Research Catalog

Title

The prime ministers ironing board and other state secrets : true stories from the government archives / by Adam Macqueen.

Author

Macqueen, Adam

Publication

London : Little, Brown and Company, 2013.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 286 pages : illustrations; 23 cm.

Summary

Stored in Whitehall's archives are everything from blood-chilling warnings of imminent nuclear attack to comical details of daily life in the corridors of power. Concerned notes from ministers on the subject of the Heir to the Throne's potential brainwashing by Welsh terrorists are shelved alongside worries about housemaids 'on the wobble' at Chequers. These, and other unlikely revelations are revealed in this constantly surprising book.

Subject

• Since 1945
• Great Britain > Politics and government > 1945- > Miscellanea
• Great Britain > Politics and government > 1945- > Humor
• Great Britain > Politics and government > Archival resources. > 1945-

Genre/Form

• Humor
• Trivia and miscellanea

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Machine generated contents note: Nuclear Family -- As if God himself had appeared among us --1945 -- When everything changed -- 1945 -- When the boat comes in -- 1950 -- Thermonuclear power? Yes please -- 1954 -- Be prepared ... to die -- 1960 -- Mothers' milk -- 1961 -- Don't panic! -- 1979 -- Royal Revelations -- The King is (nearly) dead, long live the King -- 1935 -- And what would you like your great-grandchildren to be called, ma'am? -- 1952 -- The flying duke -- 1955 -- The best medicine -- 1963 -- Duchy original -- 1964 -- What do you buy for the prince who has everything? - 1966 -- Prince Charles, sleeper agent? -- 1969 -- No proxy for poxy monarch -- 1971 -- Coining it in -- 1973 -- Kidnap? Bloody likely -- 1974 -- How Harold Wilson saved the Queen Mother from blowing up -- 1975 -- Bombers and bouquets -- 1979 -- Foreign Fields -- Lions led by donkeys: a donkey writes -- 1915 -- Getting to know these new-fangled Bolsheviks -- 1917 --
• Contents note continued: There may be trouble ahead -- 1919 -- Rubbish for Russia -- 1921 -- Wales goes to India -- 1922 -- French kissing-- 1939 -- What I did on my holidays / Harold MacMillan -- Dancing with danger -- 1959 -- Libya and let live -- 1969 -- Monkey business -- 1971 -- Shrinks and Scots -- 1975 -- Diplomatic debag -- 1979 -- Thatcher-san, karate lady -- 1979 -- Whitehall Farces -- Artistic differences -- 1919 -- Fight for your right to party -- 1924 -- Publish and be damned -- 1925 -- Bishop to king 2 -- 1929 -- Churchill's goose is cooked -- 1952 -- Lost in Downing Street -- 1964 -- Living dangerously -- 1964 -- Ducking the question -- 1970 -- Nut worth it -- 1974 -- The incredible disappearing MP -- 1974 -- Bootle? Computer says no -- 1979 -- The lady's not for leaking -- 1981 -- Landmark Decisions -- A blight on Battersea -- 1929 -- Tunnel vision -- 1929 -- Special deliveries -- 1935 -- Something in the air -- 1943 -- Estates in a state - 1951 --
• Contents note continued: Demolition man -- 1965 -- Harold Wilson's big idea -- 1975 -- Diplomatic Silences -- Britannia doesn't want to rule beneath the waves -- 1929 -- Don't let's be beastly to the Germans -- 1937 -- Digging up the dirt - 1953 -- President Eisenhower's artist friend and the trouble with Winston Churchill's trousers -- 1955 -- Next time, just get tokens -- 1957 -- Big nope to pope hope - 1959 -- Commonwealth doesn't have to mean common - 1960 -- Nelson Mandela's bookshelf - 1962 -- A Chile reception -- 1966 -- Good grief-- 1974 -- Tricky Dicky no-mates -- 1974 -- Well done, Mr Mugabe! -- 1980 -- The Falklands, brought to you in association with Argentina - 1982 -- Enemies Within -- We're the IRA, we're new -- 1919 -- Hark the Herald-1919 -- Cross purposes - 1944 -- The spies shine light on. Charlie Chaplin - 1956 -- It's a conspiracy, ma'am -- 1963 -- We will fine them on the beaches - 1964 -- The Watergate that wasn't -- 1975 -- Spy TV-1981 --
• Contents note continued: Strategic Thinking -- The thin end of the Wedgie -- 1957 -- Mrs Thatcher, milk ... saviour? -- 1970 -- A miner miscalculation - 1974 -- Little by little - 1974 -- It's now or never - 1978 -- Cultural Differences -- War is over ... this is no time to party -- 1919 -- Dirty details - 1926 -- The dawn of film censorship - 1928 -- Brought to book in the desert - 1942 -- Pressing the off button - 1952 -- By Royal Disappointment -- 1954 -- The horror, the horror - 1954 -- Skirting the issue - 1968 -- TV dinners - 1974 -- Not in front of the children - 1976 -- Changing channels - 1978 -- Hurrah for women! (just not that one) - 1978 -- Doing it for the kids -- 1982 -- Honoured Guests -- Permission to lunch - 1956 -- Cutting a rug - 1961 -- First Lady - 1970 -- Murdoch he wrote -- 1976 -- That nice Mr Mubarak - 1979 -- Chair envy - 1979 -- Savile's travels -- 1982 -- Eternal Outsiders -- Breaking up is so very hard to do - 1924 --
• Contents note continued: And I did not speak out because ... -- 1938 -- Blackening their names - 1951 -- Let's not talk about the queers -- 1954 -- Not all in the same boat -- 1979 -- Home Front -- A fair cop? -- 1922 -- You just can't get the staff - 1942 -- Fly Attlee Air -- 1946 -- Get a move on - 1951 -- Hear, hear - 1952 -- Ford: by appointment to the Prime Minister - 1955 -- Crossing the Line - 1956 -- That Harold Macmillan, he knows how to throw a party--1963 -- The Heathmobile - 1970 -- The Ironing Lady - 1979.

ISBN

• 9781408704233 (hbk.)
• 1408704234 (hbk.)
• 9781405519557 (ePub ebook)
• 140551955X (ePub ebook)

OCLC

• 855199990
• SCSB-10866088

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library