Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, England, the younger daughter of Alfred and Beatrice Roberts. Her father was a greengrocer and respected town leader, serving as lay-leader with their church, city-alderman and then as mayor. He taught Margaret never to do things because other people are doing them; do what you think is right and persuade others to follow you.

Her time in office saw unprecedented economic prosperity among the middle and upper classes, but this was contrasted by unemployment levels not seen since the 1930s, a rise in homelessness and the end of Britain's major industries. She was a staunch political ally of Republican American President Ronald Reagan. They both advocated tough foreign and defence policies, but they also developed a constructive relationship with reforming Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which helped to bring the Cold War to an end.

She attended Oxford University from 1943 to 1947 and earned a degree in Chemistry, but it was clear from early on that politics was her true calling.

She stood as a Conservative candidate from Dartford in the 1950 and 1951 elections.

She practiced tax law for a time in the 1950s, but was elected to Parliament from Finchley in 1959. Two years later, she was appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Pensions.

She married Denis Thatcher in December 1951 and they had twin children, Mark Thatcher and Carol Thatcher.

Although Thatcher was widely associated with the closure of the coal mines, twice as many coal mines had closed in the 1960s and 1970s under Harold Wilson. Coal mining would have ended anyway in the UK due to the Climate Change Act.

She was the inspiration for a Doctor Who (1963) villain, Helen A (played by Sheila Hancock), in Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol: Part One (1988).

In 1970, she was appointed Minister for Education and earned the title "Thatcher the Milk Snatcher", for eliminating free milk for schoolchildren in a round of budget-cutting.

After the Conservative Party lost both general elections in 1974, she defeated Edward Heath for the leadership of the party.

She was elected Prime Minister in May 1979 and served for eleven and a half years, longer than any other British Prime Minister in the 20th Century. As Prime Minister, she was staunchly capitalist and bent on wiping socialism from the face of Britain. During her tenure, she cut direct taxes, spending and regulations, privatized state-industries and state-housing, reformed the education, health and welfare systems, was tough on crime and espoused traditional values. Her time in office was eventful, having to contend with an economic recession, inner-city riots and a miners' strike.

Although she was known to dislike the BBC, she was an enthusiastic fan of its comedy series Yes Minister (1980). Its star Paul Eddington, who played minister (and later prime minister) Jim Hacker, was awarded a CBE for his services to acting on her recommendation.

Her likeness was used on the sleeves of two Iron Maiden singles; on the cover of the single 'Sanctuary', she is depicted as having been killed by Maiden's demonic mascot, Eddie, for apparently ripping up an Iron Maiden poster. She gets her revenge, however, on the cover of the single 'Women In Uniform' as a military uniform-wearing Maggie holding a machine gun waits around a corner to ambush Eddie as he approaches with a woman in uniform on either arm. However, despite the graphic sleeves, Maggie finally met with Iron Maiden in 1981.

Her first great triumph in office was the Falklands War in 1982, when she sent British troops to reclaim British possessions off the coast of South America that had been invaded and occupied by Argentina. The British won that war and it showed the world that Britain was once again a power to be reckoned with.

She was targeted for assassination by the IRA. In 1984, she was staying at the Grand Hotel in Brighton for the annual Tory Conference. She was working on her speech when a bomb exploded in the Hotel. She escaped unharmed, but the bomb was meant to kill her. One Conservative MP, one Conservative politician and 4 female attendees all lost their lives. Other members of her government to suffer injuries included Norman Tebbit and John Wakeham .

David Bowie admitted that his 1987 song "'87 and Cry" was about "Thatcherite England, where there's such a separation between a high, authoritative governmental force and the ordinary people".

She has her look-alike puppet in the French show Les Guignols de l'info (1988).

Thatcher also persuaded President George Bush to send troops to Saudi Arabia right after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Her staunch advocacy of the Poll Tax and her refusal to endorse a common currency for Europe led the Conservative party to force her out of office in a bloody internal coup.

She was forced to resign as Prime Minister in November 1990.

She was raised to the peerage in 1992, thereafter known as Baroness Thatcher.

She retired from the lecture/ after dinner speech circuit after several small strokes left her frail in 2004.

In August 2008, daughter Carol Thatcher revealed that her mother had been displaying symptoms of dementia for the previous seven years.

She broke her right arm in a fall at her London home in June 2009 and underwent surgery.

She was voted the 3rd worst Briton in Channel Four's poll of the 100 Worst Britons. #2 was the model Jordan (Katie Price) and #1 was then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Died on the same day as Annette Funicello, April 8, 2013.

She was pictured on one of a set of eight British commemorative postage stamps honoring Prime Ministers, issued 14 October 2014. Other prime ministers featured in the set were William Pitt the Younger, Charles Grey, Robert Peel, William Gladstone, Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, and Harold Wilson. Price of the Churchill, Attlee, Wilson, and Thatcher stamps on day of issue was 97p each.

She served as the United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister and was the only one until Theresa May assumed the office on July 13, 2016 after David Cameron resigned following the "Brexit" vote, which was the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union.