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margaret-hilda-thatcher · 7 months ago

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🎙Today I figured I’d compile a Top 10 of my favourite Margaret interviews, with a bit (or a lot) on what I loved about each of them 🫶

Let me know whether you have any favourites that weren’t included!

1. TV Interview for Yorkshire Television Woman to Woman (02/10/85)

https(:)//youtu.be/Bzof-se9VKo?feature=shared

No notes, 10/10, golden buzzer, etc. For starters, I love love love Miriam Stoppard. The two were already acquainted due to Margaret being friends with Miriam’s husband, so that must’ve contributed to this absolute banger of an interview. She has a lovely voice, is very respectful, and extremely skilled at making Margaret open up without being intrusive. This felt less like a series of questions and more like a heart-to-heart. It chronicles her childhood, university years, marriage, and early political career, whilst providing loads of insight into the circumstances which have shaped her into who she is (the frugality of her upbringing being one of them). It’s really rare to get an extended and candid recollection of her personal life directly from the source (she herself has said that she was neither introspective nor retrospective, yet here she manages to be both) so if you don’t know much about her or have only ever consumed a one-sided narrative, I’d 100% recommend watching this.

Favourite quote: “Women always somehow, if they are left to cope, can cope. The whole world can be falling around your ears and someone will get up and carry on.”

2. TV Interview for ITN (28/06/91)

https(:)//youtu.be/L9H5nGDVfQ8?feature=shared

This was her first time opening up about her resignation - which had occurred eight months earlier over the course of a week - and I thought it was very interesting to hear her perspective on how things went down. I can't think of another occasion when she went into this much detail about it apart from the DSY memoir and the 1993 Breakfast with Frost segment. I generally like Michael Brunson and he’s one of her recurring interviewers so she must like him too. I don’t love how eager and pushy he came across at certain times here (eg: asking her to elaborate further on situations when she wanted to move on) but I think he did a solid job overall. If you're unfamiliar with the events, I'd advise you to first go watch the statement she made in Paris upon finding out she hadn't received enough votes to avoid a second ballot, then the confidence motion in the House of Commons, then her last speech outside of Downing Street, and THEN watch this interview. You'll not only have a lot more context but it also goes to show how much strain and internal struggle she was enduring, all the while appearing composed in public.

Favourite quote: “What you've done well, you're relieved about. It's a matter for relief, not for crowing."

3. TV Interview for ABC News This Week with David Brinkley (1983)

https(:)//youtu.be/wPUMEn9gJBs?feature=shared

This is literally a masterclass on how to quietly dominate and lead an interrogation while being outnumbered by your interviewers. She was being questioned about the Middle East conflicts by three men who were clearly hoping to disarm her, but she was so self-assured and unbothered that it made their sternness look silly. There's another iconic interview in the same style from her first visit to the Soviet Union but I cannot for the life of me find it without the Russian dubbing. Whoever DM's me the original version will be named in my will.

On a superficial note, I'm obsessed with how she looked in 1983 specifically. While my favourite era for her fashion is the '90s, her hair and face in 1983 were - in my opinion - at their most stunning, and this interview is the best example of that.

Favourite quote: "I'm not quite sure about the significance of your second question. It seems strangely put."

4. Life & Career of Margaret Thatcher (09/03/91)

https(:)//www.c-span.org/video/?17011-1/life-career-margaret-thatcher

This one took place during her visit to the US for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I love Brian Lamb’s style of asking intentionally broad questions and diminishing his own presence in order to let his guests shine, something many interviewers lack the humility to do. There's a quote of his that says: "Too many interviewers try to make us think they're smarter than the person they're interviewing. I assume I'm not smarter, and if I am smarter, I don't want the audience to find out." The complete interview is 30+ minutes and he maybe talks for a total of three - as is his habit. In turn, it gives her room to speak at length with no pressure. Considering she had a reputation amongst media members for being a feisty interviewee, it's nice to see how relaxed she is when she's not feeling like she's about to be interrupted or challenged in bad faith. I imagine this would be particularly interesting to watch if you’re American because she touches on the differences between the UK and US system (in terms of the role of the monarchy, the parliamentary debates, the government's accountability to the public, etc.) If you're someone who feels strongly about her privatisation policy, I'd also advise watching this because she does go into detail as to why it was needed, especially regarding the broadcasting industry.

Favourite quote: “Some of the press who opposed me most vigorously would never have existed but for my policies of increasing liberty and getting rid of restrictive practices and enabling them to start up. But they then opposed me. So what? That's life.”

5. TV Interview for Thames TV Afternoon Plus (01/06/81)

https(:)//youtu.be/CFY6e2r2_hA?feature=shared

This was an interview that employed three different formats: the typical face-to-face questioning by the main journalist, then a pre-recorded vox pop of working-class people talking about their situation with Margaret having to comment on them, and then a live studio audience of career women there to debate her about various issues. I love this system because it showed how skilled she was at spontaneously handling any question/complaint. I think it was probably also beneficial for her to see and hear about the tangible effects of her policies in a context other than getting yelled at by protestors on the street. It was a much more productive way of connecting her with everyday people and letting their voices be heard. I also like that she talked about how difficult the task of cabinet reshuffling was (contrary to the common belief that she was sacking her ministers for sport).

