Thatcher, M.

THATCHER, Margaret (1925-2013). Autograph manuscript autobiographical notes on events in 1982-1986, n.d. [c.1993]

5 pages on 3 sheets, 242 x 190mm, probably originally part of a larger set of autobiographical notes, likely prepared for The Downing Street Years (1993).

Covering:

the Falklands War, opening with the events preceding the crisis – noting the names of [General Leopoldo] Galtieri and [Admiral Jorge] Anaya and that HMS Endurance was due to be withdrawn, adding: 'Began on South Georgia' – followed by more detailed notes on the 31 March [1982] emergency meeting convened at the request of [Defence Secretary] John Nott, including the darkly comic moment that Sir Henry Leach, Chief of Naval Staff, 'not in uniform was detained by police in central lobby had to be rescued by a whip' as well as a record of Leach's promise of naval support, then moving to 2 April, when 'Governor [of the Falklands, Rex Hunt] sent message telling us the invasion had begun but it never got through' and Thatcher received word from the Queen that Prince Andrew would join the Task Force;

the Brighton bombing, comprising a timeline leading up to the explosion ('2.54 - Bomb went off - room shook') and mention of the deaths and casualties (the names Norman and Margaret Tebbit, and John Wakeham are noted) after which 'Conference opened on time the following morning';

'the Libyan Raid' [1986 bombing of Libya], focusing on the events of December 1985 ('Libyan terrorists had opened fire on passengers waiting on concourse of Rome & Vienna airports killing 17 people') and April 1986, though also noting: 'In Britain W.P.C Yvonne Fletcher had been murdered by Libyans in 1984';

and Wilberforce, the Downing Street cat, a page of notes opening: 'That which thy fathers bequeath [...]'.

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