Biography of Margaret Thatcher
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 9, 2013
Margaret Thatcher. [Photo: China Daily via Agencies]
Rise to Power
• Oct 13, 1925
Margaret Hilda Roberts born in Grantham, eastern England.
• Dec 13, 1951
Marries businessman Denis Thatcher.
• Aug 15, 1953
Birth of twin children Carol and Mark.
• Oct 8, 1959
Thatcher elected Conservative member of Parliament for Finchley, north London.
• Oct 15, 1964
Re-elected despite Labour Party victory; becomes opposition spokeswoman on pensions, then housing, treasury (deputy to finance spokesman), energy, transport and education.
• June 19, 1970
Conservatives regain power; Thatcher appointed education and science secretary.
• Feb 11, 1975
Thatcher elected Conservative leader after party enters opposition.
• May 3, 1979
Conservatives in election landslide victory after financial and social problems of Labour government; Thatcher becomes Britain's first female prime minister.
In Office
• April 2, 1982
War breaks out between Britain and Argentina over the Malvinas Islands, known as the Falkland Islands in the UK. Thatcher sends troops and ships to the islands.
• June 9, 1983
Thatcher leads Conservatives to re-election.
• March 12, 1984
Coal miners' strike begins in northern England; drags on for a year before miners accept sweeping pit closures.
• Oct 12, 1984
Irish Republican Army bombs Thatcher's hotel at Conservative annual conference in Brighton, southern England; she escapes injury but five others killed.
• Dec 16, 1984
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meets Thatcher; afterwards she calls him a man she "can do business with".
• Dec 19, 1984
Thatcher signs joint declaration to return Hong Kong to China in July 1997.
• June 11, 1987
Thatcher leads Conservatives to third straight term in office.
• Nov 28, 1990
Resigns after revolt among Conservatives.
Post-Politics
• June 30, 1992
Takes her place in the upper House of Lords as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven.
• Feb 5, 1994
Becomes chancellor of College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
• May 1997
Endorses William Hague as he becomes new Conservative leader.
• March 26, 1999
Pays controversial visit to right-wing former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet.
• June 26, 2003
Husband Denis dies.
• June 11, 2004
Attends funeral in Washington for former US president Ronald Reagan.
• Oct 13, 2005
Celebrates 80th birthday with party at chic London hotel with Queen Elizabeth among the guests.
• Oct 14, 2010
Misses her 85th birthday party at Downing Street with flu before being admitted to a hospital with infection.
• December 20, 2012
Admitted to a hospital after procedure to remove growth from her bladder.
• April 8, 2013
Dies aged 87 after a stroke.
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