Young Margaret

0:00:04 > 0:00:08And I would just like to remember some words of St Francis

0:00:08 > 0:00:14of Assisi, which I think are really just particularly apt at the moment.

0:00:14 > 0:00:18Where there is discord, may we bring harmony.

0:00:18 > 0:00:21Where there is error, may we bring truth.

0:00:21 > 0:00:23Where there is doubt, may we bring faith...

0:00:25 > 0:00:29Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first woman Prime Minister.

0:00:29 > 0:00:32Strong, strident, confident.

0:00:32 > 0:00:35She seemed to relish a rather male image of herself.

0:00:35 > 0:00:38Fixed, rigid, unbending.

0:00:38 > 0:00:40'The lady's not for turning.'

0:00:42 > 0:00:45'..rejoice at that news,

0:00:45 > 0:00:47'and congratulate our forces and the Marines.'

0:00:51 > 0:00:56But there is another side to the Iron Lady, another story to be told.

0:00:56 > 0:01:01'Dear Muriel. I decided to buy a really nice undie set

0:01:01 > 0:01:04'to go under my turquoise chiffon blouse...'

0:01:04 > 0:01:06'..can you recommend any exercises,

0:01:06 > 0:01:09'or anything from the medical point of view, particularly for

0:01:09 > 0:01:13'reduction of the area of the seat, and control of the tummy muscles?'

0:01:13 > 0:01:16'Oh, and also reductions and uplift of the bust?'

0:01:18 > 0:01:20A remarkable correspondence has come to light

0:01:20 > 0:01:23between Margaret Thatcher and her older sister, Muriel.

0:01:25 > 0:01:27The letters date from Margaret's childhood,

0:01:27 > 0:01:29and run until her early days in power.

0:01:30 > 0:01:35Intimate, unguarded, they reveal a complex early love life.

0:01:35 > 0:01:38'He drove me home in his present, rather old car,

0:01:38 > 0:01:40'and got quite ardent on the way.'

0:01:41 > 0:01:44I think she regarded herself, rightly,

0:01:44 > 0:01:46as not having a fantastic body as such.

0:01:48 > 0:01:51We would have what I would describe as a modest

0:01:51 > 0:01:52amount of amorosity.

0:01:54 > 0:01:58'He's about 26, and very nice...'

0:01:58 > 0:02:03She was very good-looking, and my memory was she danced very well.

0:02:05 > 0:02:08The letters upset popular mythologies about Margaret.

0:02:08 > 0:02:11Her husband Denis, for example.

0:02:11 > 0:02:14'I can't say I ever really enjoy going out for the evening with him.'

0:02:14 > 0:02:17'He has not got a very prepossessing personality.'

0:02:18 > 0:02:21And her relationship with her father, Alf.

0:02:21 > 0:02:24'Re. Pop. He is eating the most enormous meals,

0:02:24 > 0:02:25'and doing absolutely nothing...'

0:02:25 > 0:02:28'..I should, however, set a deadline to take him home as soon as he comes

0:02:28 > 0:02:32'to you, otherwise he will just hang on and on and not take any hints.'

0:02:33 > 0:02:36Margaret's letters allow a glimpse into the private life

0:02:36 > 0:02:38of this most public of women.

0:02:40 > 0:02:42They shed new light on the transformation

0:02:42 > 0:02:45of the very ordinary Margaret Hilda Roberts

0:02:45 > 0:02:49into the very extraordinary Margaret Hilda Thatcher.

0:02:58 > 0:03:02'Tony hired a car and we drove out to Abingdon to the country inn

0:03:02 > 0:03:04'Crown and Thistle.'

0:03:04 > 0:03:07'I managed to borrow a glorious royal blue velvet cloak,

0:03:07 > 0:03:10'which matched the blue frock perfectly.'

0:03:10 > 0:03:13"Tony had a spray of eight orchids sent for me from London,

0:03:13 > 0:03:15"so with the front part of my hair piled up on top,

0:03:15 > 0:03:18"Jean and Mary said I looked simply smashing."

0:03:18 > 0:03:21"I felt absolutely on top of the world as we walked through

0:03:21 > 0:03:23"the lounge at the Crown and Thistle,

0:03:23 > 0:03:25"and everyone looked up and stared."

0:03:30 > 0:03:34When Mrs Thatcher asked me to write the book,

0:03:34 > 0:03:36obviously one of the most exciting things

0:03:36 > 0:03:38which only I would have

0:03:38 > 0:03:40is anything within the family,

0:03:40 > 0:03:44pretty much none of which had come to light before,

0:03:44 > 0:03:48and so it was natural for me, first of all, after speaking to

0:03:48 > 0:03:52Mrs Thatcher and Denis, to go to Mrs Thatcher's sister, Muriel.

0:03:52 > 0:03:54In the course of our conversation,

0:03:54 > 0:03:59it became clear that she had a lot of letters from Margaret.

0:03:59 > 0:04:00They're unsorted.

0:04:00 > 0:04:02I assume, therefore, not censored,

0:04:02 > 0:04:06and I think Margaret's pretty honest in these letters.

0:04:06 > 0:04:08For example,

0:04:08 > 0:04:11when she talks about everything to do with boyfriends and love,

0:04:13 > 0:04:16this is not exposing her innermost soul, but I think it's honest.

0:04:16 > 0:04:22I think it's telling Muriel accurately how she sees it,

0:04:22 > 0:04:26what she believes has happened, what the problems are,

0:04:26 > 0:04:28and how she's trying to deal with it.

0:04:29 > 0:04:32"We went into the bar and had a gin and grapefruit,

0:04:32 > 0:04:34"and then to the dining room for dinner."

0:04:34 > 0:04:37'We had some lovely thick, creamy soup, followed by pigeon,

0:04:37 > 0:04:39'and then a chocolate sweet.'

0:04:39 > 0:04:42'With that, we had Moussec to drink.'

0:04:42 > 0:04:45'Moussec, in case you don't know, is a sparkling champagne.'

0:04:53 > 0:04:57She had a strong relationship with her sister, a happy relationship.

0:04:58 > 0:05:03And I was always aware when she, my aunt Muriel,

0:05:03 > 0:05:04had been in touch with my mother.

0:05:04 > 0:05:07Generally it was in times of political difficulty.

0:05:07 > 0:05:10That was when you could be sure that a phone call would come

0:05:10 > 0:05:13through saying, "How are you? Everything OK?"

0:05:13 > 0:05:15"Fine."

0:05:15 > 0:05:19Muriel was four years older than Margaret, and her only sibling.

0:05:19 > 0:05:22A feisty, strong-willed woman, not unlike her famous sister

0:05:22 > 0:05:26in character, her life was far removed from that of Margaret.

0:05:27 > 0:05:30For 46 years, she lived here on this farm in Essex, where she

0:05:30 > 0:05:34devoted herself to raising her three children with her husband, Willie.

0:05:36 > 0:05:39When Muriel died, her collection of letters from her sister

0:05:39 > 0:05:42passed to her son, Margaret's nephew, Andrew.

0:05:44 > 0:05:47We've got quite a lot of very nice things from the family.

0:05:47 > 0:05:51My mother, unlike Auntie Margaret, was a great hoarder.

0:05:51 > 0:05:54We have most of her letters from Margaret

0:05:54 > 0:05:56and from Grandpa to my mother.

0:05:56 > 0:05:58I would say they were very close as sisters, yes.

0:05:58 > 0:06:01Even though they were several years apart, you see,

0:06:01 > 0:06:03which one would have thought would have made a bigger difference,

0:06:03 > 0:06:07especially back in those days, but they, although they were

0:06:07 > 0:06:11brought up as an austere family, they were a close-knit family.

0:06:13 > 0:06:15People often say to me, "Well, what's she like?"

0:06:15 > 0:06:20And I say, "What's YOUR auntie like? She's just like your auntie."

0:06:20 > 0:06:22She was just an ordinary aunt.

0:06:22 > 0:06:25She always remembered our birthdays and Christmas.

0:06:25 > 0:06:27She is normal, nearly.

0:06:29 > 0:06:33'Dear Muriel. I got Daddy's present for me last Saturday.

0:06:33 > 0:06:36'He asked me what I would like, so I said a powder bowl.

0:06:36 > 0:06:38'He gave me a pound to go and get one,

0:06:38 > 0:06:40'telling me to bring back the change.

0:06:40 > 0:06:44'Got a nice one from Miss Griffin's for ten shillings.

0:06:44 > 0:06:45'It was very plain,

0:06:45 > 0:06:48'just ordinary glass with a little gold paint around the top.'

0:06:51 > 0:06:54This is Grantham, where Margaret and Muriel were born

0:06:54 > 0:06:57and spent their childhood.

0:06:57 > 0:06:59It's a small town in Lincolnshire, built on the A1.

0:07:01 > 0:07:05A place travelled through as much as a destination in its own right.

0:07:18 > 0:07:22The cornerstone of the girls' lives was the family's grocer shop,

0:07:22 > 0:07:25where they lived with their parents, Alf and Beatrice.

0:07:25 > 0:07:28The shop was a quality shop situated on a corner,

0:07:28 > 0:07:32positioned between the richer and poorer districts of Grantham,

0:07:32 > 0:07:33much like the family itself.

0:07:35 > 0:07:37Today, only a small plaque high on the wall

0:07:37 > 0:07:42records the significant birth that took place here in 1925.

0:07:42 > 0:07:46High enough, as one local put it, not to be peed on.

0:07:48 > 0:07:52But Margaret was the product of a time as well as a place.

0:07:52 > 0:07:55She was just 13 years old when the Second World War broke out.

0:07:58 > 0:08:00AIR RAID SIRENS

0:08:05 > 0:08:08The Second World War was a vivid reality in Grantham.

0:08:08 > 0:08:11Being on the main railway line to Scotland and having

0:08:11 > 0:08:15a munitions factory, it was a regular target for German bombers.

0:08:18 > 0:08:21Inevitably, as for many of Margaret's generation,

0:08:21 > 0:08:23the war left an indelible mark on her.

0:08:28 > 0:08:31I'm told that Mum was studying for her exams under the dining

0:08:31 > 0:08:34room table in Grantham, which was an area which was extraordinarily

0:08:34 > 0:08:36active during the war.

0:08:38 > 0:08:43And so the era of her teenage years and her formative years after that

0:08:43 > 0:08:45were just so completely different from ours.

0:08:54 > 0:08:55For much of the war,

0:08:55 > 0:08:59Margaret's sister Muriel was away studying physiotherapy

0:08:59 > 0:09:02in Birmingham, leaving Margaret as effectively an only child.

0:09:04 > 0:09:07It was around this time that Margaret's letters

0:09:07 > 0:09:08to her sister began.

0:09:08 > 0:09:10They were, surprisingly, never about the terrors

0:09:10 > 0:09:14and disruption of war, but about everyday school life.

0:09:15 > 0:09:18They are full of personal triumphs,

0:09:18 > 0:09:21often highlighted by comments about lesser-achieving classmates.

0:09:23 > 0:09:26'Dear Muriel. Here are my school certificate results in detail

0:09:26 > 0:09:28'which we got on Thursday morning.

0:09:28 > 0:09:30'English Language, C.

0:09:30 > 0:09:32'English Literature, C.

0:09:32 > 0:09:34'General Literature, C.

0:09:34 > 0:09:36'There were rather a lot of failures this year,

0:09:36 > 0:09:38'probably due to having Camden with us for five terms.

0:09:38 > 0:09:40'General Literature, C.

0:09:40 > 0:09:42'History, C.

0:09:42 > 0:09:43'Biology, C.

0:09:43 > 0:09:44'French, C.'

0:09:44 > 0:09:47Margaret's letters expect Muriel to be interested in the minutiae

0:09:47 > 0:09:51of her achievements, and she's quick to criticise.

0:09:51 > 0:09:54One poor gym mistress, for example, is...

0:09:54 > 0:09:56'An awful old irritable thing.

0:09:56 > 0:10:00'She had a spotty complexion, lank, greasy hair, Eton-cropped,

0:10:00 > 0:10:03'wore glasses and dowdy clothes.'

0:10:04 > 0:10:08Encouraged by her father, Margaret was a bright, hard-working, serious

0:10:08 > 0:10:13girl, who'd won a scholarship to Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School,

0:10:13 > 0:10:16where she was to become a prefect, and eventually head girl.

0:10:17 > 0:10:19Sometimes she'd line us up for dinner,

0:10:19 > 0:10:22and sometimes she'd take us for prep.

0:10:22 > 0:10:24She'd sit at the teacher's desk and do her work,

0:10:24 > 0:10:27and we'd all sit there and do our homework,

0:10:27 > 0:10:29and we never, in fact, played her up,

0:10:29 > 0:10:34and even though we used to chat a lot, we actually didn't with her,

0:10:34 > 0:10:39and she did have this sort of aura that we just daren't do it, I think.

0:10:39 > 0:10:42She had this incredible air of self-possession.

0:10:44 > 0:10:45That's very rare, I think.

0:10:46 > 0:10:49She was quite a matronly figure.

0:10:51 > 0:10:54She had a bust, which I didn't have.

0:10:54 > 0:10:57It didn't clock in until many years after!

0:10:57 > 0:11:02She had her hair permed, and it was brown, by the way, light brown.

0:11:02 > 0:11:03Not blonde.

0:11:03 > 0:11:06And she was perfect with her school uniform.

0:11:06 > 0:11:10And generally, I was in awe of her.

0:11:10 > 0:11:14I was really impressed by this girl, and I never forgot her.

0:11:15 > 0:11:19Margaret took her prefect responsibilities seriously,

0:11:19 > 0:11:23and reported, somewhat witheringly, the performances of her charges.

0:11:23 > 0:11:25There is a sense that the world might just stop turning

0:11:25 > 0:11:27if she wasn't at the helm.

