Margaret Thatcher's pronunciation: An exercise in ear-training

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-38
Author(s):  
Luke Van Buuren
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Training Method ◽  
Ear Training ◽  
Rule Of Thumb ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
Made In

Ear training is an essential element in any phonetics or pronunciation teaching. In recent years I have been developing an ear-training method based on repeater tapes (each line repeated nine or ten times) of ‘unusual’ personalities and accents. The recordings are first transcribed by rule of thumb according to our own norm (RP English, Standard Dutch, etc.) and the idea is that the major differences from this norm are then listened to and analysed. If the observations are summarized at the end, one has a fair idea of what is characteristic of that particular type of speech. By way of illustration I shall present such a summary of 85 seconds of speech by The Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, taken from an interview on Dutch television made in 1982. It will appear that we do not only analyse phonetic phenomena, but cannot help noticing in this case their semantic impact as well. Perhaps our observations may be of some interest to semanticists and psychologists as well as phoneticians.

The Lady's Not for Returning: Memory, Mediation and Margaret Thatcher in Three Contemporary Biopics

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-178
Author(s):  
Caitlin Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Feature Film ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Political Success

This article examines three recent biopics depicting former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: the single dramas Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (BBC4, 2008) and Margaret (BBC2, 2009), and the UK/France co-production The Iron Lady (2011). Recognising their differences as indicative of divergent contexts of production, the article considers how each film similarly responds to industrial and social demands for 1980s-related British content but is forced to contend with the multitudinous incompatible readings inspired by Margaret Thatcher's heavily mediated iconography. The Long Walk to Finchley and Margaret, produced for domestic British television viewers, use strategies that encourage ambivalence, relying formally on ahistorical genres and narratively on self-conscious representation to distance themselves from docudrama and appease polarised viewers. However, The Iron Lady, a feature film destined for international theatrical release, broadens Thatcher's appeal by emphasising stylistic verisimilitude and structuring its narrative according to the subjective memories of a fictionalised Thatcher. This allows space for multiple interpretations: Thatcher's memories can be read as evidence of her political success, as the delusions of an ageing woman, or as indications of her struggle for power as a woman in a male-dominated sphere. The article suggests that all three productions foreground difficulties in recalling, in biopic form, a British politician whose motifs have been widely mediated and parodied and whose policies instil tremendously opposing sentiments and views.

British Prime Minister visits ICRC

1982 ◽  
Vol 22 (229) ◽  
pp. 219-219
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Vice President ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
British Prime Minister

On 12 August 1982, while on holiday in Switzerland, the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, paid a private visit to the International Committee of the Red Cross. She was accompanied by her husband, Mr. Denis Thatcher. In the absence of the President of the ICRC, she was welcomed by Mr. Richard Pestalozzi, its Vice-President.

scholarly journals Dutch, the Iron Lady and Latin America. The Anglo-American Special Relationship in Latin America under Reagan and Thatcher

2010 ◽  
pp. 159-163
Author(s):  
Sally-Ann Treharne
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
Special Relationship ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
American Counterpart ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
Bilateral Cooperation ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Relationship

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan made a formidable team in the international political environment of the 1980s. Their close working and indeed personal relationship shaped the future of Western European defence, facilitated the eventual fall of Communism, and brought international recognition to the Anglo-American Special Relationship. It was a testimony to a joint commitment to a renewal in transatlantic relations following a lull in the 1970s. Both leaders had vastly different personalities with Mrs. Thatcher often portrayed as Reagan’s proverbial ‘poodle’ in such satirical shows as the infamous Spitting Image. However, in reality the relationship was in many ways led by the British Prime Minister who was willing to assert her considerable influence over her American counterpart at any given opportunity. The relationship ore, was indeed ‘Special’. It went beyond the normal political protocol associated with bilateral cooperation and consultation. It was a relationship that endured many highs and lows ...

