Margaret Thatcher become a generic descriptor for strong-willed female politicians. Thatcher became Prime Minister on 4 May 1979. Arriving at Downing Street she said, paraphrasing the misattributed Prayer of Saint Francis: Thatcher was to remain in office throughout the 1980s. For most of her premiership, she was described as the most powerful woman in the world. Thatcher was Leader of the Opposition and Prime Minister at a time of increased racial tension in Britain. Commenting on the local elections of 1977, "The Economist" noted "The Tory tide swamped the smaller parties. That specifically includes the National Front (NF), which suffered a clear
Thatcher effect Thatcher effect The Thatcher effect or Thatcher illusion is a phenomenon where it becomes more difficult to detect local feature changes in an upside-down face, despite identical changes being obvious in an upright face. It is named after the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, on whose photograph the effect was first demonstrated. The effect was originally created in 1980 by Peter Thompson, Professor of Psychology at the University of York. The effect is illustrated by two originally identical photos, which are inverted. The second picture is obviously altered so that the eyes and mouth are vertically flipped, though the