Prime Ministers
Published on 5. December 2019
Book
Hardback
144 pages
978-1-910821-22-0 (ISBN)
Description
Whether you want to explore how our Prime Ministers came to reside in No.10 Downing Street, read about the official mice-catching cats also dwelling there, learn about the rarely seen soft side of the Iron Lady, or discover how Sir Robert Peel invented the police, there is something for every enthusiast to dip into. "The Amazing and Extraordinary Facts series" presents interesting, surprising and little-known facts and stories about a wide range of topics which are guaranteed to inform, absorb and entertain in equal measure.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 178 mm
Width: 138 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-910821-22-0 (9781910821220)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Jonathan Bastable
Amazing & Extraordinary Facts: Prime Ministers
Book
04/2011
David & Charles
€32.37
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Jonathan Bastable is a renowned writer and journalist. He began his career as a feature writer for The Sunday Times and has contributed to the foreign pages of The Sunday Times, The Scotsman and Time Out. He is the author of a number of books including The British At War from the best-selling series Amazing and Extraordinary Facts published by Rydon Publishing. Jonathan lives in Brighton.
Content
Contents
Introduction 9
Man of the Forest - Disraeli's passion for trees
Idle Jim - James Callaghan's first days in the job
Speak as You Think... And Cherish Freedom - The mottoes of prime ministers
Long Odds at Number Ten - The huge unlikelihood of anyone ever becoming prime minister
The Inventor of Spin - David Lloyd George and the uses of the press
`I am murdered, murdered...' - The strange assassination of Spencer Perceval
Churchillian, but not Churchill - Five things Churchill is said to have said, but didn't
Whips and Wicked Women - The peccadilloes of William Ewart Gladstone
You Probably Could Make It Up - Five fictional prime ministers
Terms of Office - The revolving door of Number Ten
Great and Small - The diminutive Lord John Russell
Born to Rule - Where do our prime ministers come from?
Speaking in Tongues - The Gladstones' private language
Words with Bite - Churchill's rhetorical false teeth
The Great Helmsman - Heath on the crest of the wave
A Quick Bath - William Poultney's quite brief turn of office
Dear Prime Minister - The growing postbag at Number Ten
Behind the Big Black Door - The power that resides at Number Ten Downing Street
Inside Chequers - The country home of the ruling prime minister
Unknown to Fame - Benjamin Disraeli, the London dandy
Horses for Courses - Lord Rosebery and the Epsom Derby
Dizzy's Wit - Words of wisdom from the works of Benjamin Disraeli
Born for the Job - Robert Peel's pushy father
Top of the Greasy Pole - Prime ministers' reaction to getting the job
Sleepless in Mayfair - Lord Rosebery's cure for insomnia
Boardroom Bullies - Questionable behaviour in Cabinet
Premier League - The 20th-century prime ministers ranked in order of greatness
Be a Butcher and Know the Joints - Prime ministers on the cut and thrust of politics
Cat, Cop, Club... - Ten things named after Mrs Thatcher
Who's your Uncle - How a helping hand can make all the difference
Dictator or Democrat? - The two political faces of William Pitt
Constabulary Work to be Done - Sir Robert Peel and the invention of the police
Thatcher the Compassionate - The soft side of the Iron Lady
Out the Door - Becoming an ex-PM
Lend me your Ear - Wellington's unlikely brush with an untimely death
Speak Easy - Asquith's gift of the gab
Pam's Scandals - Digging the dirt on Lord Palmerston
The Pursuit of Idleness - The slothful philosophy of Arthur Balfour
Like Father... - Political dynasties in the House of Commons
