Prime Ministers

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.

• ContentsIntroduction 9Man of the Forest - Disraeli's passion for treesIdle Jim - James Callaghan's first days in the jobSpeak as You Think... And Cherish Freedom - The mottoes of prime ministersLong Odds at Number Ten - The huge unlikelihood of anyone ever becoming prime ministerThe Inventor of Spin - David Lloyd George and the uses of the press`I am murdered, murdered...' - The strange assassination of Spencer PercevalChurchillian, but not Churchill - Five things Churchill is said to have said, but didn'tWhips and Wicked Women - The peccadilloes of William Ewart GladstoneYou Probably Could Make It Up - Five fictional prime ministersTerms of Office - The revolving door of Number TenGreat and Small - The diminutive Lord John RussellBorn to Rule - Where do our prime ministers come from?Speaking in Tongues - The Gladstones' private languageWords with Bite - Churchill's rhetorical false teethThe Great Helmsman - Heath on the crest of the waveA Quick Bath - William Poultney's quite brief turn of officeDear Prime Minister - The growing postbag at Number TenBehind the Big Black Door - The power that resides at Number Ten Downing StreetInside Chequers - The country home of the ruling prime ministerUnknown to Fame - Benjamin Disraeli, the London dandyHorses for Courses - Lord Rosebery and the Epsom DerbyDizzy's Wit - Words of wisdom from the works of Benjamin DisraeliBorn for the Job - Robert Peel's pushy fatherTop of the Greasy Pole - Prime ministers' reaction to getting the jobSleepless in Mayfair - Lord Rosebery's cure for insomniaBoardroom Bullies - Questionable behaviour in CabinetPremier League - The 20th-century prime ministers ranked in order of greatnessBe a Butcher and Know the Joints - Prime ministers on the cut and thrust of politicsCat, Cop, Club... - Ten things named after Mrs ThatcherWho's your Uncle - How a helping hand can make all the differenceDictator or Democrat? - The two political faces of William PittConstabulary Work to be Done - Sir Robert Peel and the invention of the policeThatcher the Compassionate - The soft side of the Iron LadyOut the Door - Becoming an ex-PMLend me your Ear - Wellington's unlikely brush with an untimely deathSpeak Easy - Asquith's gift of the gabPam's Scandals - Digging the dirt on Lord PalmerstonThe Pursuit of Idleness - The slothful philosophy of Arthur BalfourLike Father... - Political dynasties in the House of CommonsUgly Rumours - Lord North, his wife and his daughterMore Ugly Rumours - Tony Blair's mercifully brief Mick Jagger phaseBeware the Iron Lady - The Russians' accidental compliment to Mrs ThatcherBrothers in Office - The premiership of Pelham and NewcastleSex and the City of Westminster - Unparliamentary liaisonsBefore a Fall - Prime ministers and their bumps, hurts and scrapesAn Unknown PM - The unjust eclipse of Andrew Bonar LawA Kingly Likeness - Prime ministers and the royal bloodNo Higher than a Policeman - Prime ministers' descriptions of the jobBeamish Boy - The unequalled brilliance of Pitt the YoungerUnseated - Life after LeadershipLast Resting Place - The funerals of prime ministersBlair Play - Acting out politics`The Goat-Footed Bard...' - Maynard Keynes' assessment of Lloyd GeorgeWilliam Pitt and the Credit Crunch - How one prime minister tackled an economic crisisThe Actors who have Played Churchill - Portrayals on television and in the cinemaClever Clogs - The immense brains of Gladstone and DisraeliBullingdon Boy - David Cameron's Time with Oxford's Posh EliteOne of Bellamy's Veal Pies - Last Words of the Prime MinistersRobert Cecil's School Days - Lord Salisbury's hellish time at EtonJohn, Paul, George, and Harold - Wilson's desperate pursuit of popularityCry, Baby, Cry - The politics of tearfulnessPortrait of a Lady - The moulding of Mrs ThatcherPistols at Dawn - Prime-ministerial duellistsHerbert Henry, Henry Herbert - The changing forenames of prime minister AsquithA Train of One's Own - Lord Salisbury's CommutePMs and their Pets - Four-legged creatures in Downing StreetCycling Dave - The two-wheeler politicianClement Attlee, the Comic Poet - The prime ministerial letter in verseClem, Pee-Em - Another Attleean verseRoses are Red, Tories are Blue - The PM who Loved to Arrange FlowersEvil Likenesses - PMs in cartoons and satiresWilson, a Russian Spy? - Cloak-and-dagger stuff at Number TenA Period of Silence - The man-of-few-words style of AttleeAfter Anthony - Choosing the successor to EdenAllure of the Handbag - The feminine charms of Margaret Thatcher`Crisis? What Crisis?' - The damaging quote that never wasA Melancholy Pacifist - The Unhappy life and premiership of the Earl of AberdeenBute on the Back Foot - Britain's most unpopular prime ministerFour Things Named after Prime Ministers - Eponymous prime-ministerial paraphernaliaThe Iron Teddybear - The Duke of Wellington's soft spot for childrenFour More Things Named after PMs - A tea, a tow, a faithful promise and an item of footwearTrouble with Gladstone - The most insufferable prime minister of them allDestruction of a Masterpiece - The lost last portrait of Winston Churchill`Give it to Brown...' - Salisbury's inability to put a name to a faceHamish and the Sorceress - Ramsay MacDonald's love for Lady LondonderryA Home for Alec - A man between two housesThe Complete Roll Call - All the prime ministers from Walpole to MayIndex