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Prime Ministers delves into the premiership's 300 year history and unearths a host of fascinating, intriguing and little-known facts about some of the best-known characters in British history, lifting the lid on the top job.







Find out about the Prime Minister who only lasted 100 days, another who served for 21 years, or how Downing Street came to be the Premier's residence. Brief, accessible and entertaining pieces on a wide variety of subjects makes it the perfect book to dip in to.



"The Amazing and Extraordinary Facts series" presents interesting, surprising and little-known facts and stories about a wide range of topics which are guaranteed to inform, absorb and entertain in equal measure.

Prime Ministers

1 Introduction 9



2 Man of the Forest 13



3 Idle Jim 13



4 Speak as You Think... And Cherish Freedom 14



5 Long Odds at Number Ten 16



6 The Inventor of Spin 17



7 'I am murdered, murdered...' 18



8 Churchillian, but not Churchill 21



9 Whips and Wicked Women 21



10 You Probably Could Make It Up 24



11 Terms in Office 26



12 Great and Small 27



13 Born to Rule 28



14 Speaking in Tongues 29



15 Words with Bite 31



16 The Great Helmsman 32



17 A Quick Bath 34



18 Dear Prime Minister 35



19 Behind the Big Black Door 36



20 Inside Chequers 39



21 Unknown to Fame 40



22 Horses for Courses 42



23 Dizzy's Wit 44



24 Born for the Job 45



25 Top of the Greasy Pole 46



26 Sleepless in Mayfair 48



27 Boardroom Bullies 49



28 Premier League 51



29 Be a Butcher and Know the Joints 53



30 Cat, Cop, Club... 55



31 Who's your Uncle 56



32 Dictator or Democrat? 57



33 Constabulary Work to be Done 58



34 Thatcher the Compassionate 61



35 Out the Door 62



36 Lend me your Ear 63



37 Speak Easy 64



38 Pam's Scandals 65



39 The Pursuit of Idleness 66



40 Like Father... 66



41 Ugly Rumours 68



42 More Ugly Rumours 69



43 Beware the Iron Lady 71



44 Brothers in Office 73



45 Sex and the City of Westminster 75



46 Before a Fall 77



47 An Unknown PM 78



48 A Kingly Likeness 80



49 No Higher than a Policeman 81



50 Beamish Boy 83



51 Unseated 84



52 Last Resting Place 85



53 Blair Play 87



54 'The Goat-Footed Bard...' 88



55 William Pitt and the Credit Crunch 89



56 The Actors who have Played Churchill 91



57 Clever Clogs 91



58 Bullingdon Boy 92



59 One of Bellamy's Veal Pies 94



60 Robert Cecil's School Days 96



61 John, Paul, George, and Harold 96



62 Cry, Baby, Cry 97



63 Portrait of a Lady 98



64 Pistols at Dawn 100



65 Herbert Henry, Henry Herbert 102



66 A Train of One's Own 103



67 PMs and their Pets 105



68 Cycling Dave 106



69 Clement Attlee, the Comic Poet 107



70 Clem, Pee-Em 108



71 Roses are Red, Tories are Blue 109



72 Evil Likenesses 109



73 Wilson, a Russian Spy? 111



74 A Period of Silence 112



75 After Anthony 114



76 Allure of the Handbag 115



77 'Crisis? What Crisis?' 115



78 A Melancholy Pacifist 117



79 Bute on the Back Foot 120



80 Four Things Named After Prime Ministers 121



81 The Iron Teddybear 124



82 Four More Things Named After PMs 124



83 Trouble with Gladstone 127



84 Destruction of a Masterpiece 128



85 'Give it to Brown...' 130



86 Hamish and the Sorceress 130



87 A Home for Alec 133



88 The Complete Roll Call 134



89 Index 137