0:11:27 > 0:11:29'Posters had to be made to draw people's attention

0:11:29 > 0:11:32'to the fact that they simply must go to room seven.

0:11:33 > 0:11:37'On Thursday evening, I had to sit down and do them myself.

0:11:37 > 0:11:41'I also had to run around, providing the material for the competitions.

0:11:41 > 0:11:43'The youngsters are very enthusiastic,

0:11:43 > 0:11:45'but not very ready to do a lot.'

0:11:47 > 0:11:51You learn many things, of course, about Margaret through the letters.

0:11:51 > 0:11:53You learn, of course, which is no surprise,

0:11:53 > 0:11:55that she's hard-working and competitive.

0:11:55 > 0:11:59She notices how other people are doing in the class,

0:11:59 > 0:12:05what her own results are in exams, which she'll give at some length.

0:12:05 > 0:12:08She always monitors her own achievements.

0:12:08 > 0:12:11What she doesn't do, however, is introvert.

0:12:11 > 0:12:13She doesn't look in upon herself.

0:12:14 > 0:12:17It's absolutely unthinkable with her that she'd say what

0:12:17 > 0:12:19so many teenagers or young people would say.

0:12:19 > 0:12:21"Where's my life going?"

0:12:21 > 0:12:25"What am I doing? Why am I on this earth at all?"

0:12:25 > 0:12:26Nothing like that.

0:12:29 > 0:12:33Of all the potential influences that shaped the young Margaret

0:12:33 > 0:12:34into such a serious young girl,

0:12:34 > 0:12:37it was perhaps her father who made the greatest impact.

0:12:40 > 0:12:43Alf Roberts was a self-taught, self-made man,

0:12:43 > 0:12:46whose grocer shop was a monument to the sort of personal enterprise

0:12:46 > 0:12:50and self-improvement that Margaret championed throughout her career.

0:12:54 > 0:12:57A strong moral code hung over the Roberts household,

0:12:57 > 0:13:00and coloured everything they did.

0:13:00 > 0:13:04It was rooted in the Methodism that was the spine of the family's life.

0:13:05 > 0:13:08Margaret's father, Alf, was a lay preacher,

0:13:08 > 0:13:11and on Sunday it was chapel three times a day.

0:13:12 > 0:13:15It was here that Margaret listened to her father's sermons.

0:13:20 > 0:13:25Grandpa wasn't a great deal of fun.

0:13:25 > 0:13:28I think, probably, I was a wild, dirty farm boy,

0:13:28 > 0:13:29as far as he was concerned,

0:13:29 > 0:13:33and I think I said something pretty frivolous in front of him once,

0:13:36 > 0:13:38and I certainly got reprimanded fairly heavily for it.

0:13:38 > 0:13:41Mr Roberts would not have any Sunday newspapers in the house,

0:13:43 > 0:13:48believing that it was anti-Christ or anti-God to read frivolous stuff,

0:13:48 > 0:13:53such as it was in those days, on Sunday.

0:13:53 > 0:13:56Well, that's pretty archaic, isn't it?

0:13:56 > 0:13:57By present-day standards!

0:14:00 > 0:14:03Alf's Methodism was all or nothing.

0:14:03 > 0:14:07He had no truck with other denominations, especially -

0:14:07 > 0:14:11horror of horrors - Catholicism, as he made clear in a letter to Muriel.

0:14:12 > 0:14:13'Dear Muriel,

0:14:13 > 0:14:16'I have been very worried about Margaret this last few days,

0:14:16 > 0:14:19'about her always having Mary with her wherever she goes, and

0:14:19 > 0:14:24'wondering if Mary was doing a lot of Catholic propaganda with Margaret.

0:14:24 > 0:14:27'I have written to Margaret about it, as I should be grieved

0:14:27 > 0:14:30'beyond measure if the Roman Catholics got hold of her.

0:14:30 > 0:14:34'She would no longer be free. They might cause untold family misery.'

0:14:36 > 0:14:39Alf's agonies about the lure of Rome were unfounded.

0:14:39 > 0:14:40In fact, throughout her life,

0:14:40 > 0:14:44Margaret drifted between Methodism and Anglicanism.

0:14:44 > 0:14:46But in essence, she was Methodist to the core.

0:14:47 > 0:14:50Mother was a woman of considerable faith.

0:14:50 > 0:14:53It was an important component or adjunct in her

0:14:53 > 0:14:57feelings of self-reliance, duty and responsibility,

0:14:57 > 0:15:03but also her faith gave her a sense of Samaritanesque

0:15:03 > 0:15:06attitude as well, in which, yes, there needs to be,

0:15:06 > 0:15:10there must be, necessarily be an element of charity,

0:15:10 > 0:15:12assistance and help to others.

0:15:13 > 0:15:15But as she always used to say,

0:15:15 > 0:15:18even the Good Samaritan needed money to do it.

0:15:20 > 0:15:23Alf Roberts devoted himself to the task of giving his daughters

0:15:23 > 0:15:26more than he had had himself.

0:15:26 > 0:15:28But in later life, he told Muriel that he felt

0:15:28 > 0:15:32some of his sacrifices went unappreciated by Margaret.

0:15:32 > 0:15:34In a letter to Muriel, he said...

0:15:34 > 0:15:36'Margaret has been very hard at times,

0:15:36 > 0:15:40'and apparently ungrateful for all I've done, although that hasn't,

0:15:40 > 0:15:43'and wouldn't stop me from doing all I could for either of you.

0:15:43 > 0:15:45'But truthfully, it has kept me poor.'

0:15:47 > 0:15:49Alongside religion,

0:15:49 > 0:15:53the overriding preoccupation of the Roberts household was politics.

0:15:55 > 0:15:58Alf Roberts was a committed town councillor.

0:15:58 > 0:16:01When he wasn't in the pulpit, he was busy doing good for Grantham.

0:16:02 > 0:16:06He became Mayor, and was eventually awarded the title of Alderman.

0:16:09 > 0:16:12For Margaret, politics was on the menu every day.

0:16:13 > 0:16:16At home, above the Roberts' shop, the affairs of the day were

0:16:16 > 0:16:19picked over, debated around the kitchen table.

0:16:21 > 0:16:24But Margaret's childhood was not all serious debate and religion.

0:16:25 > 0:16:27She was not all work and no play.

0:16:29 > 0:16:31Margaret's letters show that she was a young

0:16:31 > 0:16:34woman like any other, with familiar passions.

0:16:34 > 0:16:38Clothes, meetings with girlfriends, and a favourite pastime,

0:16:38 > 0:16:40trips to the local State Cinema.

0:16:42 > 0:16:46'Dear Muriel. Quiet Weekend is here this week,

0:16:46 > 0:16:49'and two other girls and I went to see it on Monday.'

0:16:49 > 0:16:54'It's an absolute scream. I laughed more than I have for months.'

0:16:54 > 0:16:56'I wish you'd seen it.'

0:16:56 > 0:16:59We're not going to let a ruddy policeman stop us!

0:16:59 > 0:17:01'Earlier in the week, Tuesday, to be precise,

0:17:01 > 0:17:04'I went to see Love On The Dole with Mummy.

0:17:04 > 0:17:08'But I can't say that I enjoyed it, although it was a good film.'

0:17:09 > 0:17:12Margaret loved the cinema,

0:17:12 > 0:17:15and it was the American films that really caught her imagination.

0:17:18 > 0:17:21We had a cinema called the State, and of course

0:17:21 > 0:17:26we had American films, and they really were our window on the world.

0:17:26 > 0:17:31And I think this must have impressed Margaret. It certainly did me.

0:17:31 > 0:17:35Those accents, and they were heroes on the screen.

0:17:36 > 0:17:40In 1943, the heroes came to Grantham.

0:17:40 > 0:17:43The American Air Force established bases in the area.

0:17:43 > 0:17:45For the young ladies of Grantham,

0:17:45 > 0:17:47the Americans were manna from Heaven.

0:17:47 > 0:17:48And for Margaret,

0:17:48 > 0:17:52it was the beginning of an enduring love for all things transatlantic.

0:17:53 > 0:17:56She really liked all that, and she liked that culture,

0:17:56 > 0:18:00and she very much admired the American military,

0:18:00 > 0:18:02and she always felt at home with them.

0:18:02 > 0:18:03I think, therefore,

0:18:03 > 0:18:06the coming of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States

0:18:06 > 0:18:08fitted very well with all of that,

0:18:08 > 0:18:12because she'd seen him in some films,

0:18:12 > 0:18:15she knew who he was because of that, he's of that generation.

0:18:15 > 0:18:17Didn't fight in the war, actually,

0:18:17 > 0:18:21but she has an immediate sympathy with a man who looks like that,

0:18:21 > 0:18:24because appearance is always very important.

0:18:24 > 0:18:27Tall, genial, very American American,

0:18:27 > 0:18:29who was always very courtly to her,

0:18:29 > 0:18:33and this was just a whole set of things that made her feel at home.

0:18:35 > 0:18:39The Americans became notorious in Grantham.

0:18:39 > 0:18:41They organised jives at the airbases.

0:18:41 > 0:18:44But Margaret's letters don't record whether she joined in.

0:18:44 > 0:18:46Most likely not.

0:18:46 > 0:18:48Her restrictive parents kept her on a tight lead.

0:18:53 > 0:18:55Indeed, there were almost certainly no boyfriends

0:18:55 > 0:18:58in Margaret's life during her Grantham years.

0:18:59 > 0:19:01But she was always well turned out,

0:19:01 > 0:19:05and aware of the impact she made on others, men included.

0:19:05 > 0:19:07And when, towards the end of the war,

0:19:07 > 0:19:09she started going to more sedate local dances,

0:19:09 > 0:19:12she was often the target of eager suitors,

0:19:12 > 0:19:16such as a man she met at a Christmas dance in nearby Corby.

0:19:16 > 0:19:19'He was, I gather, a rather famous football referee,

0:19:19 > 0:19:23'for he has done, at any rate, one, if not more cup finals.'

0:19:23 > 0:19:26'He is about 35, I should say.'

0:19:26 > 0:19:28'He wanted me to go to the pictures with him.'

0:19:28 > 0:19:31'I don't want to go around with a man of his age,

0:19:31 > 0:19:34'and when I vaguely mentioned the fact at home, Daddy said,

0:19:34 > 0:19:37'"No, of course you won't", in a very final tone.'

0:19:38 > 0:19:42In fact, Margaret always had a taste for the company of older men,

0:19:42 > 0:19:45whatever her father Alf's protestations.

0:19:45 > 0:19:48But although much is made of her relationship with her father,

0:19:48 > 0:19:51far less is said or known about Mrs Roberts.

0:19:52 > 0:19:55Grandma was just a quiet,

0:19:55 > 0:19:58very supportive person in the background, really.

0:19:58 > 0:19:59Yeah.

0:19:59 > 0:20:04Very much her husband's second fiddle, rather than a noisy type.

0:20:04 > 0:20:08Beatrice Roberts came into her husband's life through Methodism,

0:20:08 > 0:20:11and was the daughter of a cloakroom attendant at Grantham Station.

0:20:11 > 0:20:15A seamstress, she was neat and tidy as a tailor's pattern.

0:20:15 > 0:20:18Margaret's letters to her sister suggest that Beatrice,

0:20:18 > 0:20:21far from being a non-figure in her life, a quiet absence,

0:20:21 > 0:20:25had a sort of censoring presence, a drain of the spirit.

0:20:26 > 0:20:30'I have decided that maroon would be the best colour for my wardrobe,

0:20:30 > 0:20:32'as I am having that pinky dress made up.'

0:20:32 > 0:20:34'I haven't told Mummy and Daddy about it,

0:20:34 > 0:20:37'as I am sure that Mummy at any rate, would find it very extravagant.'

0:20:39 > 0:20:43Muriel candidly described her mother as a bigoted Methodist,

0:20:43 > 0:20:46and admitted the two girls were not close to her.

0:20:46 > 0:20:49Indeed, a footnote in a letter from Margaret to Muriel shows how the

0:20:49 > 0:20:53distance between the girls and their mother was even of concern to Alf.

0:20:54 > 0:20:58'PS. Daddy did wish you would find a nice fellow,

0:20:58 > 0:21:01'as if anything happened to him, you wouldn't get on with Mummy,

0:21:01 > 0:21:03'and so wouldn't have a home unless married.

0:21:03 > 0:21:06'He said this was his biggest worry at the moment.'

0:21:07 > 0:21:10Mrs Thatcher didn't like talking about her mother,

0:21:12 > 0:21:15because I think it was hard for her to combine two things

0:21:15 > 0:21:17which she genuinely felt.

0:21:17 > 0:21:21One was respect and affection, and the other was this boredom, really.

0:21:21 > 0:21:23And a bit of guilt, as well,

0:21:23 > 0:21:27because she never actually had an engagement with her mother,

0:21:27 > 0:21:32and had interesting conversations with her, and enjoyed her company.

0:21:32 > 0:21:35But her mother was actually, I think, a strong character,

0:21:35 > 0:21:38and also had this aspect of domestic life which Margaret

0:21:38 > 0:21:41does like very much, which is this neatness, cleanness and skill,

0:21:41 > 0:21:44particularly because she was a seamstress,

0:21:44 > 0:21:46and it's one thing that Margaret would go back to again

0:21:46 > 0:21:49and again in conversation, her mother's skill as a seamstress.

0:21:49 > 0:21:52'Has Mummy started my blue slip and panties, do you know?

0:21:52 > 0:21:55'If she is going to do the panties, I would like them in the style

0:21:55 > 0:21:58'we did the parachute ones, cut on the cross from a small yoke.'

0:22:00 > 0:22:03My mother, something which is not necessarily known about her,

0:22:03 > 0:22:05she was extremely good with her hands,

0:22:05 > 0:22:09and it would be nothing for her to repair curtains,

0:22:09 > 0:22:12or even make them herself if she had the time to do so.

