Carol Thatcher (born 15 August 1953) is a British
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
, author, and media personality. She is the only daughter of Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, a former
British Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
, and
Sir Denis Thatcher, BtMajor Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, MBE, TD was an English businessman, and the husband of the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. He was born in Lewisham, London, England, the elder child of a New Zealand-born British businessman, Thomas Herbert Thatcher, and his wife Kathleen,...
.
Thatcher has published biographies of both her parents. Additionally, she produced a documentary of her father which contained his only public interview. Thatcher won the 5th Season of the reality show
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. In early 2009, she was removed from her on-air position at
BBC One
after making an off-air comment backstage considered to be a racial
pejorativePejoratives are terms which have a negative connotation. Sometimes a term may begin as a pejorative word and eventually be adopted in a non-pejorative sense...
about tennis player
Jo-Wilfried TsongaJo-Wilfried Tsonga Petsonga is a French professional tennis player.Born in Le Mans, Tsonga has a French mother, Évelyne, and a Congolese father, Didier, who moved to France in the 1970s to play handball...
.
Early life
Carol Thatcher and her
twinTwins are two offspring resulting from the same pregnancy, usually born in close succession. They can be the same or different sex. Twins can either be monozygotic or dizygotic ....
brother,
Sir Mark Thatcher, BtSir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet is the only son of Sir Denis Thatcher and Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, and twin brother of Carol Thatcher...
, were born six weeks prematurely in 1953. According to Thatcher, Denis Thatcher responded to seeing his offspring for the first time; "My god, they look like rabbits. Put them back." Margaret Thatcher was selected for
FinchleyFinchley was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election; its best-known MP was Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990...
in 1958 and was elected as a
member of ParliamentThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
in 1959. The following year, Thatcher was sent to be educated at
St Paul's Girls' SchoolSt Paul's Girls' School is a senior independent school, located in Hammersmith, London, England.-History:In 1904 a new day school for girls was established by the trustees of the Dean Colet Foundation , which had run St Paul's School for boys since the sixteenth century...
. Thatcher studied law at
University College LondonThe University College London Faculty of Laws is a super elite law school situated in Bloomsbury, Central London and is one of the most eminent faculties of the University College London , a constitutent college of the University of London...
before moving to Australia in 1977 to begin a journalism career. While there, her mother was elected Prime Minister. Thatcher has said; "You need quite good shock absorbers and a sense of humour to be the Prime Minister's child."
Career
Thatcher began her journalism career in Australia, working on the
Sydney Morning Herald from 1977 to 1979. She became a TV reporter at Channel Seven, also in Sydney, and later an interviewer on its morning show. On her return to Britain, she worked as a presenter for
LBCLBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...
,
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967.-Outline:...
,
TV-amTV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of an ITV franchise at breakfast-time, and was broadcast every day of the week, for most or all of the period between 06:00...
and wrote travel articles for
The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier...
. Due to her mother's high profile political position, many newspapers refused to publish work with her
bylineThe byline on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name, and often the position, of the writer of the article. Bylines are traditionally placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines place bylines at the bottom of the page, to leave more room for graphical...
.
Thatcher published her first book,
Diary of an election: with Margaret Thatcher on the campaign trail in 1983. Her second book, a collaboration with tennis player
Chris EvertChristine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. According to the Women's Tennis...
called
Lloyd on Lloyd, was released three years later. It became Thatcher's first best-seller.
Later publications included a 1996 best-selling biography of her father,
Below the Parapet. In 2003, Thatcher produced a
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
documentary about him called
Married to Maggie. Thatcher captured the only public interview
Denis ThatcherMajor Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, MBE, TD was an English businessman, and the husband of the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. He was born in Lewisham, London, England, the elder child of a New Zealand-born British businessman, Thomas Herbert Thatcher, and his wife Kathleen,...
gave in his lifetime; he died shortly after its release.
Thatcher's freelance career has contributed articles to magazines and papers as well as television.
The One Show
From 2006 to 2009, Thatcher was a freelance contributor to the
BBC One
magazine programme
The One ShowThe One Show is a topical magazine-style television programme, broadcast live on weekdays at 7:00 pm on BBC One. It is hosted by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley. It runs every week of the year, excluding a two-week break for Christmas. The One Show is broadcast from BBC Media Village in White...
, making regular filmed reports and joining the presenters and guests in the studio for discussions. On 3 February 2009, British media reported that during the
2009 Australian OpenThe 2009 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 97th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year...
Thatcher had, in a conversation in the show's
green roomA green room is a room in a theater, studio, or other public venue for the accommodation of performers or speakers when not required on the stage....
, referred to a black tennis player, reportedly
Jo-Wilfried TsongaJo-Wilfried Tsonga Petsonga is a French professional tennis player.Born in Le Mans, Tsonga has a French mother, Évelyne, and a Congolese father, Didier, who moved to France in the 1970s to play handball...
