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| The HonourableCarol Thatcher | |
|---|---|
 Carol Thatcher (at left) with US President Jimmy Carter and her mother, 1979 (middle right) | |
| Born | (1953-08-15) 15 August 1953 (age 71) Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University College London |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Style | The Honourable Carol Thatcher |
| Television | I'm a Celebrity The One Show |
| Parent(s) | Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt (deceased) Baroness Thatcher (deceased) |
| Relatives | Sir Mark Thatcher, Bt (twin brother) Alfred Roberts (grandfather) (deceased) |
Carol Jane Thatcher (born 15 August 1953) is a British journalist, author and media personality. She is the daughter of Margaret Thatcher, a former British Prime Minister, and Denis Thatcher.
Thatcher has written biographies of both her parents and also produced a documentary about her father which contained his only public interview. Thatcher won the fifth series of the reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.
Early life
Carol Thatcher and her twin brother, Sir Mark Thatcher, Bt, were born six weeks prematurely by caesarean section in 1953. According to Margaret Thatcher, her husband Denis responded to seeing his children for the first time: "My God, they look like rabbits. Put them back." Margaret Thatcher was selected for Finchley in 1958 and was elected as a member of Parliament in 1959. The following year, Carol was sent to Queenswood School, a girls' boarding school in Hertfordshire before attending St. Paul's Girls' School. Thatcher graduated with a law degree from University College London before moving to Australia in 1977 to begin a journalism career. While she was 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 career as a journalist 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 a reporter on its news morning show, 11AM. On her return to Britain, she worked as a presenter for LBC, BBC Radio 4, TV-am and wrote travel articles for The Daily Telegraph. Due to her mother's high profile political position, many newspapers refused to publish work with her byline.
Her first book, Diary of an Election: with Margaret Thatcher on the campaign trail, was published in 1983. Her second book, a collaboration with tennis player Chris Evert (Mrs. Lloyd) 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 4 documentary about him called Married to Maggie. Thatcher captured the only public interview Denis Thatcher gave in his lifetime; he died shortly after its release. Thatcher's freelance career has included contributing articles to magazines and papers as well as television work.
The One Show
From 2006 to 2009, Thatcher was a freelance contributor to the BBC One magazine programme The One Show, making 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 Open Thatcher had, in a conversation in the show's green room, referred to a black tennis player, reportedly Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, as a golliwog.
According to The Times, Thatcher called Tsonga "half-golliwog" and "the golliwog Frog". Presenter Adrian Chiles, comedian Jo Brand, journalists and several guests were with Thatcher when she made the remark. 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."
Reality shows
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
Main article: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (UK series 5)In November 2005 Thatcher was selected to appear with a number of fellow celebrities on the ITV 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. One of her highlights in the show was urinating on the ground. She did not own up and the camp accused Sid Owen.
She had to undergo one of the more infamous "Bushtucker Trials" during her stay in the jungle — which saw her eat jungle bugs and kangaroo testicles as a challenge to earn food for 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% English screened on Channel 4 on 13 November 2006 indicated that Thatcher could be descended from a Bedouin tribe, or that her ancestors could have been desert farmers in ancient Mesopotamia or Assyria, which then covered all of Iraq and large portions of contemporary Turkey, Syria and Iran.
Most Haunted
Thatcher appeared on Living TV's Most Haunted on 13 February 2007 as a celebrity guest alongside presenter Yvette Fielding and medium David Wells as well as Joanne Gregory to search for paranormal activity at Tatton Hall in Cheshire.
Mummy's War
In 2007, Carol Thatcher travelled to the Falkland Islands and Argentina for the documentary Mummy's War, in order to explore the legacy of the Falklands War. 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 reminded 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)".
Bibliography
Thatcher has written several books, including: Below the Parapet: the Biography of Denis Thatcher (1996) and Diary of an Election: with Margaret Thatcher on the Campaign Trail (1983). On 4 September 2008 Headline Publishers released A Swim-on Part in the Goldfish Bowl: A Memoir, which recounts the decline of Margaret Thatcher's health and the onset of her dementia.
Personal life
Thatcher had a relationship with Jonathan Aitken 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". She lives most of the year in Klosters, Switzerland with Marco Grass, a ski instructor.
References
- ^ Gillian Bowditch "Oh Carol, why are we so in love with you?" The Scotsman, 7 December 2005. Retrieved on 8 February 2009.
- "No. 41842". The London Gazette. 13 October 1959.
- "Biography". Margaret Thatcher Foundation. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
- ^ Langley, William (30 August 2008). "Carol Thatcher, daughter of the revolution". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
- ^ Hoggard, Liz (27 November 2005). "Queen of the jungle". Guardian.
- Liz Hoggard "Queen of the jungle", The Observer, 27 November 2005. Retrieved on 8 February 2009.
- ^ Thatcher, Carol (25 September 2006). "Carol Thatcher: My Life in Media". The Independent. UK. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
- "Amazon Entry: Lloyd on Lloyd". ASIN 0825303745.
{{cite web}}: Check|asin=value (help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - Thatcher, Carol (2002–2003). "Married to Maggie". Central Books. ASIN 1904734049.
{{cite web}}: Check|asin=value (help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Bryony Gordon (3 June 2009). "Carol Thatcher: Life in my mother's shadow". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
- "Thatcher axed by BBC's One Show". BBC News. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- Singh, Anita (4 February 2009). "Carol Thatcher 'golliwog' jibe referred to black tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- Carol Thatcher's golliwog remarks ‘made eyes roll in the green room’
- "BBC defends action over Thatcher". BBC News. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- Pierce, Andrew (5 February 2009). "Carol Thatcher golliwog row: behind the doors of the Green Room". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- Robin Stummer "Carol Thatcher: 'I partly blame Mark for Mummy's anguish'", The Independent, 11 December 2005. Retrieved on 7 February 2009.
- DNAPrint Genomics EuroDNA(TM) Test Used as Basis for Reality Show on British Television
- "Book Recounts Margaret Thatcher's Decline". CBS News. 25 August 2008.
- Francis Elliott "Lady Thatcher's friends hit back at 'betrayal of family secrets'", The Independent, 28 May 2006. Retrieved on 7 February 2009.
- "UK Politics: Jonathan Aitken – a 'swashbuckling' life", BBC News, 7 December 1998. Retrieved on 8 February 2009.
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2310777/Carol-Thatchers-Swiss-ski-instructor-boyfriend-Marco-shoulder-mothers-funeral.html
External links
| Preceded byJoe Pasquale | I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! Winner 2005 |
Succeeded byMatt Willis |
| International versions of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! | |
|---|---|
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Categories:
- Use dmy dates from July 2011
- Alumni of University College London
- Children of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
- British television personalities
- I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (UK) winners
- People educated at Queenswood School
- Participants in British reality television series
- Margaret Thatcher
- Twin people from the United Kingdom
- 1953 births
- Living people