Favourite quote: “If you put yourself in the front line you must expect to be shot at.”

6. TV Interview for Channel 4 A plus 4 (15/10/84)

https(:)//youtu.be/saA-gfBqpqw?feature=shared

This was her first official interview after the Brighton Bombing and I’m so admirative of her for doing this despite how traumatic it must’ve been to revisit the events. She seems eerily calm here and I don't know how much of it is shock and how much is genuine serenity but either way, she spoke very well as per usual. The interviewer seemed sweet and well suited to cover such a sensitive topic in my opinion. She also did a great job at bouncing back on replies and making the conversation flow seamlessly. They got the stuff about terrorism out of the way pretty quickly and then moved on to usual topics (mostly unemployment, and the role of business owners in creating jobs), which I felt was the best way to handle it as opposed to dragging it on for the full 30 minutes. Then she answered questions sent in from members of the public, which covered a range of stuff from her scientific background to capital punishment. Overall I like that she got to have a talk that wasn't wholly focused on the attack but also got to say what she wanted to say on it.

Favourite quote: “The sun was just coming through the stained glass windows and falling on some flowers right across the church and it just occurred to me that this was the day I was meant not to see."

7. TV Interview for BBC1 Val meets the VIPs (05/03/73)

https(:)//www.margaretthatcher.org/document/208941

This one merges two of my favourite things: her interacting with a live audience, and her interacting with children. A lot of politicians (and adults in general) tend to take a patronising approach when talking to kids but I loved how she treated them with the same seriousness as any other interviewer, and made sure to give heartfelt, detailed replies. While the questions are naturally more basic than the likes of which she would normally receive, she does a great job at elaborating on each, and therefore I found this interview as interesting and revealing as any other. The fluidity and eloquence with which she speaks is also absolutely lovely to listen to, as is the case for all of her 1970s appearances.

Favourite quote: “Some women are very argumentative, you know, and might even win.”

8. TV Interview for Canadian TV (CBC TV) The Journal (27/09/83)

https(:)//www.cbc.ca/player/play/1662159934

Once again... 1983 my beloved. I remember being obsessed with this interview a few years ago largely because of her smudged eye makeup (intentional or not). The main theme here was national defence, and I loved her comments on why nuclear weapons were a necessary evil (she talked about that in much more detail with Robin Day in 1987 if it's something you're into). They also talked about trade unions and her attitude towards strikes. I actually quite enjoyed how argumentative the interviewer was, just enough to counter Margaret's points without coming across as stubborn. It's interesting to me that this interview is apparently iconic in Canada for being "explosive" and for the two "clearly hating each other" because I didn't get that impression at all? They obviously disagreed fundamentally but I've seen interviews where both Margaret and the journalist were much more aggressive (the Brian Walden fiasco, hello???) This one felt cold at most, but not *that* combative. Years later Barbara Amiel described the whole exchange as "rather like watching a pretty lizard mistakenly programmed to kill a mongoose" which I admit is a pretty funny way to put it, and also applicable to anyone who tries to confront Margaret 😭 (While we're here, daily mantra that Barbara Amiel is a disgrace to both journalism and womankind 🫶)

Favourite quote: “The day when this country, or any country, departs from old nostrums it will first have to decide what it’s going to put in their place.”

9. TV Interview for BBC1 My Favourite Things (07/01/87)

https(:)//www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeU_H6prrF8

This is truly such a wholesome one, and I find the concept so unique. Basically what it says on the tin, the interview is structured around her favourite things. She'll have objects or people that she picked beforehand, and then explain why she loves them, like a little show-and-tell 🥹 It's everything from sculptures to poems to paintings, and she will tell a story about the influence that it has had on her life, and then the journalist will ask related questions to keep the interview moving. It's one of the longer ones, which is great because I love to hear her expand on topics that she personally loves. She doesn't talk about herself very often so it's so nice to hear about small things like her nightly routine or how happy doing wallpaper makes her. It's also educational to watch even if you don't particularly love or know her because she knows a lot of historical facts about people like Michael Faraday, so you'll definitely still learn things!

Favourite quote: “The Good Lord is no respecter of backgrounds. Never has been. He plants genius the world over. It is up to us to find it.”

10. KERA, a conversation with Margaret Thatcher (1991)

https(:)//youtu.be/Gbiohe_Baks?feature=shared

Finishing off with this purely for my own nostalgia because it was one of the first (if not the first) interviews of hers that I ever watched. It's not particularly special or different from the ones mentioned above but she talks a bit about the importance of a classical education (learning Latin and Greek, as well as memorising poetry) which I found pretty interesting. The interviewer was well-versed about her subject and had clearly prepared very thoroughly, which Margaret pointed out, and they seemed to get along really well.

Favourite quote: “In my case, you just had to have a star to steer by.”

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