, as a
golliwogThe "Golliwogg" is a character of children's literature created by Florence Kate Upton in the late 19th century, inspired by a blackface minstrel doll which Upton found as a child in her aunt's attic in Hampstead, North London. The character, depicted in the books as a type of rag doll, was...
.
According to
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
, Thatcher called Tsonga "half-golliwog" and "the golliwog Frog". Presenter
Adrian ChilesAdrian Chiles is an English television and radio presenter.His journalistic training and love of football have resulted in a career in two streams of broadcasting, fronting general and notably business programmes such as Working Lunch and The Money Programme; and sports programmes like Match of...
, comedian
Jo BrandJosephine "Jo" Grace Brand is a British stand-up comedian.-Career:Brand's mother was a social worker, and Brand herself worked as a psychiatric nurse at the South London Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital until the mid-1980s...
, journalists and several guests were with Thatcher when she made the remark. When others protested about her use of the word, Thatcher stated through her spokesperson that the comment was meant in jest.
The BBC stated that Thatcher would not work again on
The One Show unless she made a more sincere apology. Thatcher refused, saying "I stand by what I said. I wasn't going to apologise. I never meant it in a racist way. It was shorthand. I described someone's appearance colloquially – someone I happen to greatly admire."
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
In November 2005 Thatcher was selected to appear with a number of fellow celebrities on the popular
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
television show
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. The format of the show meant that she would be forced to spend at least a week in the Australian rainforest with a minimal supply of food in basic living conditions.
She had to undergo one of the more infamous 'Bushtucker Trials' during her stay in the jungle — which saw her being forced to eat jungle bugs and kangaroo testicles to help sustain her fellow celebrities. Ultimately, she emerged as the fifth series winner and second 'Queen of the Jungle'.
100% English
DNA tests in association with a reality TV programme
100% English100% English was a Channel 4 television programme shown in November 2006 in the United Kingdom. It looked at the genetic makeup of English people who considered themselves to be ethnically English and found that while all had an ethnic makeup similar to people of European descent, a minority...
screened on Channel 4 on 13 November 2006 indicate that Thatcher may be descended from a
BedouinThe Bedouin, , are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert...
tribe, or that her origins may date to the desert farmers of ancient
MesopotamiaMesopotamia "land between the rivers" is a name for the Tigris–Euphrates region in the eastern Mediterranean, largely corresponding to Iraq, as well as northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khūzestān Province of southwestern...
, which centuries ago covered all of
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
and large portions of contemporary
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
.
Most Haunted
Thatcher appeared on LIVINGtv show
Most HauntedMost Haunted is a British paranormal documentary reality television series that premiered on May 25, 2002 on Living. The programme is based on investigating purported paranormal activity. It is shown on the satellite and cable channels Living, Living2 and Virgin 1 , primarily for the UK market...
on 13 February 2007 as a celebrity guest alongside presenter
Yvette FieldingYvette Fielding is a British broadcaster and actress. She is the presenter of the shows Most Haunted, Most Haunted Live! and Ghosthunting with....- Early life and career :...
and Medium
David WellsDavid Wells is a medium and astrologer. Born in the community of Kelloholm in Scotland, Wells claims he discovered his abilities after suffering from pneumonia, learning astrology and studying the Qabalah to "ground" his abilities...
to search for paranormal activity at
Tatton HallTatton Hall is a country house in Tatton Park near Knutsford, Cheshire, England . It is a Grade I listed building which is owned by the National Trust and administered in conjunction with Cheshire East Council.-History:...
in
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
.
Mummy's War
In 2007, Carol Thatcher travelled to the
Falkland IslandsThe Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located approximately from the coast of mainland South America, from mainland Antarctica, and from Africa. There are two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, as well as 776 smaller islands...
and
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
for the documentary
Mummy's War, in order to explore the legacy of the
Falklands WarThe Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict/Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
. Whilst receiving a highly positive reception from the pro-British islanders (who regard her mother as a heroine), her reception in Argentina provoked protests and demonstrations (including the cry "your mother is a war criminal!"). During her stay in Argentina she met a group of mothers who lost their sons during the conflict and stated, "We were fighting a war; we won, you lost" and reminding them that it was their country that invaded the islands, thus initiating the conflict. The interview ended with one of the women claiming that "God will punish her [Margaret Thatcher]".
Personal life
Thatcher had a relationship with
Jonathan AitkenJonathan William Patrick Aitken is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and British government minister...
which ended in 1979, just after the Conservatives won that year's general election. His severing of the liaison is alleged to have been the reason for Aitken being bypassed for a ministerial career; the Prime Minister reportedly told cabinet colleagues that she was damned if she was going to give a job to a man "who had made Carol cry".
Thatcher has been linked to Marco Grass, a Swiss ski instructor since 1992. They share her homes in Klosters and London. Thatcher has never married; "I like being permanently single. It suits me perfectly."
External links