Ugly Rumours - Lord North, his wife and his daughter
More Ugly Rumours - Tony Blair's mercifully brief Mick Jagger phase
Beware the Iron Lady - The Russians' accidental compliment to Mrs Thatcher
Brothers in Office - The premiership of Pelham and Newcastle
Sex and the City of Westminster - Unparliamentary liaisons
Before a Fall - Prime ministers and their bumps, hurts and scrapes
An Unknown PM - The unjust eclipse of Andrew Bonar Law
A Kingly Likeness - Prime ministers and the royal blood
No Higher than a Policeman - Prime ministers' descriptions of the job
Beamish Boy - The unequalled brilliance of Pitt the Younger
Unseated - Life after Leadership
Last Resting Place - The funerals of prime ministers
Blair Play - Acting out politics
`The Goat-Footed Bard...' - Maynard Keynes' assessment of Lloyd George
William Pitt and the Credit Crunch - How one prime minister tackled an economic crisis
The Actors who have Played Churchill - Portrayals on television and in the cinema
Clever Clogs - The immense brains of Gladstone and Disraeli
Bullingdon Boy - David Cameron's Time with Oxford's Posh Elite
One of Bellamy's Veal Pies - Last Words of the Prime Ministers
Robert Cecil's School Days - Lord Salisbury's hellish time at Eton
John, Paul, George, and Harold - Wilson's desperate pursuit of popularity
Cry, Baby, Cry - The politics of tearfulness
Portrait of a Lady - The moulding of Mrs Thatcher
Pistols at Dawn - Prime-ministerial duellists
Herbert Henry, Henry Herbert - The changing forenames of prime minister Asquith
A Train of One's Own - Lord Salisbury's Commute
PMs and their Pets - Four-legged creatures in Downing Street
Cycling Dave - The two-wheeler politician
Clement Attlee, the Comic Poet - The prime ministerial letter in verse
Clem, Pee-Em - Another Attleean verse
Roses are Red, Tories are Blue - The PM who Loved to Arrange Flowers
Evil Likenesses - PMs in cartoons and satires
Wilson, a Russian Spy? - Cloak-and-dagger stuff at Number Ten
A Period of Silence - The man-of-few-words style of Attlee
After Anthony - Choosing the successor to Eden
Allure of the Handbag - The feminine charms of Margaret Thatcher
`Crisis? What Crisis?' - The damaging quote that never was
A Melancholy Pacifist - The Unhappy life and premiership of the Earl of Aberdeen
Bute on the Back Foot - Britain's most unpopular prime minister
Four Things Named after Prime Ministers - Eponymous prime-ministerial paraphernalia
The Iron Teddybear - The Duke of Wellington's soft spot for children
Four More Things Named after PMs - A tea, a tow, a faithful promise and an item of footwear
Trouble with Gladstone - The most insufferable prime minister of them all
Destruction of a Masterpiece - The lost last portrait of Winston Churchill
`Give it to Brown...' - Salisbury's inability to put a name to a face
Hamish and the Sorceress - Ramsay MacDonald's love for Lady Londonderry
A Home for Alec - A man between two houses
The Complete Roll Call - All the prime ministers from Walpole to May
Index
Introduction 9
Man of the Forest - Disraeli's passion for trees
Idle Jim - James Callaghan's first days in the job
Speak as You Think... And Cherish Freedom - The mottoes of prime ministers
Long Odds at Number Ten - The huge unlikelihood of anyone ever becoming prime minister
The Inventor of Spin - David Lloyd George and the uses of the press
`I am murdered, murdered...' - The strange assassination of Spencer Perceval
Churchillian, but not Churchill - Five things Churchill is said to have said, but didn't
Whips and Wicked Women - The peccadilloes of William Ewart Gladstone
You Probably Could Make It Up - Five fictional prime ministers
Terms of Office - The revolving door of Number Ten
Great and Small - The diminutive Lord John Russell
Born to Rule - Where do our prime ministers come from?