0:22:12 > 0:22:16I certainly remember, on a couple of occasions,

0:22:16 > 0:22:20she turned her hand to that, and quite successfully, so from that

0:22:20 > 0:22:24perspective, there was an element of self-reliance, if you will.

0:22:24 > 0:22:27Thrift, I think, would be the word that comes to mind,

0:22:27 > 0:22:30and certainly, I think that applied to everything that she did.

0:22:30 > 0:22:34'I seem to have a colossal amount of mending to do.

0:22:34 > 0:22:38'All coat linings seem suddenly to have gone, and stockings,

0:22:38 > 0:22:41'they are rapidly disappearing into thin air.'

0:22:41 > 0:22:44Self-reliance, hard work, drive.

0:22:44 > 0:22:50These were characteristics of the young Margaret, and aged just 16,

0:22:50 > 0:22:53she'd already formed a confident vision of her future.

0:22:53 > 0:22:57'Dear Muriel. Daddy does not like the idea of medical at all,

0:22:57 > 0:23:02'but I am taking biology, chemistry and maths main, with French subsid.'

0:23:02 > 0:23:04'The next idea on the list is to go to university

0:23:04 > 0:23:06'and take a science degree,

0:23:06 > 0:23:10'then sit for a civil service exam for posts abroad.

0:23:10 > 0:23:12'A degree is necessary for this for a woman.'

0:23:15 > 0:23:16I think this is a much more modern desk.

0:23:16 > 0:23:20I think these were new in my time. I think those were the old ones.

0:23:20 > 0:23:22Those are the very old ones.

0:23:22 > 0:23:24Margaret's drive and ambition

0:23:24 > 0:23:27and stamina for hard work brought her academic success.

0:23:27 > 0:23:30She appreciated her school and its role in her triumphs,

0:23:30 > 0:23:32and when she accepted a peerage,

0:23:32 > 0:23:34it was the name of the school that she took.

0:23:34 > 0:23:36Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven.

0:23:36 > 0:23:39Not the name of her hometown, Grantham.

0:23:40 > 0:23:45Indeed, by the age of 18, Grantham was pretty much done for her.

0:23:45 > 0:23:48She had won a place to study chemistry at Oxford University.

0:24:02 > 0:24:04ARCHIVE: 'For more than 700 years,

0:24:04 > 0:24:08'Oxford has flourished as a centre for learning and culture.'

0:24:09 > 0:24:12'Through calm and storm, Triumph and disaster,

0:24:12 > 0:24:15'it has grown in greatness of knowledge, making a continuous

0:24:15 > 0:24:17'contribution to the civilisation of the Western world.'

0:24:19 > 0:24:20My father, I think,

0:24:20 > 0:24:23was college or university material that couldn't go,

0:24:23 > 0:24:27and therefore he was desperately anxious that I should have

0:24:27 > 0:24:31every opportunity to go, and although he wasn't wealthy, I well remember

0:24:31 > 0:24:34when it came to the fact that I wanted to go to Oxford,

0:24:34 > 0:24:36and you had to have Latin to go to Oxford,

0:24:36 > 0:24:39and my school hadn't provided Latin in the curriculum.

0:24:39 > 0:24:42Nevertheless, he sacrificed enough to have me

0:24:42 > 0:24:46taught Latin by the local grammar school teacher, and I did it.

0:24:46 > 0:24:49He was desperately anxious to give me

0:24:49 > 0:24:54every chance that he hadn't had, and I owe almost everything to this.

0:24:54 > 0:24:55'Women, too, have their place at Oxford,

0:24:55 > 0:24:58'sharing equal opportunities with the men.'

0:24:58 > 0:25:02'They can prepare for careers in medicine, biology, law, and a dozen

0:25:02 > 0:25:05'other spheres which, not many years ago, were closed to them.'

0:25:05 > 0:25:09I think she had very good memories of Oxford.

0:25:09 > 0:25:15It provided an exciting crucible for many of the aspects of her

0:25:15 > 0:25:18life which were particularly important.

0:25:18 > 0:25:23Rigorous, intellectual examination, as well as industrious learning,

0:25:23 > 0:25:29and exciting and profound debate on all elements of university life,

0:25:29 > 0:25:31including the political component.

0:25:32 > 0:25:36Margaret took up a place at Somerville College,

0:25:36 > 0:25:38and found it, just like Grantham, altered by the war.

0:25:40 > 0:25:43The college buildings were, of course, all blacked out.

0:25:43 > 0:25:45There were battle walls in front of the library

0:25:45 > 0:25:47and some of the other buildings.

0:25:47 > 0:25:49There were static water tanks in the gardens.

0:25:49 > 0:25:51There was one there, in front of the chapel,

0:25:51 > 0:25:54and one in the east quadrangle.

0:25:54 > 0:25:56And the students themselves were expected to take

0:25:56 > 0:26:01part in various forms of war service in their spare time.

0:26:01 > 0:26:03Hoeing for victory on the lawn.

0:26:03 > 0:26:06The favourite one, in which Margaret Roberts engaged,

0:26:06 > 0:26:08was entertaining American servicemen.

0:26:10 > 0:26:12But from Margaret's point of view,

0:26:12 > 0:26:15although she went to Oxford with two Grantham friends, she admitted

0:26:15 > 0:26:20in her memoirs that she found the place cold and strangely forbidding.

0:26:22 > 0:26:25She says she went for walks alone around Christchurch Meadow,

0:26:25 > 0:26:27and into Addison's Walk in Magdalen.

0:26:29 > 0:26:34'Dear Muriel. I washed and went into dinner at 7.15,

0:26:34 > 0:26:36'expecting to see a number of people there.'

0:26:36 > 0:26:38'But found to my dismay

0:26:38 > 0:26:41that I was the only person that had yet arrived.'

0:26:41 > 0:26:45'So I had dinner in a solitary state, alone in that immense hall.'

0:26:46 > 0:26:50Oxford was a very different world to provincial Grantham,

0:26:50 > 0:26:53and one in which Margaret struggled to find her place.

0:26:53 > 0:26:56She was now one amongst many high achieving young women,

0:26:56 > 0:27:00no longer at the top of the academic tree.

0:27:00 > 0:27:02The Somerville hall was a lovely hall,

0:27:02 > 0:27:06but it was set out with the high table, as always, at one end,

0:27:06 > 0:27:12and then the rest of the hall was three tables in the long row,

0:27:12 > 0:27:16and the top table tended to be the more exotic girls,

0:27:16 > 0:27:21reading perhaps PPE, and the bottom table, I'm afraid,

0:27:21 > 0:27:25we thought were bit of a snooty lot, was Roedean and Cheltenham Ladies'

0:27:25 > 0:27:28and Downe House in the bottom lot.

0:27:28 > 0:27:31And Margaret, of course, came from an ordinary grammar school.

0:27:31 > 0:27:34I don't think she'd have lasted for a minute, actually,

0:27:34 > 0:27:41in either the first table at the top for talk, or the bottom,

0:27:41 > 0:27:44who were the real people with the real accents.

0:27:46 > 0:27:51I can remember her saying to me once in Oxford days

0:27:51 > 0:27:54in her new, refined sort of voice,

0:27:54 > 0:27:56"Margaret, don't you wish,

0:27:56 > 0:28:00"when you're asked where you went to school,

0:28:00 > 0:28:03"and you wish, don't you,

0:28:03 > 0:28:06"that you could say Cheltenham Ladies' College,

0:28:07 > 0:28:10"instead of Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School?"

0:28:13 > 0:28:14It was difficult with Margaret,

0:28:14 > 0:28:18because she was always a rather aloof person.

0:28:19 > 0:28:22She didn't easily unbend.

0:28:22 > 0:28:27I think there was always a degree of difficulty about her

0:28:27 > 0:28:29communications with the rest of us.

0:28:29 > 0:28:32One got that impression with Margaret that she wasn't

0:28:32 > 0:28:34a real person.

0:28:34 > 0:28:38I don't think she was very good at making friends, girlfriends, ever.

0:28:40 > 0:28:42Right through her life. Not many.

0:28:44 > 0:28:46If Somerville failed to provide Margaret with friendships,

0:28:46 > 0:28:48perhaps it was in part

0:28:48 > 0:28:51because it was considered an overwhelmingly left-wing college.

0:28:51 > 0:28:53Hardly a marriage made in Heaven.

0:28:54 > 0:28:57But just along the road was the antidote.

0:28:57 > 0:28:58The Taylorian Institute.

0:28:59 > 0:29:03Meeting place of the University's Conservative Association.

0:29:04 > 0:29:05The association would gather there

0:29:05 > 0:29:09and often dine opposite in the rather grand Randolph Hotel.

0:29:09 > 0:29:13Smart places, both of them, and a long way from Grantham.

0:29:15 > 0:29:19Margaret signed up enthusiastically, and the Oxford University

0:29:19 > 0:29:22Conservative Association, or OUCA, became her home.

0:29:25 > 0:29:29'Dear Muriel. As regards Conservative activities this term,

0:29:29 > 0:29:31'I gave my paper on agricultural policy,

0:29:31 > 0:29:33'which was a staggering success.'

0:29:34 > 0:29:38'Also, I went to a number of Conservative study groups, as well

0:29:38 > 0:29:41'as the regular meetings on Friday nights and committee meetings etc.'

0:29:43 > 0:29:47We were joined by this delightful, very active girl,

0:29:47 > 0:29:52who knew exactly what she was doing, and she was very focused,

0:29:52 > 0:29:57and she knew her politics inside out.

0:29:57 > 0:30:00Whereas we were rather thrashing around.

0:30:00 > 0:30:05Everybody, of course, was tuned into politics already,

0:30:05 > 0:30:09but the rest of us were complete beginners,

0:30:10 > 0:30:14and learning as we went along.

0:30:14 > 0:30:19But Margaret really knew what she was doing, and was totally focused.

0:30:21 > 0:30:25Oxford brought Margaret face-to-face with the country's aristocracy,

0:30:25 > 0:30:28many of whom shared her Conservatism.

0:30:30 > 0:30:31She got on easily with them.

0:30:31 > 0:30:34So much so, that when the Duke of Buccleuch became aware that

0:30:34 > 0:30:38Margaret had financial difficulties, he organised a whip round

0:30:38 > 0:30:40and bought her a bicycle.

0:30:41 > 0:30:45She was very active, and actually distributed our leaflets.

0:30:45 > 0:30:50She'd go off on her bicycle with her basket,

0:30:50 > 0:30:55and go to the sort of places you wouldn't dare go to nowadays.

0:30:55 > 0:31:00You wouldn't let your daughter disappear into the dark alleyways

0:31:01 > 0:31:05of factories and other places.

0:31:05 > 0:31:09Anyhow, she went off, as brave as could be.

0:31:11 > 0:31:14But more than just the chance to hobnob with the odd duke, the

0:31:14 > 0:31:18University Conservative Association opened up social life for Margaret.

0:31:29 > 0:31:32'The Conservative dinner was on 24 February.

0:31:32 > 0:31:34'The committee guests and speakers had a sherry party

0:31:34 > 0:31:36'in the Randolph beforehand,

0:31:36 > 0:31:39'and then we went into dinner at seven o'clock.'

0:31:41 > 0:31:46We had meetings, we had government ministers who came, and we

0:31:46 > 0:31:51had the normal pattern of dinner, which the chairman, the president

0:31:51 > 0:31:55would be host, with a visiting cabinet minister

0:31:55 > 0:31:57or whoever on their right.

0:31:57 > 0:32:00And the committee ranged round, all paid for.

0:32:00 > 0:32:03I thought it was a perfectly good dinner.

0:32:05 > 0:32:08For Margaret, these events were a chance to dress up,

0:32:08 > 0:32:11to make the most of her wardrobe, to look her best.

0:32:11 > 0:32:12To enjoy the bling.

0:32:13 > 0:32:16'Dear Muriel. SOS.

0:32:16 > 0:32:18'Could I borrow your pearls for the first of three meetings

0:32:18 > 0:32:20'when I shall be wearing black?

0:32:20 > 0:32:22'My black two-piece for the first and third,

0:32:22 > 0:32:26'and your black dinner frock for the second, if you would send it.

0:32:26 > 0:32:29'But the most important thing is the pearls, which have to be

0:32:29 > 0:32:32'sent off straight away if they are to reach me by Friday.'

0:32:34 > 0:32:35I wear them,

0:32:35 > 0:32:38not only because pearls have been the thing

0:32:38 > 0:32:41for English women for years, but they have a sort of luminescence

0:32:41 > 0:32:44about them, and particularly pearl earrings,

0:32:44 > 0:32:47and they do just give your face a little lift.

0:32:47 > 0:32:50Margaret retained a fastidiousness about her appearance

0:32:50 > 0:32:54throughout her life, and an almost forensic ability to recall

0:32:54 > 0:32:56what she'd worn on any particular occasion.

0:32:56 > 0:33:02I stand before you tonight in my Red Star chiffon evening gown...

0:33:05 > 0:33:09Lady Thatcher always loved clothes, and she loved good fabrics.

0:33:09 > 0:33:11Her mother was a dressmaker,

0:33:11 > 0:33:15so she saw a lot of very nice clothes coming in and out of the

0:33:15 > 0:33:20house in Grantham, and the mother made a lot of the girls' clothes.

0:33:20 > 0:33:21She had a sister, Muriel.

0:33:22 > 0:33:28And she knew about hemming and seaming, and all sorts of things.

0:33:28 > 0:33:33And a thing we've learned is never really press your hem.

0:33:33 > 0:33:35You know, sometimes you see people ironing a dress,

0:33:35 > 0:33:38and they press along the hem until it looks like a knife edge.

0:33:38 > 0:33:41And then if you want to let it down, you can't.

0:33:41 > 0:33:43Just leave the hem gently rolled.

0:33:44 > 0:33:47But never press along the edge.

