Suez Crisis Peacekeepers to police the Egyptian–Israeli border, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigned, Canadian Minister of External Affairs Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize, and the USSR may have been emboldened to invade Hungary. The Suez Canal was opened in 1869, after ten years of work financed by the French and Egyptian governments. The canal was operated by the Universal Company of the Suez Maritime Canal, an Egyptian-chartered company; the area surrounding the canal remained sovereign Egyptian territory and the only land-bridge between Africa and Asia. The canal instantly became strategically important, as it provided the shortest ocean link between
Cultural depictions of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom the Middle East. In the Ian Curteis television play "Suez 1956" (1979), Michael Gough portrayed Eden. Film Eden is portrayed by Samuel West in "Darkest Hour" (2017). Television Film Other Cultural depictions of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom Cultural depictions of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom have become commonplace since the term's first use in 1905. However, they have been applied to prime ministers who were in office before the first use of the term. They are listed here chronologically from the date of first appointment as prime minister. Melbourne has been portrayed in the following film and