'Gone with the Wind' (Ronald Reagan; Margaret Thatcher)

1 portrait of Margaret Thatcher

© reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London

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'Gone with the Wind' (Ronald Reagan; Margaret Thatcher)

by Bob Light, and by John Houston, printed by East End Offset Ltd, published by Socialist Workers Party
offset lithograph printed in blue and red, 1981 or after
24 1/4 in. x 17 3/4 in. (617 mm x 452 mm) paper size
Purchased, 2014
Reference Collection
NPG D43009

Sittersback to top

Artistsback to top

  • East End Offset Ltd, Printers. Artist or producer associated with 1 portrait.
  • John Houston (active circa 1983). Artist or producer associated with 2 portraits.
  • Bob Light (1949-), Trade unionist. Artist or producer associated with 2 portraits.
  • Socialist Workers Party. Artist or producer associated with 1 portrait.

Events of 1981back to top

Current affairs

Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral. A crowd of 600,000 spectators filled the streets to catch a glimpse of the Royal couple, and 750 million viewers watched the event on television. The iconic moment came when Charles and Diana appeased the crowds by breaking royal protocol and kissing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Art and science

Andrew Lloyd-Webber's musical Cats, based on T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, opens in the West End. The show ran for 21 years.
Brideshead Revisited, the 1945 novel by Evelyn Waugh, is adapted for television by John Mortimer. The lavish production featured an all-star cast of Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom and John Gielgud, setting the bar high for future TV costume dramas.

International

Pope John Paul II is shot by a Turkish gunman in St Peter's Square in Rome. John Paul was rushed to hospital where he recovered, and Mehmet Ali Agca was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment.
HIV AIDS is identified in five men in Los Angeles.

Comments back to top

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Angie Morgan

27 September 2021, 15:02

I have this poster which I inherited from a friend. I love it and wondered how many more were out there and is it worth much. I spotted one in the Sunday Times Culture some months/years back in and article featuring political posters. It is so good to hear that both Bob Light and John Houston are (hopefully) still alive. It is a marvellous achievement given that it was done pre- Photoshop.

Nettie Jones

03 January 2021, 09:47

Only know where i saw it, a Council house, in the process of being sold off by Thatcher, on the back of our toilet door, Bristol UK

Carolyn James

16 October 2020, 21:40

I have an original print. Its in a trunk in my loft.
It was on my wall in my room at Worcester College in 1981.
Fellow students & I were fearful of Reagans 'Space weaponry' ideas and Margaret Thatcher seemed smitten every time she met him.
The cold war felt like a real threat to our future lives.
It was an iconic poster reflecting youthful concerns,

Bob Light

12 February 2019, 17:22

I was one of the artists who designed this poster and the following information might be helpful.
1. It was designed for the Christmas edition of "Socialist Worker" in December 1980 and reprinted as a poster in early 1981.
2. Both John and myself are still both very much alive - although now retired.
3. Unsurprisingly, Reagan and Thatcher were not "sitters" - they were Mel Norris and Linda Quinn. We simply cut and pasted Reagan and Tv's heads from library shot that I bought from The Daily Mail!!.