0:33:47 > 0:33:53When she visited one of our nuclear submarines in Faslane,

0:33:53 > 0:33:56I recall that a message was delivered that please would

0:33:56 > 0:34:00she be sure and wear trousers, which created no small problem,

0:34:00 > 0:34:04because I don't think my mother ever owned a pair of trousers up

0:34:04 > 0:34:06to that point in her life.

0:34:06 > 0:34:08It's not my job to be a fashion leader,

0:34:08 > 0:34:13but it is my job not to be obviously out of fashion,

0:34:13 > 0:34:17or obviously wrongly dressed, and I must never be mutton dressed as lamb.

0:34:17 > 0:34:18Never.

0:34:19 > 0:34:23At Oxford, Margaret constantly worried about her weight

0:34:23 > 0:34:26and her appearance, the concerns of any young woman.

0:34:27 > 0:34:29'Dear Muriel,

0:34:29 > 0:34:32'Can you recommend any exercises or anything from the medical

0:34:32 > 0:34:36'point of view, particularly for reduction of the area of the seat

0:34:36 > 0:34:38'and control of the tummy muscles?

0:34:38 > 0:34:41'Oh, and also reductions and uplift of the bust.'

0:34:42 > 0:34:45It was important for Margaret to look good, as she was now,

0:34:45 > 0:34:49for the first time in her life, moving in a world of men.

0:34:49 > 0:34:52And in the spring of her second year, her fellow students got

0:34:52 > 0:34:56a sense that something new had come into her life.

0:34:56 > 0:35:01Well, it just became known that Margaret had got a boyfriend called

0:35:01 > 0:35:06Lord Tony, and we used to tease her a bit about Lord Tony.

0:35:06 > 0:35:09And she would blush from bottom to top,

0:35:09 > 0:35:12and just not really cope with it.

0:35:13 > 0:35:15'Dear Muriel,

0:35:15 > 0:35:19'Tony had a spray of eight orchids sent for me from London,

0:35:19 > 0:35:22'so with the front part of my hair piled up on top,

0:35:22 > 0:35:24'Jean and Mary said I looked simply smashing.'

0:35:26 > 0:35:30Margaret had come with a carnation given to her by a chap,

0:35:30 > 0:35:32and none of us can remember who it was.

0:35:34 > 0:35:37Needless to say, everybody wants to know who that chap was.

0:35:37 > 0:35:39I can't remember.

0:35:40 > 0:35:45That chap was Tony Bray. And he wasn't a Lord.

0:35:45 > 0:35:48He was an Army cadet who had arrived at Brasenose College in Oxford

0:35:48 > 0:35:53a year after Margaret on a six-month Joint Services course.

0:35:53 > 0:35:55In the autumn of 2007,

0:35:55 > 0:35:59Tony Bray was living as a widower in a small house in Sussex.

0:36:04 > 0:36:07That's more what I would recognise.

0:36:07 > 0:36:09That I would totally recognise.

0:36:09 > 0:36:12That's a nice one of her.

0:36:13 > 0:36:17That is a typical Margaret expression,

0:36:17 > 0:36:20which she wore more or less continuously.

0:36:20 > 0:36:23That was the face that she put on everything.

0:36:25 > 0:36:30I think she regarded me as somebody who was just simplistically

0:36:30 > 0:36:34'not just a schoolboy', if you follow what I mean.

0:36:35 > 0:36:40There were a lot of exciting schoolboys who were,

0:36:40 > 0:36:44I'm sure, more handsome than I was, taller, whatever.

0:36:44 > 0:36:47More flamboyant or whatever you like.

0:36:47 > 0:36:50But that wouldn't go with her character, I don't think,

0:36:50 > 0:36:54so I think this would be what would have attracted her.

0:36:54 > 0:36:56And we saw a lot of each other.

0:36:56 > 0:36:58I mean, we would see each other in our spare time.

0:36:58 > 0:37:02And, for the most part, just sort of talking about current affairs.

0:37:02 > 0:37:04What was going on, you know.

0:37:04 > 0:37:07Politics, up to a point, but particularly, really,

0:37:07 > 0:37:12the war and the situation of the war and our own hopes afterwards.

0:37:12 > 0:37:15I think we were both interested in being with each other.

0:37:15 > 0:37:18I think she was quite fond of me.

0:37:18 > 0:37:20'Tony hired a car

0:37:20 > 0:37:24'and we drove out to Abingdon to the country inn Crown and Thistle.

0:37:24 > 0:37:28'I managed to borrow a glorious royal blue velvet cloak

0:37:28 > 0:37:30'which matched the blue frock perfectly.'

0:37:30 > 0:37:33She looked absolutely terrific.

0:37:33 > 0:37:36She was wearing a large blue cloak.

0:37:36 > 0:37:41I believe the dress underneath it was also blue, as far as I recall.

0:37:41 > 0:37:44'I felt absolutely on top of the world as we walked through the lounge

0:37:44 > 0:37:48'at the Crown and Thistle and everyone looked up and stared.

0:37:48 > 0:37:51'We went into the bar and had a gin and grapefruit

0:37:51 > 0:37:54'and then to the dining room for dinner.

0:37:54 > 0:37:57'We had some lovely thick, creamy soup followed by pigeon

0:37:57 > 0:38:02'and then a chocolate sweet. With that, we had Moussec to drink.

0:38:02 > 0:38:06'Moussec, in case you don't know, is a sparkling champagne.'

0:38:11 > 0:38:15If I can be immodest and say we were both good dancers

0:38:15 > 0:38:18and so we thoroughly enjoyed dancing with each other.

0:38:18 > 0:38:21And I think we probably monopolised each other's evening

0:38:21 > 0:38:23very firmly and very successfully

0:38:23 > 0:38:25and she didn't seem to mind that at all.

0:38:25 > 0:38:30'We then drove back to the Randolph and got there at around 8.45pm.

0:38:30 > 0:38:32'Things were in full swing by this time.

0:38:32 > 0:38:36'The ballroom was marvellously decorated and all the lighting

0:38:36 > 0:38:40'was done with huge coloured lamps operated from the balcony.

0:38:40 > 0:38:42'There were two other Conservative couples there

0:38:42 > 0:38:44'whom we knew rather well so we teamed up

0:38:44 > 0:38:47''and had a thoroughly gay evening.'

0:38:50 > 0:38:53It sounds extraordinary in this day and age, but for the most part,

0:38:53 > 0:38:56we just sat in our rooms and talked.

0:38:56 > 0:38:59We would have what I would describe as a sort of modest

0:38:59 > 0:39:03amount of amorosity, for lack of a better word.

0:39:03 > 0:39:07I think she was slightly self-conscious about her size,

0:39:07 > 0:39:09because she wasn't a small person.

0:39:09 > 0:39:13She was a well built, buxom person.

0:39:13 > 0:39:16I think she regarded herself, rightly,

0:39:16 > 0:39:20as not having a fantastic body as such.

0:39:20 > 0:39:25But nevertheless, she could outthink every airhead there ever was around,

0:39:25 > 0:39:31without even raising her temperature and her brains at all, I should say.

0:39:31 > 0:39:36She invited me to spend a weekend with her family up in Grantham.

0:39:36 > 0:39:40I remember it was a little corner shop she had there.

0:39:40 > 0:39:44I remember a lot of steep staircases and was given a lovely room

0:39:44 > 0:39:49and all the rest of it and looked after quite well, royally,

0:39:49 > 0:39:51by her mother and father.

0:39:51 > 0:39:56I mean, I enjoyed doing that, but I didn't allow it to weigh too heavily

0:39:56 > 0:39:58on my mind, if you understand me.

0:40:01 > 0:40:05Soon after the Grantham visit, Tony's Oxford days were over.

0:40:06 > 0:40:11He left for Army training in Dorset. The couple corresponded for a while.

0:40:11 > 0:40:14Tony sent Margaret this inscribed photograph

0:40:14 > 0:40:16of himself in military uniform.

0:40:16 > 0:40:18But then the letters stopped.

0:40:20 > 0:40:24I didn't feel beholden to write lots of letters.

0:40:24 > 0:40:27I think I wrote one or two letters to her.

0:40:27 > 0:40:30She, I think, was quite interested in me

0:40:30 > 0:40:32because she wrote my parents, I know,

0:40:32 > 0:40:36and was sort of wondering what the score was.

0:40:36 > 0:40:38I think it just sort of faded away.

0:40:38 > 0:40:41I think I found other young ladies

0:40:41 > 0:40:44who were very interesting after the war.

0:40:46 > 0:40:48And so we left it that way.

0:40:51 > 0:40:53As Tony faded away and the War ended,

0:40:53 > 0:40:56Margaret was left alone at Oxford.

0:40:56 > 0:40:59She busied herself with politics,

0:40:59 > 0:41:03becoming president of the University's Conservative Association.

0:41:03 > 0:41:06Her letters didn't dwell on the Tony affair at all,

0:41:06 > 0:41:09but it was undoubtedly important to her.

0:41:09 > 0:41:11She took the relationship seriously,

0:41:11 > 0:41:13as, being a serious minded young woman, she would.

0:41:13 > 0:41:16You couldn't imagine her just mucking around,

0:41:16 > 0:41:18that would never have occurred to her.

0:41:18 > 0:41:20And the relationship had a physical aspect.

0:41:20 > 0:41:23They kissed one another and cuddled one another

0:41:23 > 0:41:28and by Tony Bray's account, she was very keen on that.

0:41:28 > 0:41:31Though, he thought, not experienced.

0:41:31 > 0:41:34He thought, I think rightly, that he was the first man.

0:41:34 > 0:41:39They didn't sleep together, but all this was a sign of her seriousness.

0:41:39 > 0:41:42She wouldn't have just been playing.

0:41:42 > 0:41:46And I think it had an effect on him which she didn't desire,

0:41:46 > 0:41:48because it put him off to some extent.

0:41:48 > 0:41:52Because I think he realised first of all that she was more serious than he wanted.

0:41:52 > 0:41:57Secondly, that her parents were lower class than he.

0:41:57 > 0:42:02And thirdly, that the whole thing was just a bit too much, really.

0:42:02 > 0:42:05At this historic ceremony, the public orator proclaims

0:42:05 > 0:42:08the achievements of those whom Oxford is honouring.

0:42:11 > 0:42:13Margaret graduated from Oxford in 1947

0:42:13 > 0:42:16with a second-class degree in Chemistry.

0:42:16 > 0:42:19She was now part of the country's graduate elite.

0:42:21 > 0:42:25Oxford did give her the springboard that she required

0:42:25 > 0:42:28and it gave concrete form to the ambitions

0:42:28 > 0:42:30which were always there in her character

0:42:30 > 0:42:32and it taught her a lot about politics.

0:42:32 > 0:42:34She met famous people who were already adult politicians

0:42:34 > 0:42:37who came to speak at the University.

0:42:37 > 0:42:40And she became a more sophisticated person.

0:42:47 > 0:42:52After the majestic spires of Oxford came the smoking stacks of industry.

0:42:53 > 0:42:57Margaret embarked on a round of job interviews

0:42:57 > 0:42:59at various chemical firms.

0:42:59 > 0:43:02'The person I disliked most was the personnel manager.

0:43:02 > 0:43:06'He was a slimy creature, not at all suitable for his job.'

0:43:07 > 0:43:11One ICI manager complained that Margaret was

0:43:11 > 0:43:14"too strong a personality to work here".

0:43:14 > 0:43:18But then neither was she taken by all that they had to offer.

0:43:18 > 0:43:20'Billingham is nothing else but ICI.

0:43:20 > 0:43:24'One would meet nothing else but the people you worked with.

0:43:24 > 0:43:26'No-one of the kind I'd been used to in Oxford.'

0:43:35 > 0:43:37Eventually, after three or four interviews,

0:43:37 > 0:43:42in the late summer of 1947, Margaret took a post as a research chemist

0:43:42 > 0:43:46at BX Plastics in Manningtree in Essex on the River Stour.

0:43:50 > 0:43:54She took the job because she thought the post had a managerial element

0:43:54 > 0:43:57to it and would allow her insight into the running of a company.

0:43:57 > 0:43:59But it was not to be,

0:43:59 > 0:44:03as she records in her memoirs somewhat despondently...

0:44:03 > 0:44:06'I found myself donning my white coat again

0:44:06 > 0:44:09'and immersing myself in the wonderful world of plastics.'

0:44:09 > 0:44:12The whole thing failed to inspire her greatly

0:44:12 > 0:44:14after the thrills and highlife of Oxford.

0:44:14 > 0:44:19The elated letters to Muriel about balls and dances with Tony Bray

0:44:19 > 0:44:24gave way to more mundane matters with a familiar dash of impatience.

0:44:24 > 0:44:28'The wear and tear on clothes of all kinds is terrific in industry.

0:44:28 > 0:44:32'By the way, have my shoes come back from Udall's yet?

0:44:32 > 0:44:35'I've asked that in every blessed letter I've written,

0:44:35 > 0:44:38'but not a word about them have I received in any reply.'

0:44:40 > 0:44:44In truth, the idea of working as a chemist never excited Margaret.

0:44:44 > 0:44:46She took the Manningtree job because it allowed her

0:44:46 > 0:44:50to be close to London, the heart of politics,

0:44:50 > 0:44:54And where she hoped one day she might be able to study for the Bar.

0:44:57 > 0:45:01Meanwhile, although Margaret had been bruised by her first boyfriend

0:45:01 > 0:45:05adventure in Oxford, finding a man remained high on the agenda.

0:45:07 > 0:45:11A fellow lodger, Teddy West, occasionally took her to the cinema.

0:45:11 > 0:45:14'On Saturday evening, Teddy West and I went to the flicks.

0:45:14 > 0:45:18'By the way, can you scrounge a packet of cigarettes to bring up for him?

