Britain and Argentina, many facts were still wrapp
Hillsborough
2016-04-15
A look at the April 15, 1989 tragedy at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, where a stampede
Kids' TV: The Surprising Story
2022-10-26
Konnie Huq celebrates the very best of British children’s television, with a dazzling array of clips
How to Win the TV Debate
2010-04-12
With Britain's first-ever political leaders' television debate imminent, award-winning reporter Mich
McEnroe
2022-07-15
Legendary "bad boy of tennis" John McEnroe finally tells his side of his storied career and famously
Meeting Gorbachev
2019-05-03
Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, sits down with filmmaker Werner Herzog to d
The Lady is Not for Turning: An Unauthorized Story on Margaret Thatcher
2011-01-01
Nicknamed the "Iron Lady," Margaret Thatcher served as the prime minister of England from 1979 to 19
Nazi Hunters: The Real Walk-In
2022-10-31
The extraordinary story behind acclaimed drama The Walk-In. Discover more about former fascist Matth
How to Be an Ex-Prime Minister
2007-06-24
Michael Cockerell tells the story of how prime ministers have coped with life after Number Ten, afte
Let Poland Be Poland
1982-01-31
Broadcast live via satellite around the world on January 31, 1982, this special produced by the US I
A Very British Sex Scandal: The Love Child & the Secretary
2024-05-01
Edwina Currie, Matthew Parris and Ian Hislop lead a cast of politicians and journalists sharing pers
To Kill the Cabinet
BBC documentary on the police investigation that led to the capture of Patrick Magee: the man respon
Secrets & Spies
2024-05-08
A dangerous game is played in the 80s as the Cold War brings two superpowers to the brink.
Odd Man Out: A Film Portrait of Enoch Powell
1995-11-11
A film portrait of Former Conservative and Unionist Party Politician, Enoch Powell.
Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins
2021-09-03
A brutal account of how real-life, hard-as-nails Falklands War veteran Tony Tucker came to be involv
Empire of the Censors
1995-05-28
The history of film and video censorship in Great Britain.
Blackadder: Back & Forth
1999-03-29
What was a cunning plan from Lord Edmund Blackadder V to fake a time machine on his gullibly incompe
Prelúdio
2022-08-07
Rockin' Ronnie
1986-09-21
ROCKIN' RONNIE 80's Political Satire Comedy of Ronald Reagan Bloopers.
The Dark Side of Porn: The Real Animal Farm
2006-04-19
A look at the story behind the bestiality tape ANIMAL FARM. From its production in early 70's Denmar
Reagan
1998-02-23
In 1988, after two terms in office, Ronald Reagan left the White House one of the most popular presi
Brexit: The Uncivil War
2019-01-19
Political strategist Dominic Cummings leads a popular but controversial campaign to convince British
The 90s: Ten Years That Changed the World
2015-06-13
Documentary that outlines the 1990s and the decade the changed the world.
Hong Kong: Retrocession Generation
2017-07-04
In 2017, twenty years after the British handed over Hong Kong to China in 1997, young people, more p
Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress
2019-07-14
An account of the last two centuries of the Anthropocene, the Age of Man. How human beings have prog
Degeneration Punk
1997-06-06
Amusing ARTE Special with SEX PISTOLS, CLASH, GENERATION X, DEAD BOYS, DAMNED, and more This rare d
England 79
2019-11-01
"England 79" - 17 scenes from Great Britain the winter of discontent, 1979.
The Shock Doctrine
2009-09-01
An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capit
1979: Big Bang of the Present
2019-12-10
Deng Xiaoping's economic and political opening in China. Margaret Thatcher's extreme economic measur
Shadow World
2016-10-14
A detailed investigation into the political and economic interests that, since the beginning of the
Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister
2013-04-08
BBC memorial portrait of recently deceased Margaret Thatcher. With the help of never-before-seen arc
The Swap
2016-10-19
The Swap is the third chapter of the PolEc Trilogy, comprising Wandering Marxwards (1998) and The Th
How to Win the US Presidency
2016-08-01
This whimsical look at rough-and-tumble American politics examines the influence of money, religion
Reagan
2011-02-07
Based on the story of Americas enigmatic career of one of the revered architects of the modern world
The Pinochet Case
2001-10-10
True story of the saga that was hoped to be the long-awaited justice brought to bear upon Augosto Pi
Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics
2010-11-09
A look at the history of the comic book publication that launched such legendary characters as Super
Thatcher vs The Miners: The Battle for Britain
2021-05-31
On the 5th of March 1985, a crowd gathered in a South Yorkshire pit village to watch a sight none of
Best Ever Spitting Image
2006-07-25
A documentary about Spitting Image (1984) and the impact it had, including clips of the most memorab
The Red and the Blue
1983-10-01
Ken Loach documentary, contrasting the 1982 Labour and Conservative Party conferences.
In Search of Tony Blair
2004-06-11
Ten years after he stepped to power as Labour leader, Tony Blair remains a national enigma. His pers
The Downing Street Patient
2004-02-29
Michael Cockerell presents this documentary on the health problems of Britain's Prime Ministers.
Westminster's Secret Service
1995-05-21
Whips pride themselves on their secrecy and discretion. Reporter Michael Cockerell uncovers their sh
The New Ten Commandments
2008-01-02
The film was produced by Nick Higgins from Lansdowne Productions and Noémie Mendelle from the Scotti
Margaret Thatcher, l'enfance d'un chef
2007-12-21
Margaret Thatcher: Serving the Crown
2022-09-06
Palme
2012-09-14
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was openly shot to death on a February evening 1986 on the streets
Satans mördare
1995-09-02
A description of Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme's political work and the murder of him on Sveavä
Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire
2025-05-11
When Bradford City FC met Lincoln City on 11 May 1985 for the final game of the season, what everyon
Striking with Pride: United at the Coalface
2024-08-22
A small mining community in South Wales and a group of gay activists from London forge an unlikely a
Freddie Mercury: The Final Act
2022-04-20
The story of the extraordinary final chapter of Freddie Mercury’s life and how, after his death from
Liam Gallagher: Knebworth 22
2022-11-17
Liam traces back to the site of his former band’s defining performances, incorporating all-new inter