final credits - edward heath
Ted Heath was born during a World War I German air raid on July 9, 1916. It was said that he did not move around other people, they moved around him — and after his fall from office, they moved away from him. He was one of the few real-life figures ever referred to by the Beatles in song ("Taxman") along with Lucy (in the sky) Richardson. He was the 47th prime minister of Britain.
Edward Heath died July 17, 2005 at the age of 89 from pneumonia due to failing health since suffering a pulmonary embolism in 2003.
Heath's father was a carpenter and his mother worked as a maid. He attended Oxford University on a music scholarship but also studied politics, philosophy and economics. He was active in student politics and was president of the noted debating society, Oxford Union. When he hitchhiked through Europe in 1937, attending music festivals, he once brushed shoulders with Adolf Hitler at a Nuremberg rally.
In 1938, Heath helped elect a Conservative candidate who was opposed to prime minister Neville Chamberlain's soft dealings with Hitler. After rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel during World War II while serving in the Royal Artillery, Heath returned to civilian life and politics, supporting himself as editor of a church newspaper and working as an investment banker.
In 1950, Heath was elected to parliament when Winston Churchill regained power. He was appointed to the post of chief whip, in charge of maintaining party discipline until 1959, when he gained a seat in cabinet as minister of labour in Harold Macmillan's government.
In addition to eventually seeking the leadership of his party, Heath was dedicated to Britain's joining the European Union, then called the Common Market. His efforts to bring Britain into the market was vetoed by French President Charles de Gaulle in January, 1963, with Britain's close economic and military ties to the United States being cited as the reason.
In 1965 at the age of 49, Heath was elected head of the Conservative Party, the party's youngest leader in nearly a century. He lost his first bid for prime minister to Harold Wilson in 1966, but won four years later in a narrow victory. He renewed his efforts to get Britain into the Common Market, and reached an agreement with French President Georges Pompidou in 1972. At the signing ceremony in Brussels, a woman in the crowd threw a pot of ink at Heath's head which ruined his suit, delaying the ceremony.
It was under Heath's watch that his government ordered a crackdown on members of the outlawed Irish Republican Army. In January 1972, on what would become known as Bloody Sunday, British troops fired into a crowd in Londonderry, killing 14 protesters, most of them Catholic. Britain then took over direct rule of Northern Ireland. Heath's inquiry into the event exonerated his soldiers, which galvanized Catholic rage. The October, 1973 Arab-Israeli War raised oil prices, and Britain faced a winter without enough fuel. Coal miners demanded wage increases and an end to overtime hours. The resulting economic chaos caused Heath to declare a state of emergency, placing the British economy on a three-day work week.
Heath lost the next two elections and was replaced by Margaret Thatcher as party leader. Instant acrimony characterised the relationship between the two leaders, and the pair were never on speaking terms. Asked in 1992 about the Thatcher government's most commendable act, Heath replied: "That she's gone."
During Thatcher's 15 years as leader, Heath's name was erased from party history. Their 1987 election platform omitted Heath when describing past Conservative policy toward Europe, despite his pivotal role during Common Market negotiations.
Heath served in parliament until October, 2000, ending a five decade run that saw him elected 14 times. He survived two I.R.A. assassination attempts. One bomb set outside his Downing Street residence exploded in his absence, and a bomb planted under his car came loose and did not explode when he drove away quickly to avoid being late for a dinner. He claimed to have visited every country in the world except North Korea, Bolivia and Paraguay. Heath took up yachting at age 50 and won Australia's Sydney to Hobart Race, and was chosen to captain Britain's Admiral's Cup Team in 1971 and 1979.
Heath never married, and once told reporters "I don't think I ever regret not getting married. A lot of politicians seem to regret they've got wives." In 1992, he became Sir Edward, a member of his country's most prestigious order of chivalry, the Knights of the Garter.