0:45:18 > 0:45:23'He buys me so many odd drinks that I like to toss him an odd 20 cigs now and then.'

0:45:27 > 0:45:30But Teddy wasn't destined to be Mr Right.

0:45:30 > 0:45:32If I do go out with Mr West,

0:45:32 > 0:45:36we only go for a drink or something that doesn't demand any dressing up.

0:45:36 > 0:45:38And he doesn't dance.

0:45:39 > 0:45:42Teddy soon disappeared from the correspondence,

0:45:42 > 0:45:45only to be replaced by Brian Harrison,

0:45:45 > 0:45:48a leading member of the local Young Conservatives.

0:45:48 > 0:45:52A former Cambridge student, tall and sporty,

0:45:52 > 0:45:56Harrison was like a ghost of Margaret's Oxford days.

0:45:56 > 0:45:58She was very good looking,

0:45:58 > 0:46:01and consequently one did remember her.

0:46:01 > 0:46:03Quite often, there were dances,

0:46:03 > 0:46:07and she always took part

0:46:07 > 0:46:09in those activities.

0:46:09 > 0:46:13I remember she danced very well.

0:46:13 > 0:46:15'He's really an Australian,

0:46:15 > 0:46:18'but he was left a small estate of 1,500 acres in the country

0:46:18 > 0:46:21'about five miles from Colchester,

0:46:21 > 0:46:25'and has now come to live here permanently to look after it.

0:46:25 > 0:46:27'He's about 26, and very nice.

0:46:27 > 0:46:31'The brief encounter was very pleasant, and he has my address

0:46:31 > 0:46:34'for when he comes back from the Xmas vacation.'

0:46:34 > 0:46:37I found her very likeable, yes.

0:46:39 > 0:46:43But I was never at the stage that Denis got to.

0:46:47 > 0:46:50Margaret arranged her Essex life just as she had in Oxford,

0:46:50 > 0:46:55the day job in the lab followed by the world of local Conservatives,

0:46:55 > 0:46:59offering her a social life and feeding the real passion - politics.

0:47:01 > 0:47:07We used just to go and take a soapbox, I suppose it was,

0:47:07 > 0:47:10and stand there and just try and draw

0:47:10 > 0:47:14as much attention as we could to ourselves.

0:47:14 > 0:47:16And it worked.

0:47:16 > 0:47:21She used her knowledge and she dealt with any hecklers extremely well.

0:47:21 > 0:47:25'Dear Muriel, I still don't like the work very much.

0:47:25 > 0:47:28'But the politics and social life are beginning to go with a swing,

0:47:28 > 0:47:30'which compensates a lot.

0:47:30 > 0:47:33'I enjoyed the Brains Trust last Wednesday, and we all went

0:47:33 > 0:47:38'and had a drink at The George afterwards to round off the proceedings.

0:47:38 > 0:47:42'The socialists were all of the intellectual type, and quite nice.'

0:47:42 > 0:47:45Margaret had successfully moved her politics from the cloisters

0:47:45 > 0:47:47of Oxford to the streets of Essex.

0:47:48 > 0:47:52But, as ever, she preferred to write to Muriel not about policy

0:47:52 > 0:47:56or ideology but about her appearance and a lack of money.

0:47:56 > 0:47:59'I decided to buy a really nice undie set to go under

0:47:59 > 0:48:02'my turquoise chiffon blouse.

0:48:02 > 0:48:06'It is a very pale turquoise colour and cost £5 and five shillings.

0:48:06 > 0:48:11'I'll not have to spend anything else for the rest of the month.'

0:48:12 > 0:48:16If money was to be spent, it was to be on familiar pleasures.

0:48:16 > 0:48:19Margaret wrote an ecstatic letter about a weekend

0:48:19 > 0:48:21that she'd just spent back in Oxford,

0:48:21 > 0:48:23a round of sherry parties and dinner parties,

0:48:23 > 0:48:26a delicious taste of what she feared she may have left behind.

0:48:26 > 0:48:30And it ended with another blast from the past.

0:48:30 > 0:48:32'A letter from Tony Bray!

0:48:32 > 0:48:36'The letter was very weird and sentimental.

0:48:36 > 0:48:38'"For three years, I have not been able to write to you

0:48:38 > 0:48:42'"due to circumstances beyond my control..."

0:48:42 > 0:48:44'And so on in that strain.

0:48:44 > 0:48:47'I shall write back and tell him to let sleeping dogs lie.'

0:48:47 > 0:48:51Despite her protestations about sleeping dogs,

0:48:51 > 0:48:54Margaret couldn't resist renewing the friendship

0:48:54 > 0:48:56with a recently demobbed Tony.

0:48:56 > 0:48:58She reasoned that any reunion would be...

0:48:58 > 0:49:02'More to let him see how I've changed than to see him.'

0:49:04 > 0:49:09She came to see me certainly once or twice when I was in Brasenose.

0:49:09 > 0:49:13She had tea, I remember, in my rooms in Brasenose,

0:49:13 > 0:49:15certainly on one, maybe more occasion.

0:49:16 > 0:49:20Margaret gave an enthusiastic report to Muriel of her Oxford reunion

0:49:20 > 0:49:24with Tony. It had been more than a quick cup of tea.

0:49:24 > 0:49:27They dined at the Randolph and Tony took her to the theatre.

0:49:27 > 0:49:30The weather was glorious and they punted on the river.

0:49:30 > 0:49:32She says she found it easy to get on with him,

0:49:32 > 0:49:36although she refused to be drawn on the former relationship.

0:49:36 > 0:49:40'The only direct reference I had of times past was when he said,

0:49:40 > 0:49:44'quite steadily, "You only realise what you had when you've lost it.

0:49:44 > 0:49:47'"And you know what I'm referring to."

0:49:47 > 0:49:49'However, I ignored the remark

0:49:49 > 0:49:52'and conversation rapidly picked up and flowed on.'

0:49:52 > 0:49:56There's a sense that the slighted Margaret now wants the upper hand,

0:49:56 > 0:50:00and that her way of gaining control is to show no vulnerability,

0:50:00 > 0:50:04make an impression, but above all hold the reins.

0:50:04 > 0:50:07'No mention was made of any future arrangements,

0:50:07 > 0:50:09'for which I was truly thankful

0:50:09 > 0:50:12'for it just wouldn't have been on for me,

0:50:12 > 0:50:14'although I quite enjoyed seeing him again for a short time.

0:50:14 > 0:50:17'It satisfied my curiosity.

0:50:17 > 0:50:21'But he is a weird-looking chap to cart around the place.

0:50:21 > 0:50:24'By the way, he didn't know I had been president of OUCA.

0:50:24 > 0:50:26'He was immensely impressed.'

0:50:33 > 0:50:37But in September, 1948, Margaret met Tony again,

0:50:37 > 0:50:39this time for a date in London.

0:50:39 > 0:50:43'I was wearing my blue frock and little blue hat,

0:50:43 > 0:50:47'little fur jacket with all wine accessories,

0:50:47 > 0:50:51'and I forgot to mention he presented me with a spray of pink roses!'

0:50:52 > 0:50:56The London meeting was described effusively to Muriel -

0:50:56 > 0:50:58tea at Fullers in Regent Street,

0:50:58 > 0:51:01a trip to see Carissima at the Palace.

0:51:01 > 0:51:05'During the interval, we went and had gin and vermouth in the bar.

0:51:05 > 0:51:07'Tony had booked dinner for nine o'clock at Kettner's,

0:51:07 > 0:51:10'quite a fashionable West End restaurant.

0:51:10 > 0:51:14'I really enjoyed the evening very much,

0:51:14 > 0:51:18'though I wouldn't dream of re-striking up the association with Tony.'

0:51:20 > 0:51:22They did see each other again.

0:51:22 > 0:51:25But as before, things petered out.

0:51:25 > 0:51:28Until, over 20 years later, this time at the House of Commons,

0:51:28 > 0:51:30where Margaret was now a shadow environment spokesman,

0:51:30 > 0:51:33one final meeting took place.

0:51:33 > 0:51:36Tony, then a successful stockbroker,

0:51:36 > 0:51:39came to the House to meet Margaret to discuss his idea

0:51:39 > 0:51:42that council houses could be sold off to sitting tenants.

0:51:42 > 0:51:45The policy famously appealed to Margaret.

0:51:45 > 0:51:49But the old relationship was never even mentioned.

0:51:51 > 0:51:55Oh, well, that shows her at her most relaxed,

0:51:55 > 0:51:58but also shows her face and her hair.

0:51:58 > 0:52:00That's the hair I remember.

0:52:01 > 0:52:07I think we had a degree of happiness together

0:52:07 > 0:52:12when we were with each other, but I think, that apart,

0:52:12 > 0:52:16I wouldn't say that she was simplistically a happy person.

0:52:17 > 0:52:21For Margaret, getting a man was a formula that she hadn't cracked.

0:52:21 > 0:52:25Around the time of the Tony relationship,

0:52:25 > 0:52:26she wrote to Muriel, saying...

0:52:26 > 0:52:29'I don't know that your male problem is the same as mine.

0:52:29 > 0:52:33'You seem infinitely more successful with them than I do.'

0:52:33 > 0:52:35It's a rare expression of self-doubt.

0:52:38 > 0:52:40But if her personal life was complicated,

0:52:40 > 0:52:44her political life was about to take a dramatic turn for the better.

0:52:46 > 0:52:50In October, 1948, with Margaret just 23 years old,

0:52:50 > 0:52:53she joined Oxford's graduate delegation

0:52:53 > 0:52:56to the Conservative Party Conference in Llandudno.

0:52:56 > 0:53:00'I decided I couldn't possibly go to Llandudno with the communal coat

0:53:00 > 0:53:02'as the only topcoat I had.

0:53:02 > 0:53:05'So I drew some savings certificates out and I bought

0:53:05 > 0:53:07'a fine, lightweight, black wool swagger.

0:53:07 > 0:53:10'It's of a rather distinctive design.

0:53:10 > 0:53:13'I've drawn it rather stunted, but it's full length, of course.'

0:53:14 > 0:53:19Margaret found the quality of the speaking poor,

0:53:19 > 0:53:23possibly because she wasn't called on to speak herself.

0:53:23 > 0:53:25But a chance meeting with an old Oxford friend

0:53:25 > 0:53:28led to Margaret putting herself forward

0:53:28 > 0:53:30as a candidate for a seat in Kent.

0:53:35 > 0:53:38Dartford was an industrial stronghold,

0:53:38 > 0:53:43a safe Labour seat with an all but unassailable majority of 20,000.

0:53:43 > 0:53:47The Young Conservatives referred to some of the town's housing estates

0:53:47 > 0:53:49rather dauntingly as Little Moscow.

0:53:51 > 0:53:54This, of course, was where Margaret was such a gem

0:53:54 > 0:53:58when she first came to us,

0:53:58 > 0:54:01because she is instilled into us this idea

0:54:01 > 0:54:05that if you had the courage of your conviction,

0:54:05 > 0:54:07you could do anything.

0:54:07 > 0:54:13She wasn't out of the ordinary. She was just exciting.

0:54:13 > 0:54:15Margaret's charisma won her admirers

0:54:15 > 0:54:18not only in the local Conservative Party, but in her private life.

0:54:18 > 0:54:23Just five days before she was formally adopted as Dartford's candidate,

0:54:23 > 0:54:25a new man came into her life.

0:54:25 > 0:54:31'He's about 35 and has a kind of naivete that only a Scotsman can have.

0:54:31 > 0:54:33'I expected to be bored to tears.

0:54:33 > 0:54:37'But in fact he was really rather sweet, with quite a sense of humour.'

0:54:37 > 0:54:42Margaret was on the lookout for a man to accompany her into her political future.

0:54:42 > 0:54:46The letter to Muriel is a bit like running through a CV.

0:54:46 > 0:54:49'His farm is worth £25,000.

0:54:49 > 0:54:53'He has 3,000 shares of ICI now standing at 47 shillings,

0:54:53 > 0:54:58'1,000 of something else, 500 of this and that and so on and so forth...'

0:54:58 > 0:55:00These were worthy credentials,

0:55:00 > 0:55:03and Margaret enjoyed the attention of her new suitor.

0:55:03 > 0:55:07'He drove me home in his present, rather old car,

0:55:07 > 0:55:09'and got quite ardent on the way!

0:55:09 > 0:55:11'I said I couldn't possibly fix another definite date,

0:55:11 > 0:55:13'so he's going to phone me.

0:55:13 > 0:55:16'The funniest part is that although I've been introduced to him twice,

0:55:16 > 0:55:20'I can never catch his name, and still don't know it!'

0:55:20 > 0:55:22The farmer's name was Willie Cullen,

0:55:22 > 0:55:25and he was to figure greatly in Margaret's life.

0:55:25 > 0:55:28History doesn't record whether he was among those listening to Margaret

0:55:28 > 0:55:31five days later at the meeting that put the seal

0:55:31 > 0:55:33on her selection as Dartford's new candidate.

0:55:33 > 0:55:36But in the audience was another man.

0:55:36 > 0:55:37'When the meeting was over,

0:55:37 > 0:55:41'I went back and had drinks with the people I'd been dining with,

0:55:41 > 0:55:42'a Mr and Mrs Seward.

0:55:42 > 0:55:45'A co-director of his, a Major Thatcher,

0:55:45 > 0:55:50'who has a flat in London, aged about 36, plenty of money,

0:55:50 > 0:55:51'was also dining with them,

0:55:51 > 0:55:54'and he drove me back to town at about midnight.'

0:55:55 > 0:55:59Denis Thatcher, a former officer mentioned in dispatches,

0:55:59 > 0:56:01had his own prosperous paint company.

0:56:01 > 0:56:05An ex-public school boy, he was socially a cut above Margaret.

0:56:05 > 0:56:09Popular mythology suggests that when he arrived on the scene,

0:56:09 > 0:56:11Margaret knew he was the man for her.

