March 14, 2003
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU COULDN'T BE ANY MORE ENAMORED:
Whisky made "Iron Lady" of Thatcher (Paul Majendie, Mar 5, 2003, Reuters)Margaret Thatcher stiffened her legendary resolve with all-night drinking sessions, her personal assistant reveals in a new television documentary. [...]The favourite "tincture" of her avuncular husband Denis was gin and tonic. That was not enough for Maggie, once described by Ronald Reagan as the best man in England.
When Thatcher went to war against Argentina to reclaim the Falkland Islands, her personal assistant Cynthia Crawford recalled: "She'd say 'You can't drink gin and tonic in the middle of the night dear, you must have a whisky and soda because it will give you energy.'" [...]
Jane Bonham Carter, producer of the four-part documentary being aired from Thursday in Britain on ITV1, called Thatcher "arguably the most significant English woman since Queen Elizabeth I."
Arguably? Posted by Orrin Judd at March 14, 2003 02:17 PM
Orrin,
As a almost 40 year old, I came of political age during the Reagan/Thatcher age of the 1980's. When I first went to college in NYC in 1981 I got involved in the liberal/socialist capus movement. However, by the end of my freshman year I shed the robe of the idealistic lefty and proudly became a young republican. This, singularly because of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Titans such as them I thought only come around once in a lifetime. Alas, we now have another titan president, George W. Bush. How lucky we are!
Arguably would probably include people like Queen Victoria.
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at March 14, 2003 03:51 PMMr. Zogby:
To be young was very heaven
Mr. Choudhury beat me to it. Although Clementine Churchill could get a nod. It is said her husband survived in politics long enough to become prime minister because he was the only frontbencher of the age who did not spend most of his time chasing skirts.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 14, 2003 07:17 PM