Harold Wilson

Trivia

• Four times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1964-1966; 1966-1970; 1974 and 1974-76).
• Became a Labour Member of Parliament in 1945.
• Became a Labour peer in the House of Lords in 1983.
• Studied at Jesus College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree in politics, philosophy, and economics and became a lecturer in economics in 1937.
• Is buried on the Scilly Isles, off the south west coast of England. This was one of his favourite places and he spent many holidays there whilst Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• His pipe was more of a prop, since away from the camera he usually smoked cigars.
• He was portrayed by Patrick Brennan in the play "The Reporter", which opened at the National Theatre in London, in February 2007. It was written by Nicholas Wright , directed by Richard Eyre and focused on the life (and death) of the BBC correspondent James Mossman who interviewed him in the mid-1960s.
• Is mentioned in the lyrics of George Harrison's song "Taxman" as: "Taxman, Mister Wilson" along with his Prime Ministerial successor Edward Heath: "Taxman, Mister Heath." The snub arose due to the exorbitant income taxes levied by the British government on wealthy pop stars - as much as 95%. "There's one (shilling) for you, nineteen (shillings) for me." (20 shillings equaled £1 sterling back then).

Quotes

• “We are redefining and we are restating our socialism in terms of the scientific revolution. . . .”
• “I believe the greatest asset a head of state can have is the ability to get a good night's sleep.”
• “What he proposes is, in my view ... unacceptable.”
• “You don't send a balloon up and then put a pin in it. He's gotten to the age where he should think about retiring.”
• “Britain faces the gravest economic crisis since the War.”
• “When they tore that (gas station) down about six years ago, it affected my breathing for weeks.”
• “I moved in here 12 years ago to die. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I was told I had five years to live. I've been living on borrowed time for seven years.”
• “My friend, we don't support savages, we just allow them to come to our meetings.”
• “The judge then handed down three sentences of death -- one for each of the victims. After he said it, I was wondering, how are they going to kill me three times? I was transferred to the death row facility. When I arrived at the facility, I was housed in isolation from the general population. I was in shock. I was in a different world.”
• “Kids have a mindset - and a lot of people have a mindset - that you have to have a starting five, and they're supposed to play as much as they can. What we had to understand was if we wanted the starters to finish strong, we had to have that other group play. We had to keep up the pace and tempo to keep the defense continually strong. We had to wear down our opponents.”