0:56:11 > 0:56:14But references to Denis in her letters

0:56:14 > 0:56:17show that that was certainly not the case.

0:56:17 > 0:56:20'Not a frightfully attractive creature.

0:56:20 > 0:56:23'Very reserved but quite nice.

0:56:23 > 0:56:25'He's not very fond of meeting people.

0:56:25 > 0:56:28'He says he doesn't get on with them awfully well.'

0:56:28 > 0:56:31It's an inauspicious start for Denis.

0:56:31 > 0:56:34The Scottish farmer seems to be in pole position,

0:56:34 > 0:56:36Margaret's comments about him being chalk from cheese

0:56:36 > 0:56:40in comparison to the choice of words used for Denis.

0:56:40 > 0:56:42'He is awfully sweet.

0:56:42 > 0:56:46'I'm getting quite fond of him, and a very welcome relaxation.'

0:56:46 > 0:56:48She liked Willie Cullen. She thought he was fun,

0:56:48 > 0:56:51and he was very keen on her.

0:56:51 > 0:56:53She, of course, responded to that,

0:56:53 > 0:56:56and though he was famously being close with his money,

0:56:56 > 0:56:59he was actually quite gallant with her.

0:56:59 > 0:57:03But bizarrely, however fond Margaret declared herself to be,

0:57:03 > 0:57:07in the same letter she was explicitly saying that this relationship

0:57:07 > 0:57:11was not for her and that her sister Muriel might like to step in.

0:57:12 > 0:57:15You had better come down here some other weekend

0:57:15 > 0:57:16to meet the current boyfriend.

0:57:16 > 0:57:20By the way, he will never become your brother-in-law,

0:57:20 > 0:57:23though I have high hopes that he may be mine one day!

0:57:23 > 0:57:26Whatever Margaret's intentions with Willie,

0:57:26 > 0:57:29he was ready to introduce her to his family

0:57:29 > 0:57:32at a dinner party at his home, Fulton Hall.

0:57:32 > 0:57:35But the evening sent shivers down Margaret's spine.

0:57:35 > 0:57:40It was a close-up view of a world she didn't wish to make her own.

0:57:40 > 0:57:42'The wives are typical wives.

0:57:42 > 0:57:45'They know of domestic matters and nothing else.

0:57:45 > 0:57:48'I stayed with the men after supper, talking about many things,

0:57:48 > 0:57:52'and when William suggested that maybe we ought to join the ladies,

0:57:52 > 0:57:56'David, a farmer friend, said, in a rather contemptuous fashion, "Why?

0:57:56 > 0:57:59'"They don't talk politics or anything else in there."'

0:58:05 > 0:58:07The world of Willie Cullen

0:58:07 > 0:58:10is very much the world of the solid yeoman farmer.

0:58:10 > 0:58:13Absolutely no pretensions to the wider world,

0:58:13 > 0:58:19intellectual life, the world of books. This was too narrow for her.

0:58:19 > 0:58:24I think in particular it was too much the traditional woman's role.

0:58:24 > 0:58:27What starts to germinate in Margaret's mind

0:58:27 > 0:58:29is that Willie Cullen is an excellent man,

0:58:29 > 0:58:32and why shouldn't he marry her sister, who is,

0:58:32 > 0:58:34by the standards of that time,

0:58:34 > 0:58:37getting on a bit and who needs a man?

0:58:37 > 0:58:41And so all this is constructed by Margaret

0:58:41 > 0:58:45so that Muriel and Willie will meet and it will all come to fruition.

0:58:47 > 0:58:51But the handover from Margaret to Muriel was not immediate.

0:58:51 > 0:58:54Margaret continued to fan the flames of Willie's ardour,

0:58:54 > 0:58:58accompanying him to social events and enjoying gifts from him,

0:58:58 > 0:59:03ranging from expensive scents to vital commodities - butter, eggs,

0:59:03 > 0:59:05grapes, and one special one.

0:59:06 > 0:59:11'William has given me a very nice black calf handbag.

0:59:11 > 0:59:15'We had my initials put on it as well, and it looks awfully nice.

0:59:15 > 0:59:18'I quite loftily say it's not very expensive,

0:59:18 > 0:59:21'it's about twice as much as you or I would pay.

0:59:21 > 0:59:24'I'll have to hang onto William for a while longer now!'

0:59:28 > 0:59:30Margaret's new handbag became a frequent sight

0:59:30 > 0:59:35on the streets of Dartford as she threw herself into preparations

0:59:35 > 0:59:37for the 1950 general election.

0:59:37 > 0:59:39She told Muriel that she had no time now

0:59:39 > 0:59:42for what she called a private life.

0:59:42 > 0:59:45And, refusing to be intimidated by his massive majority,

0:59:45 > 0:59:50she took on her opponent, a sitting Labour MP, Norman Dodds.

0:59:50 > 0:59:53She described to Muriel the two candidates' first meeting,

0:59:53 > 0:59:55on the dance floor of a civic ball.

0:59:55 > 0:59:58'We were dragged off into the middle of the ballroom,

0:59:58 > 1:00:02'and quite a ceremony was made of the whole affair.

1:00:02 > 1:00:06'Mr Dodds said he was very sorry I was an opponent.

1:00:06 > 1:00:09'He then publicly asked me for the next dance.

1:00:09 > 1:00:13'The press took pictures and asked for reactions.

1:00:13 > 1:00:16'I said we were in tune when we were dancing.

1:00:16 > 1:00:19'And Mr Dodds said, "In perfect harmony."

1:00:19 > 1:00:22'I imagine the report will make front page news next week.'

1:00:25 > 1:00:27Away from the dance floor,

1:00:27 > 1:00:30Margaret's campaign was based on stirring patriotism,

1:00:30 > 1:00:33and she was impressive in public debate,

1:00:33 > 1:00:36thorough in her preparations.

1:00:36 > 1:00:38I would come home from doing canvassing,

1:00:38 > 1:00:42and my family, who went to help as well,

1:00:42 > 1:00:44and we would go off to bed,

1:00:44 > 1:00:49and as our room was opposite where her house was

1:00:49 > 1:00:52that she was staying, I always remember my dear father,

1:00:52 > 1:00:54he used to go to the window and look,

1:00:54 > 1:00:59and he'd say, "There's that good girl burning the midnight oil."

1:01:00 > 1:01:03Whilst Margaret was burning the midnight oil,

1:01:03 > 1:01:07the future of her liaison with farmer Willie had been left hanging.

1:01:07 > 1:01:09It needed resolution.

1:01:09 > 1:01:12His introduction to Muriel finally took place,

1:01:12 > 1:01:15and Margaret now reassured her sister

1:01:15 > 1:01:16that the field was clear for her.

1:01:16 > 1:01:19'I shan't marry Bill, for, though very fond of him,

1:01:19 > 1:01:21'I'm not in love with him,

1:01:21 > 1:01:25'and a marriage between us would falter after two or three months.'

1:01:26 > 1:01:30I think they both realised they weren't for each other.

1:01:30 > 1:01:32She alerted my mother, if you like,

1:01:32 > 1:01:34to the fact that she'd met this Scottish farmer

1:01:34 > 1:01:36and that she might suit him more than her.

1:01:36 > 1:01:39And mother was quite happy

1:01:39 > 1:01:43to live a country housewife's type of existence.

1:01:45 > 1:01:47Margaret's instincts were right.

1:01:47 > 1:01:49Muriel and Willie hit it off.

1:01:49 > 1:01:51But despite the deal with Muriel,

1:01:51 > 1:01:53Margaret must have carried on seeing Willie, because,

1:01:53 > 1:01:56when she writes enthusiastically to her sister about a new doctor

1:01:56 > 1:01:59that she's just met while visiting a Dartford hospital,

1:01:59 > 1:02:02Willie is clearly still on the scene

1:02:02 > 1:02:04and apparently still in the hunt.

1:02:04 > 1:02:09I told Willie I'd met a doctor who impressed me very much.

1:02:09 > 1:02:12and he wrote back and said was I giving him a hint to get out?

1:02:12 > 1:02:15In the same letter Margaret also mentions Denis.

1:02:15 > 1:02:18Three horses now lined up for the same race -

1:02:18 > 1:02:22the farmer, the paint man, and the doctor.

1:02:22 > 1:02:26Margaret's quest for Mr Right was becoming a bit of a soap opera.

1:02:26 > 1:02:29But in January 1950,

1:02:29 > 1:02:31one of the candidates was finally to be eliminated.

1:02:31 > 1:02:35The sisters' conspiracy was to be resolved.

1:02:35 > 1:02:38'I've written to William in the vein I told you.

1:02:38 > 1:02:41'We are meeting in London on Saturday afternoon

1:02:41 > 1:02:43'to talk over the various aspects of we three,

1:02:43 > 1:02:47'and it will then be broken off between he and I for good and all.

1:02:47 > 1:02:49'Hope you approve.'

1:02:51 > 1:02:55But before Margaret had even made it to the post box, the phone rang.

1:02:55 > 1:02:57It was Willie.

1:02:57 > 1:03:02The couple talked and Willie was finally and conclusively dumped.

1:03:02 > 1:03:05It merited a quick postscript to Muriel.

1:03:06 > 1:03:09'PPS, I told him from henceforth

1:03:09 > 1:03:13'that I would in law only be taking a sisterly interest in future.

1:03:13 > 1:03:17'He seemed quite satisfied and is quite pleased at future prospects.'

1:03:17 > 1:03:20That was that.

1:03:21 > 1:03:24And, astonishingly, only six weeks later,

1:03:24 > 1:03:27Willie and Muriel were engaged to be married.

1:03:27 > 1:03:30Margaret immediately began designing her own dress for the big day,

1:03:30 > 1:03:32and handed out advice.

1:03:32 > 1:03:35'Don't worry about the pre-wedding jitters.

1:03:35 > 1:03:38'Fi Miller says everyone has them.

1:03:38 > 1:03:40'I think you should have a headdress

1:03:40 > 1:03:42'with a little blue shoulder-length veil,

1:03:42 > 1:03:45'as otherwise folks won't know bride from bridesmaid.

1:03:45 > 1:03:48'I'll just have a little draped cap.'

1:03:48 > 1:03:53The engagement was announced in the Telegraph and Margaret rejoiced...

1:03:53 > 1:03:57'It gives the stamp of certainty to the whole affair.'

1:04:08 > 1:04:12Auntie Margaret, she was very fond of my father and he of her,

1:04:12 > 1:04:14certainly, right to the very end.

1:04:14 > 1:04:18I would've said they were more like friends

1:04:18 > 1:04:21than they were like relations, if that doesn't sound silly.

1:04:21 > 1:04:25It was a better relationship than one might have with one's sister-in-law.

1:04:28 > 1:04:31Margaret fought her first general election

1:04:31 > 1:04:34as a Conservative candidate on February 23, 1950.

1:04:36 > 1:04:39She was the youngest woman candidate in any party,

1:04:39 > 1:04:43and she was roundly applauded... in defeat.

1:04:43 > 1:04:46But she'd wiped 6,000 off the Labour majority,

1:04:46 > 1:04:50a result that was deemed a triumph, and she agreed to stand again.

1:04:50 > 1:04:53The slim Labour government majority had made another general election

1:04:53 > 1:04:56both inevitable and imminent.

1:04:56 > 1:04:59But, of course, another incentive to have a second crack at Dartford

1:04:59 > 1:05:01may have been her latest attraction.

1:05:02 > 1:05:04The Dartford Doctor.

1:05:04 > 1:05:08'We went for a drive round some of the Weald of Kent.

1:05:08 > 1:05:12'It wasn't a very nice afternoon, but still we had a very pleasant drive.

1:05:12 > 1:05:15'I think we're both getting very fond of one another,

1:05:15 > 1:05:18'in fact more than that, I hope so.'

1:05:20 > 1:05:24The doctor's name was Robert Henderson, and he was 47 years old.

1:05:24 > 1:05:2523 years Margaret's senior.

1:05:25 > 1:05:28A Commander of the British Empire, and inventor of the British

1:05:28 > 1:05:33version of the iron lung, despite his age, he was still a bachelor.

1:05:35 > 1:05:38Robert Henderson, he was the only one of the four men who

1:05:38 > 1:05:41she always describes in favourable terms.

1:05:41 > 1:05:43She never ever says anything critical about him,

1:05:43 > 1:05:46except sort of teases, about how she's worried, because he's going

1:05:46 > 1:05:49off on a cruise, and there's going to be a lot of rich women there.

1:05:49 > 1:05:53But there's nothing in any way disparaging, or mocking,

1:05:53 > 1:05:55which, to some extent, there is about the others.

1:05:55 > 1:05:58I think she really respected him and loved him,

1:05:58 > 1:06:00and thought, this is a man I can really admire,

1:06:00 > 1:06:02and this is always a very important emotion with her and men,

1:06:02 > 1:06:06not just liking them and enjoying the company, or desiring them,

1:06:06 > 1:06:09but actually admiring them for their achievements, and she tends

1:06:09 > 1:06:13to like older men, and indeed, men rather like her father actually.

1:06:13 > 1:06:16But Margaret's attraction to the doctor

1:06:16 > 1:06:18was always edged with anxiety.

1:06:18 > 1:06:21Her letters to Muriel clearly indicate her fear that

1:06:21 > 1:06:23the doctor might either plump for someone else,

1:06:23 > 1:06:27or find some other reason for not pursuing the relationship.

1:06:27 > 1:06:30He apparently spent part of Christmas with a big farming family,

1:06:30 > 1:06:32who own half of the farms in Essex.

1:06:32 > 1:06:34They are enormously wealthy,

1:06:34 > 1:06:37and have five daughters of marriageable age,

1:06:37 > 1:06:38one of which is a doctor.

1:06:38 > 1:06:40The prospects don't look very hopeful, do they?