Speaking in Tongues - The Gladstones' private language
Words with Bite - Churchill's rhetorical false teeth
The Great Helmsman - Heath on the crest of the wave
A Quick Bath - William Poultney's quite brief turn of office
Dear Prime Minister - The growing postbag at Number Ten
Behind the Big Black Door - The power that resides at Number Ten Downing Street
Inside Chequers - The country home of the ruling prime minister
Unknown to Fame - Benjamin Disraeli, the London dandy
Horses for Courses - Lord Rosebery and the Epsom Derby
Dizzy's Wit - Words of wisdom from the works of Benjamin Disraeli
Born for the Job - Robert Peel's pushy father
Top of the Greasy Pole - Prime ministers' reaction to getting the job
Sleepless in Mayfair - Lord Rosebery's cure for insomnia
Boardroom Bullies - Questionable behaviour in Cabinet
Premier League - The 20th-century prime ministers ranked in order of greatness
Be a Butcher and Know the Joints - Prime ministers on the cut and thrust of politics
Cat, Cop, Club... - Ten things named after Mrs Thatcher
Who's your Uncle - How a helping hand can make all the difference
Dictator or Democrat? - The two political faces of William Pitt
Constabulary Work to be Done - Sir Robert Peel and the invention of the police
Thatcher the Compassionate - The soft side of the Iron Lady
Out the Door - Becoming an ex-PM
Lend me your Ear - Wellington's unlikely brush with an untimely death
Speak Easy - Asquith's gift of the gab
Pam's Scandals - Digging the dirt on Lord Palmerston
The Pursuit of Idleness - The slothful philosophy of Arthur Balfour
Like Father... - Political dynasties in the House of Commons
Ugly Rumours - Lord North, his wife and his daughter
More Ugly Rumours - Tony Blair's mercifully brief Mick Jagger phase
Beware the Iron Lady - The Russians' accidental compliment to Mrs Thatcher
Brothers in Office - The premiership of Pelham and Newcastle
Sex and the City of Westminster - Unparliamentary liaisons
Before a Fall - Prime ministers and their bumps, hurts and scrapes
An Unknown PM - The unjust eclipse of Andrew Bonar Law
A Kingly Likeness - Prime ministers and the royal blood
No Higher than a Policeman - Prime ministers' descriptions of the job
Beamish Boy - The unequalled brilliance of Pitt the Younger
Unseated - Life after Leadership
Last Resting Place - The funerals of prime ministers
Blair Play - Acting out politics
`The Goat-Footed Bard...' - Maynard Keynes' assessment of Lloyd George
William Pitt and the Credit Crunch - How one prime minister tackled an economic crisis
The Actors who have Played Churchill - Portrayals on television and in the cinema
Clever Clogs - The immense brains of Gladstone and Disraeli
Bullingdon Boy - David Cameron's Time with Oxford's Posh Elite
One of Bellamy's Veal Pies - Last Words of the Prime Ministers
Robert Cecil's School Days - Lord Salisbury's hellish time at Eton
John, Paul, George, and Harold - Wilson's desperate pursuit of popularity
Cry, Baby, Cry - The politics of tearfulness
Portrait of a Lady - The moulding of Mrs Thatcher
Pistols at Dawn - Prime-ministerial duellists
Herbert Henry, Henry Herbert - The changing forenames of prime minister Asquith
A Train of One's Own - Lord Salisbury's Commute
PMs and their Pets - Four-legged creatures in Downing Street
Cycling Dave - The two-wheeler politician
Clement Attlee, the Comic Poet - The prime ministerial letter in verse
Clem, Pee-Em - Another Attleean verse
Roses are Red, Tories are Blue - The PM who Loved to Arrange Flowers
Evil Likenesses - PMs in cartoons and satires
Wilson, a Russian Spy? - Cloak-and-dagger stuff at Number Ten
A Period of Silence - The man-of-few-words style of Attlee
After Anthony - Choosing the successor to Eden
Allure of the Handbag - The feminine charms of Margaret Thatcher
`Crisis? What Crisis?' - The damaging quote that never was
A Melancholy Pacifist - The Unhappy life and premiership of the Earl of Aberdeen
Bute on the Back Foot - Britain's most unpopular prime minister
Four Things Named after Prime Ministers - Eponymous prime-ministerial paraphernalia
The Iron Teddybear - The Duke of Wellington's soft spot for children
Four More Things Named after PMs - A tea, a tow, a faithful promise and an item of footwear
Trouble with Gladstone - The most insufferable prime minister of them all
Destruction of a Masterpiece - The lost last portrait of Winston Churchill
`Give it to Brown...' - Salisbury's inability to put a name to a face
Hamish and the Sorceress - Ramsay MacDonald's love for Lady Londonderry
A Home for Alec - A man between two houses
The Complete Roll Call - All the prime ministers from Walpole to May
Index