Rescue or Retreat? The Nation State in Western Europe, 1945–93

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 52-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
European Community ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
Industrial Culture ◽  
British Prime Minister

‘My first guideline is this: willing and active cooperation between independent sovereign states is the best way to build a successful European Community. To try to suppress nationhood and concentrate power at the centre of a European conglomerate would be highly damaging. … Europe will be stronger precisely because it has France as France, Spain as Spain, Britain as Britain, each with its own customs, traditions and identity.’ Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, speech to College of Europe in Bruges, 20 September 1988. ‘The nation state was the twin of the industrial society, and like industrial society it is becoming outworn. … The evolution of Europe in the next decades will be shaped by the phasing in of the information society to replace the industrial culture and industrial technology which have served us so well for almost two hundred years. Poul Schluter, Danish Prime Minister, speech to the America–European Community Association, London, 20 September 1988. ‘Nations are not everlasting. They have a beginning, they will have an end. Probably a European confederation will replace them.’ Ernest Renan, Qu'est-ce qu'une nation? Lecture to Sorbonne, Paris, 11 March 1882. ‘Both the nation state and integration appear as fortunate accidents of the time, fundamentally contradictory tendencies, which nevertheless in promoting economic growth fortuitously complemented each other.’ Alan Milward, The European Rescue of the Nation State (London, Routledge, 1992), p. 24.

Treaty, Grant, Usage or Sufferance? Some Legal Aspects of the Status of Hong Kong

1983 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 427-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Dicks
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
Current Controversy ◽  
The Status

The current controversy between Great Britain and China regarding the legal status of Hong Kong, having lain dormant for many years, was made explicit by a public exchange of statements between the governments of the two countries during and after the visit to Beijing of British Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher in September 1982.

‘A Party of the Extreme Left’

2019 ◽  
pp. 169-206
Author(s):  
John Mulqueen
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
The North ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
Republican Movement

The Irish minister for justice, Patrick Cooney, in 1976 identified two threats to the state: the ‘Sino-Hibernian’ Official republican movement and the Provisional IRA. ‘Harsh laws’ to counter subversion would be widely welcomed, he claimed. The Official movement’s leadership now openly endorsed the Soviets’ agenda. This chapter focuses on the Official IRA’s determination to build a political party that stayed close to the Soviet Union but opposed its support for the Provisionals’ ‘prison war’ – the campaign to restore ‘political status’ for newly-convicted paramilitary prisoners. Now advocating ‘peace, work and class politics’ as the solution to the northern crisis, the Official movement’s political creation, Sinn Féin The Workers’ Party (SFWP), abandoned the traditional left-wing republican ‘anti-imperialist’ position. Ironically, this involved the party analysing the situation in the north along the same lines as the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.

scholarly journals Stopping Moderate Inflations: The Methods of Poincaré and Thatcher

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Sargent
Keyword(s):  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
Rational Expectations ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
British Government ◽  
Core Inflation ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
Government Deficit ◽  
Monetary And Fiscal Policy

This chapter examines the methods adopted by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her French counterpart Raymond Poincaré to reduce the rate of inflation. Advocates of the two main groups of contemporary theories about inflation dynamics could have told Mrs. Thatcher that achieving that goal would be difficult. The first group consists of the “momentum” or “core inflation” theories, while the second group comprises the rational expectations-equilibrium theories. The chapter first provides an overview of the so-called Poincaré miracle before discussing Mrs. Thatcher's plan. It then considers the nature of the British government deficit, along with Britain's prospective revenues from North Sea oil that coincided with a simultaneous appreciation of the pound sterling. Finally, it compares Mrs. Thatcher's policies with respect to the coordination of monetary and fiscal policy with those of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Margaret Thatcher's Place in History: Two Views

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Previous Record ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
British Prime Minister

It is not every literary novice, blushing diffidently over her first manuscript, who easily finds a publisher, still less one prepared to pay an advance of several million pounds. But not every first author has such a story to tell as Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving British prime minister of the twentieth century. It was the previous record holder, Asquith, who first established the notion that retired prime ministers write their memoirs, and he did so under a twin motivation which was not peculiar to himself. He sought vindication and he was after the money.

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