1:06:50 > 1:06:53In May 1951, Margaret took a flat in London.

1:06:54 > 1:06:58This was a key decision in her life, it allowed her finally

1:06:58 > 1:07:02to enrol for the bar, and pursue her legal ambition.

1:07:02 > 1:07:05'My goodness, there's a lot of work to be done,

1:07:05 > 1:07:07'and it will come terribly expensive.'

1:07:08 > 1:07:11Expense was an issue, for the rented flat had to be

1:07:11 > 1:07:15transformed into a home suitable for Margaret's intentions.

1:07:15 > 1:07:19For the first time, now aged 25, she would be living alone,

1:07:19 > 1:07:22and be able to entertain.

1:07:22 > 1:07:25'Flat progressing slowly, all curtains are up,

1:07:25 > 1:07:27'but lounge ones will have to come down...

1:07:27 > 1:07:30'The builders have been in, and I can now get on with the kitchen.

1:07:30 > 1:07:33'I have undercoated the walls and I'm going round tonight...

1:07:33 > 1:07:36'Then the woodwork will have to be painted, covered doors...'

1:07:36 > 1:07:38But no amount of work was ever too much for Margaret.

1:07:38 > 1:07:42The DIY was crammed in around constituency duties.

1:07:42 > 1:07:47'I am canvassing twice a week, which is taking up quite a bit of time.

1:07:47 > 1:07:50'It doesn't look as if things will ever slack off.'

1:07:50 > 1:07:54With the flat secured, Denis Thatcher was an occasional caller.

1:07:54 > 1:07:58But he clearly still wasn't making the impact of a future husband.

1:07:58 > 1:08:02'I can't say I ever really enjoy going out for the evening with him.

1:08:02 > 1:08:05'He has not got a very prepossessing personality.'

1:08:07 > 1:08:10In the same letter, Margaret reserved her compliments

1:08:10 > 1:08:13for the Dartford doctor, Robert Henderson.

1:08:13 > 1:08:16'Tonight, Robert is coming up, and we are going out with dinner.

1:08:16 > 1:08:20'Last time he came, I cooked a slap-up dinner, four courses,

1:08:20 > 1:08:21'just to show him!'

1:08:23 > 1:08:25But despite all Margaret's hospitality,

1:08:25 > 1:08:28her worst fears about the doctor came true.

1:08:29 > 1:08:31Just three months after the move to London,

1:08:31 > 1:08:34the relationship was broken off, and the doctor disappeared

1:08:34 > 1:08:38altogether from Margaret's correspondence.

1:08:38 > 1:08:42According to her father, Alf, Margaret was very upset.

1:08:42 > 1:08:44I don't think it's completely possible to

1:08:44 > 1:08:48tell from the evidence exactly what brought the relationship to an end.

1:08:48 > 1:08:54But I think I can say pretty confidently that he did not

1:08:56 > 1:09:00terminally reject her, because if he had,

1:09:00 > 1:09:04she would not have spoken to him again.

1:09:04 > 1:09:06Her pride would have been hurt,

1:09:06 > 1:09:08and she would not have wanted to go near him.

1:09:08 > 1:09:11In fact, Margaret did keep in touch with the doctor,

1:09:11 > 1:09:13but it was a practical matter that

1:09:13 > 1:09:16led her back to him. Only two years later,

1:09:16 > 1:09:18she told her sister that she'd written to him about a medical

1:09:18 > 1:09:22issue that was on her mind - her son Mark's circumcision.

1:09:22 > 1:09:26'I don't like the idea of having it done on the health service in London,

1:09:26 > 1:09:27'as you don't know who's going to do it,

1:09:27 > 1:09:31'but it costs £15-£20 to have it done privately.

1:09:31 > 1:09:33'I am writing to Robert to ask him who does it

1:09:33 > 1:09:36'at the Victoria Hospital under the health service,

1:09:36 > 1:09:39'because I know Mark will be wonderfully looked after there.'

1:09:39 > 1:09:43With the doctor out of the running, Margaret chose to move swiftly on.

1:09:43 > 1:09:45No looking back, no regrets.

1:09:46 > 1:09:48And very quickly there came news -

1:09:48 > 1:09:50all the negative comments about Denis

1:09:50 > 1:09:54that studded her correspondence were suddenly swept aside.

1:09:54 > 1:09:58Margaret and Denis Thatcher were to be married.

1:09:58 > 1:10:01Mrs Thatcher, although she is in many ways a romantic person,

1:10:01 > 1:10:03is also a practical person, and she's got to get married,

1:10:03 > 1:10:07it's part of her whole life plan and expectation,

1:10:07 > 1:10:08but in her particular case,

1:10:08 > 1:10:12it's also this need for it to fit with wider ambitions,

1:10:12 > 1:10:15so it's very important to marry someone, ideally older

1:10:15 > 1:10:19and better off, and settled in life.

1:10:19 > 1:10:22And suddenly there it is.

1:10:22 > 1:10:24Though undoubtedly genuinely fond of him, I think

1:10:24 > 1:10:26the decision was not really a romantic one.

1:10:26 > 1:10:28This is the right man and the right time,

1:10:28 > 1:10:31and suddenly she sees it all coming into place.

1:10:32 > 1:10:36Despite the fact that Denis was divorced, Margaret's preacher

1:10:36 > 1:10:39father, Alf, was ready to welcome him as a son-in-law.

1:10:39 > 1:10:41He is an exceedingly nice fellow.

1:10:41 > 1:10:44Also of course, very comfortably situated financially.

1:10:44 > 1:10:48He owns a 1948 Jaguar, and also a Triumph, but is

1:10:48 > 1:10:50wanting to get a Jaguar Mark V.

1:10:52 > 1:10:55History records Denis as the rock in Margaret's life.

1:10:55 > 1:10:59He acted as consort, faithfully strapped into the passenger seat.

1:10:59 > 1:11:02He was robustly right-wing, and right from the start was

1:11:02 > 1:11:06there to shore up her beliefs and aspirations, and performances.

1:11:06 > 1:11:10They're going to see if Denis does his share of the washing-up!

1:11:10 > 1:11:12LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

1:11:15 > 1:11:17'The election campaign immediately got off the mark.

1:11:17 > 1:11:21'The bill posters began to cover the hoardings with slogans, while

1:11:21 > 1:11:24'committee rooms, staffed by eager volunteers, hummed with activity.'

1:11:25 > 1:11:29The 1951 general election was fixed for 25th October.

1:11:29 > 1:11:32It was time for Denis to make his first tentative

1:11:32 > 1:11:34steps into public life.

1:11:34 > 1:11:37He came out to bat for his new fiancee,

1:11:37 > 1:11:38turning up to support her in his Jag,

1:11:38 > 1:11:43and allegedly having to be restrained from tackling hecklers.

1:11:43 > 1:11:46But for the moment, the couple's engagement was kept secret.

1:11:46 > 1:11:50As a divorced man, Denis could lose Margaret votes.

1:11:51 > 1:11:54This reporter came in one morning, very scruffy looking,

1:11:54 > 1:11:57with a big bag, and dumped it on the desk, and sort of said,

1:11:57 > 1:11:59"I'm here from the Daily Mirror,

1:11:59 > 1:12:02"and we hear that Margaret Roberts has got engaged to Denis Thatcher."

1:12:02 > 1:12:04Well, we didn't know anything about this anyway,

1:12:04 > 1:12:08so we sort of said, no, and I called somebody more official, and we

1:12:08 > 1:12:10bundled him out of the door,

1:12:10 > 1:12:12and that was the first we heard ourselves.

1:12:12 > 1:12:14CHEERS

1:12:16 > 1:12:18On 25th October 1951,

1:12:18 > 1:12:22the Conservative Party won the general election.

1:12:22 > 1:12:24Winston Spencer Churchill.

1:12:24 > 1:12:27And Winston Churchill returned to Number Ten.

1:12:28 > 1:12:32But Dartford remained loyal to Labour, and although Margaret

1:12:32 > 1:12:36had further reduced the majority in her impossible seat, she lost.

1:12:38 > 1:12:41This was the end of Dartford for Margaret,

1:12:41 > 1:12:45but no matter, now she had other things on her mind.

1:12:45 > 1:12:48On 13th December 1951,

1:12:48 > 1:12:52she married Denis in London at the Wesleyan Chapel on City Road.

1:12:52 > 1:12:54She wore a velvet dress of sapphire blue,

1:12:54 > 1:12:57and a hat modelled on a Gainsborough portrait of the Duchess

1:12:57 > 1:13:02of Devonshire - long ostrich feathers cascaded down her face.

1:13:02 > 1:13:06Finding the right man could finally come off the to-do list.

1:13:06 > 1:13:09All of a sudden, it dawned on me, that this

1:13:09 > 1:13:13was the biggest thing in one's life, now kind of sorted out.

1:13:13 > 1:13:17And therefore, one turned one's mind both to other things.

1:13:17 > 1:13:20Is that a strange thing to say?

1:13:20 > 1:13:23That I was what? 25, 26 when we were married. It was.

1:13:23 > 1:13:26One recognised that to choose a partner for life is really

1:13:26 > 1:13:28the biggest thing in life.

1:13:28 > 1:13:32Denis proved to be a good choice for Margaret.

1:13:32 > 1:13:34Their marriage was happy and sustaining.

1:13:34 > 1:13:37Her instincts had been right, and she never regretted,

1:13:37 > 1:13:41publicly at least, her choice of the outsider in the marriage stakes.

1:13:42 > 1:13:46I suspect actually that she was in love with Tony Bray, but this

1:13:46 > 1:13:49is so early on in her life, that this is really the first

1:13:49 > 1:13:53experience of love, and just the excitement of being in love.

1:13:53 > 1:13:56And so, it would have seemed dramatic to her, that in some

1:13:56 > 1:13:59sense it wasn't serious, or it was the practice for later.

1:13:59 > 1:14:03With Willie Cullen, I think there was real affection, enjoyment,

1:14:03 > 1:14:07and some attraction, but not deep love.

1:14:07 > 1:14:10I think with Robert Henderson, there was a strong feeling

1:14:10 > 1:14:15of admiration, which goes so far that it comes into romantic love.

1:14:15 > 1:14:18And I think she was sort of touched by him,

1:14:18 > 1:14:23and Denis, in that sense, didn't mean that she wasn't serious about

1:14:23 > 1:14:27marrying Denis, it wasn't a cynical decision, but it was on the rebound.

1:14:33 > 1:14:35The newlyweds spent their wedding night in luxurious

1:14:35 > 1:14:39surroundings that Margaret wholeheartedly approved of.

1:14:39 > 1:14:43'The Savoy is a wonderful hotel in London.

1:14:43 > 1:14:48'You just press a bell, and a valet, or a maid, or waiter appears.'

1:14:48 > 1:14:51Then it was off on honeymoon, to the island of Madeira,

1:14:51 > 1:14:53where just 20 minutes after arriving,

1:14:53 > 1:14:57Margaret wrote to her sister with her impressions.

1:14:57 > 1:15:02'Some things that the natives think wonderful are very second-rate to us.

1:15:02 > 1:15:04'Some of the people with us are very nice,

1:15:04 > 1:15:07'but some are rather tatty tourists.

1:15:07 > 1:15:09'Jews and nouveau riche.'

1:15:12 > 1:15:14Back in London, Mr and Mrs Thatcher

1:15:14 > 1:15:17moved into Denis's Chelsea bachelor pad.

1:15:17 > 1:15:20Unsurprisingly, Margaret enjoyed making her new home,

1:15:20 > 1:15:24and the social opportunities that came with marriage.

1:15:24 > 1:15:26'We are giving our first cocktail party a week on Monday,

1:15:26 > 1:15:30'when we have invited 50 people to come.

1:15:30 > 1:15:32'Eight of them are MPs, so we may have a number of last-minute

1:15:32 > 1:15:35'refusals for unavoidable reasons.'

1:15:37 > 1:15:39Margaret started her law course in London,

1:15:39 > 1:15:43and continue to attend political conferences around the country.

1:15:43 > 1:15:46In fact, she became so busy, that less than four

1:15:46 > 1:15:50months into married life, her father Alf wrote to Muriel saying...

1:15:50 > 1:15:52We had a letter from Margaret on Saturday morning,

1:15:52 > 1:15:56obviously scrawled in great haste, but it appears that, if anything,

1:15:56 > 1:15:58she's busier now than before marriage,

1:15:58 > 1:16:00with one thing or the other.

1:16:03 > 1:16:06But there was always room for more in Margaret's life.

1:16:06 > 1:16:10And in June 1952, she contacted Conservative Central Office,

1:16:10 > 1:16:12wanting to have another shot at becoming an MP.

1:16:15 > 1:16:21After the '51 election, she didn't quite know what to do.

1:16:21 > 1:16:27She tried one or two marginal seats, and they turned her down.

1:16:27 > 1:16:28The cry in those days -

1:16:28 > 1:16:32we want more women candidates. We want more women MPs.

1:16:32 > 1:16:35But it always turned out when you went to a selection committee,

1:16:35 > 1:16:38they'd say, "Well, this is an industrial,

1:16:38 > 1:16:42"or this is an agricultural seat. And women are not quite right."

1:16:44 > 1:16:46But before Margaret could find a constituency that was

1:16:46 > 1:16:51ready for her female talents, her plans were scuppered by pregnancy.

1:16:52 > 1:16:58On 15th August 1953, Margaret gave birth to twins, Mark and Carol.

1:16:58 > 1:17:01It was a turning point in her life.

1:17:01 > 1:17:08And I remember looking at these two, and thinking, now, this is fantastic.

1:17:08 > 1:17:13Now if I'm not careful, I'm never going to make an effort to get back

1:17:13 > 1:17:16to the sort of intellectual pursuits, I'm just going to be

1:17:16 > 1:17:22so overcome with this that I'm not going to continue with law

1:17:22 > 1:17:27or politics or anything, and I really ought to be able to do both.

