Margaret Thatcher and Dorothy Hodgkin in Conversation: Iron Lady Versus Socialist Scientist

by Rob Walters

Reviews It's good, very good! Peter Ashby FRSA, Consultant. I read the first few chapters of Margaret and Dorothy in Conversation last night and enjoyed it - on a number of levels: the well-told and absorbing story of a developing relationship; the lesser-known biographical details (well, lesser known to me anyway); the content of the discussions -fundamental opposing political ideas discussed intelligently and without rancour. D'Arcy Vallance, Author and ELT Consultant Really enjoyed the book. The subject matter is fascinating, whetted my appetite to read more ... haven't read anything on Margaret (the blood might boil!) and limited stuff on Dorothy. Really enjoyed the book. The subject matter is fascinating, whetted my appetite to read more. Maureen Minton, Oxford City Guide. ...it's the topics of conversation which make it an interesting read. Most of the subjects are still with us and contentious like the social issues of gender, bringing up children, education and women's equal place in society, the morality of science. Bjorn Runngren. Swedish Anglophile. Overview A fascinating set of conversations between two extraordinary women. Margaret Thatcher is known to all. Dorothy Hodgkin should be: she is Britain's only female scientific Nobel Prize winner, a reward for her groundbreaking work in determining the structure of penicillin and vitamin B12. It is difficult to imagine two women more different in character and political beliefs, yet their lives were closely linked: Dorothy was Margaret's tutor when the younger woman studied chemistry at Oxford University; Margaret, as Prime Minister, invited her old tutor to lunch at Chequers. The conversations take place during Margaret's fourth year at Oxford while she carried out research work in Dorothy's crystallography lab. They range widely over topics from socialism to sexual freedom. No one knows exactly what they did discuss, but the conversations are soundly based in the factual world of post war Britain and reflect the characters of these two very interesting women.

120 pages, Paperback

First published February 16, 2014

About the author

I always wanted to write, even as a kid, and now I do. I can transfer the desire to other projects and often do - but if there is nothing much on then I need to write.

In my past life in the technical world I was often puzzled by colleagues who hated writing in the way that some people hate maths. They were forced to write whereas the pen had to be wrested from my hand.

When my children were young I wrote for them. I clearly recall reading the second chapter of a book I started on the lives of a family of city foxes. I had almost finished reading a section in which most of the cubs were gassed in their earth when I looked up and was amazed to see tears streaming down the faces of my two daughters. The power of the written word.

My first full book was published in 1991, It followed many technical papers and articles and was followed by two newsletters which I edited, and mostly wrote, for the next ten years. Four more technical books appeared after which I abandoned the world of technology and began doing my own thing.

I travelled, became an Oxford city guide, and wrote a number of books and articles, some fiction, some non-fiction, some published, some not. Finally, frustrated with the world of publishing, I opened my own bookshop on the web.