1:17:27 > 1:17:31'England was certainly making a good start, but with his score at 37...'

1:17:31 > 1:17:34Denis knew nothing of the birth of his children

1:17:34 > 1:17:36until he got home from a day's watching England

1:17:36 > 1:17:39take on Australia in a Test match at the Oval.

1:17:39 > 1:17:42'And the first day's cricket ended.'

1:17:43 > 1:17:46And before Margaret had even left the maternity ward,

1:17:46 > 1:17:49she'd arranged to go ahead and take her bar finals.

1:17:49 > 1:17:52She passed them when the twins were just five months old,

1:17:52 > 1:17:55and she was only 28.

1:17:55 > 1:17:59She was now juggling two worlds to the best of her abilities.

1:17:59 > 1:18:03'Dear Muriel, thank you very much for the vests and romper suits.

1:18:03 > 1:18:06'We have always operated on the minimum number of vests...

1:18:06 > 1:18:09'Especially as they have both had a tummy bug in the last two days,

1:18:09 > 1:18:12'and have had to be changed frequently, because of vomiting...

1:18:12 > 1:18:15'I slept in the nursery, and took over night duty, as I should

1:18:15 > 1:18:18'have been alert all night anyway, and probably have woken Denis,

1:18:18 > 1:18:21'so it seemed to me more sensible to let Nanny have a decent

1:18:21 > 1:18:24'night's sleep, and for me to do duty.'

1:18:24 > 1:18:28I member the earliest memories I have of my mother were her

1:18:28 > 1:18:32coming home in the late afternoon,

1:18:32 > 1:18:36and just getting on with whatever had to be done on the house.

1:18:36 > 1:18:40And that generally would have involved beginning to cook

1:18:40 > 1:18:44dinner, or something like that. Yes, certainly she was committed to...

1:18:44 > 1:18:45When Mother was there,

1:18:45 > 1:18:49she was fully engaged in all elements of running the home.

1:18:50 > 1:18:55She was quite determined always not to be chained to the house,

1:18:55 > 1:18:58and she felt bad about it, and she knew, although she wouldn't

1:18:58 > 1:19:01quite put it this way, that there were consequences.

1:19:03 > 1:19:07It was less happy for the children than it would otherwise have been.

1:19:07 > 1:19:13And she would in old age say that sometimes that she'd got that wrong.

1:19:14 > 1:19:18Margaret chose to specialise in tax law, a pragmatic decision,

1:19:18 > 1:19:21as it allowed a lifestyle that could fit in with motherhood.

1:19:21 > 1:19:24'The days simply fly past.

1:19:24 > 1:19:27'I go up to Lincoln's Inn most days for lectures and study.

1:19:27 > 1:19:30'At the present moment I'm trying to clear up a backlog of letters,

1:19:30 > 1:19:33'and reckon I have 50 or more to write to do this.

1:19:33 > 1:19:37'Twixt and 'tween us, we haven't a single free evening this week.'

1:19:42 > 1:19:46With the work came plenty of social opportunities.

1:19:46 > 1:19:48She and Denis enjoyed cocktail parties,

1:19:48 > 1:19:52buffet suppers, Conservative balls, and of course dancing.

1:19:52 > 1:19:56This time at the Colony Club in Berkeley Square.

1:20:01 > 1:20:03But it was around this time, with Margaret

1:20:03 > 1:20:06and Denis moving in a very different world from Muriel's,

1:20:06 > 1:20:09that the two sisters correspondence became less frequent.

1:20:09 > 1:20:13I think the relationship between the sisters definitely weakened,

1:20:13 > 1:20:17largely because of circumstances, because Margaret's so busy,

1:20:17 > 1:20:18and they're not physically very close,

1:20:18 > 1:20:25but there is also another reason, which is some social distance.

1:20:27 > 1:20:29They didn't greatly like Denis,

1:20:29 > 1:20:32and I think the reason the Cullens didn't greatly like Denis

1:20:32 > 1:20:35is that they thought that he looked down on them,

1:20:35 > 1:20:37and that they weren't grand enough for him.

1:20:37 > 1:20:39And when he turned up, he would say things like,

1:20:39 > 1:20:43"How are things down on the farm?" Making them feel small.

1:20:43 > 1:20:46Uncle Denis? He was a little bit different to us.

1:20:46 > 1:20:50Mother sometimes felt Uncle Denis was a bit pompous, and, erm...

1:20:51 > 1:20:54..came from a very privileged background,

1:20:54 > 1:20:56and looked down his nose at us mere farmers,

1:20:56 > 1:20:59but other than that, they were very good friends, all four them,

1:20:59 > 1:21:02mother, father, and Uncle Denis, and Margaret.

1:21:03 > 1:21:06Whatever was happening within the sisters' relationship,

1:21:06 > 1:21:10nothing could ultimately extinguish Margaret's passion for politics.

1:21:10 > 1:21:11Nor her ambition.

1:21:12 > 1:21:15In 1955, she'd announced that she would be putting politics

1:21:15 > 1:21:20aside for ten years to concentrate on the family, and the law.

1:21:20 > 1:21:22But like an addict, falling out of rehab,

1:21:22 > 1:21:24she was back within just 13 months.

1:21:25 > 1:21:29She tried quite a lot of places, I mean, everywhere.

1:21:29 > 1:21:33But somehow she didn't gel with some of the divisions, that's all,

1:21:33 > 1:21:34she went to look at.

1:21:34 > 1:21:39In the end, she got Finchley, and even then, she told me after,

1:21:39 > 1:21:41there were one or two people in the Association who were not very

1:21:41 > 1:21:46happy about her being a woman, but once they knew her,

1:21:46 > 1:21:49she got over that one very quickly.

1:21:49 > 1:21:55'Dear Muriel, once again I have been short-listed for a safe constituency.

1:21:55 > 1:21:59'This time it is Finchley, which has a Conservative majority of 12,000.

1:21:59 > 1:22:03'I expect the usual prejudice against women will prevail,

1:22:03 > 1:22:06'and that I shall probably become the inevitable close second.'

1:22:08 > 1:22:14She came on, neatly dressed, and everyone sort of went quiet.

1:22:14 > 1:22:19And she was just electric, she had that charisma,

1:22:19 > 1:22:21I can still see it to this day.

1:22:21 > 1:22:26She spoke so quickly, and about lots of matters,

1:22:26 > 1:22:30you couldn't possibly digest it all, but there she was, standing

1:22:30 > 1:22:35there, and obviously she would make a wonderful choice, in my eyes.

1:22:35 > 1:22:37I was amazed how good she was.

1:22:37 > 1:22:42Margaret's main rival for the Finchley seat, a one-legged

1:22:42 > 1:22:46brigadier with a Military Cross, proved no match for her.

1:22:46 > 1:22:50On July 14th 1958, she was selected candidate for Finchley.

1:22:51 > 1:22:54Denis was away, not watching cricket this time,

1:22:54 > 1:22:55but abroad on business.

1:22:55 > 1:22:57He says he learned the news in a discarded

1:22:57 > 1:22:59copy of the Evening Standard,

1:22:59 > 1:23:02that he read whilst slightly the worse for drink on a flight home.

1:23:04 > 1:23:09The Evening Standard headline was - "Tories Choose Beauty."

1:23:09 > 1:23:11We were very lucky in Finchley, I think,

1:23:11 > 1:23:13very privileged to have had her.

1:23:13 > 1:23:16Thank God we chose her, because they might not have done,

1:23:16 > 1:23:18they could have chosen one of the other three gentlemen,

1:23:18 > 1:23:20but they didn't, they chose Margaret.

1:23:20 > 1:23:23'Trafalgar Square was the chief rallying point for Londoners,

1:23:23 > 1:23:26'who aim to make election night a real night out,

1:23:26 > 1:23:29'and to see the results chalked up.'

1:23:29 > 1:23:32CHEERING

1:23:33 > 1:23:37The general election on 8th October 1959 resulted

1:23:37 > 1:23:40in victory for the Conservative Party.

1:23:40 > 1:23:46In Finchley, Margaret basked in a massive majority of over 16,000.

1:23:47 > 1:23:51I think the earliest memory I have of my mother, funnily enough,

1:23:51 > 1:23:56was the day after she was elected as a Member of Parliament,

1:23:56 > 1:24:01when I, for some reason, walked into the garage in our house in Kent,

1:24:01 > 1:24:06and my father's car was just covered in stickers with

1:24:06 > 1:24:11photos of my mother, and I knew something was going on.

1:24:11 > 1:24:14And that's an abiding memory that I have.

1:24:17 > 1:24:21Back home, in Grantham, Margaret's father was proud as Punch,

1:24:21 > 1:24:25but realised that his daughter would be busier than ever before.

1:24:25 > 1:24:28Just ten days after Margaret entered the House of Commons, he wrote

1:24:28 > 1:24:31to Muriel a letter, that is a premonition of how Margaret's

1:24:31 > 1:24:34new life will take still further away from him.

1:24:34 > 1:24:38'We're all getting settled down after the election excitement.

1:24:38 > 1:24:41'We so far have only received a short letter from Margaret,

1:24:41 > 1:24:45'but she says she is completely inundated with correspondence.

1:24:45 > 1:24:48'We realise that, so exercise patience.

1:24:48 > 1:24:50'I hope she will soon be writing to you.'

1:24:52 > 1:24:55Throughout her life, Margaret celebrated her father,

1:24:55 > 1:24:58but in truth, as she grew older, she found him an unwelcome distraction.

1:24:58 > 1:25:01This is how she described him when he came to stay with

1:25:01 > 1:25:04her and Denis, soon after her mother had died.

1:25:04 > 1:25:09'Dear Muriel, re Pop - he's eating the most enormous meals,

1:25:09 > 1:25:12'and doing absolutely nothing except reading.

1:25:12 > 1:25:14'I shall have to shunt Pop off

1:25:14 > 1:25:16'on Saturday, 14th January at the outside.

1:25:16 > 1:25:18'Will this be all right with you?

1:25:18 > 1:25:23'Otherwise he will just hang on and on, and not take any hints.'

1:25:23 > 1:25:27Just a couple of months before Alf Roberts died in 1970,

1:25:27 > 1:25:29he wrote to Muriel saying...

1:25:29 > 1:25:31'I'm sorry to say I never hear anything from Margaret,

1:25:31 > 1:25:33'either by letter or phone.

1:25:33 > 1:25:36'In fact, I don't think I know their new phone number.'

1:25:38 > 1:25:39And just ten days later,

1:25:39 > 1:25:43in one of his last surviving letters, he writes...

1:25:43 > 1:25:45'I still have not heard from Margaret...'

1:25:48 > 1:25:52Eight months after her father Alf's death, Margaret returned to

1:25:52 > 1:25:56Grantham for his memorial service, and the dedication of a lectern.

1:25:56 > 1:25:57Now Secretary of State for Education,

1:25:57 > 1:26:00she turned to her sister, and complained that she hadn't

1:26:00 > 1:26:03been seated in a position befitting of a Cabinet Minister.

1:26:03 > 1:26:08Muriel replied, "This service isn't for you."

1:26:13 > 1:26:16Mrs Thatcher fled from her background in Grantham in many

1:26:16 > 1:26:19ways, in order to become a famous and successful woman,

1:26:19 > 1:26:22but she returned to it rhetorically,

1:26:22 > 1:26:25and funnily enough, this was genuine.

1:26:25 > 1:26:28Though she had no desire to go back to Grantham,

1:26:28 > 1:26:33and was very glad not to be there, she was always faithful to

1:26:33 > 1:26:35what she'd learned at her father's knee.

1:26:35 > 1:26:42And she did therefore project the experiences of her childhood,

1:26:42 > 1:26:47and the beliefs of her father, on a global scale.

1:26:47 > 1:26:52And that gave her, in some people's view, limitations,

1:26:52 > 1:26:55but in another way, a unique strength.

1:26:55 > 1:27:00And I think people responded to that tremendous underlying

1:27:00 > 1:27:04genuineness and simplicity which came from those roots.

1:27:04 > 1:27:07Now she's just coming into Downing Street now.

1:27:07 > 1:27:10Here comes the Prime Ministerial Rover,

1:27:10 > 1:27:14bearing now Mrs Thatcher, as Prime Minister.

1:27:14 > 1:27:17It took just under 20 years for Margaret to make

1:27:17 > 1:27:19the journey from Finchley to Number Ten.

1:27:19 > 1:27:22The great self improver had pulled off the greatest

1:27:22 > 1:27:28self-improvement imaginable - from provincial obscurity to global fame.

1:27:28 > 1:27:30Well, of course, I just owe almost

1:27:30 > 1:27:33everything to my own father, I really do.

1:27:33 > 1:27:36And it's passionately interesting to me that the

1:27:36 > 1:27:39things which I learned in a small town, in a very modest home,

1:27:39 > 1:27:42are just the things which I believe have won the election.

1:27:44 > 1:27:48'Dear Muriel, Daddy does not like the idea of medical at all,

1:27:48 > 1:27:50'but I'm taking biology, chemistry and maths...

1:27:50 > 1:27:53'And the next idea on the list is to go to university,

1:27:53 > 1:27:56'and take a science degree, then sit for a civil service exam...

1:27:56 > 1:28:00'I must stop now, as it is time to go to Sunday school.

1:28:00 > 1:28:02'Lots of love, Margaret.'

1:28:02 > 1:28:06The sisters continued to see each other, at Number Ten,

1:28:06 > 1:28:10on the farm in Essex, and at Margaret's latest address,

1:28:10 > 1:28:13Chequers, where Muriel and the family were invited.

1:28:14 > 1:28:17But although Number Ten was the ultimate letterhead,

1:28:17 > 1:28:20there would be no time for frivolous letter writing now.

1:28:20 > 1:28:24Now was the time for the affairs of state.

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