The life and times of Margaret Thatcher

THE PATH TO POWER

-- October 13, 1925: Margaret Hilda Roberts is born in Grantham, eastern England.

-- October 1943: Begins chemistry degree at Oxford University.

-- December 13, 1951: Marries businessman Denis Thatcher.

-- August 15, 1953: Birth of twin children Carol and Mark.

-- October 8, 1959: Harold Macmillan's Conservative Party comes to power. Thatcher elected Conservative member of parliament for Finchley, north London.

-- October 15, 1964: Re-elected despite Labour Party victory; becomes in turn opposition spokeswoman on pensions, then housing, treasury (deputy to finance spokesman), energy, transport and education.

-- June 19, 1970: Conservatives regain power; Thatcher appointed education and science secretary.

-- February 11, 1975: Thatcher elected Conservative leader after party enters opposition.

-- June 5, 1975: 67.2 percent of Britons vote in favour of remaining in European Community; Thatcher campaigned for "yes" camp.

-- May 3, 1979: Conservatives win election landslide after financial, social problems of Labour government; Thatcher becomes Britain's first female prime minister.

IN OFFICE

-- April 2, 1982: Argentina's military junta invades Falkland Islands; a furious Thatcher sends troops and ships to recapture them.

-- June 14, 1982: Argentina surrenders; Thatcher's popularity soars.

-- June 9, 1983: Thatcher leads Conservatives to re-election.

-- March 12, 1984: Coal miners' strike begins in northern England; drags on for a year before miners accept sweeping pit closures.

-- June 25-26, 1984: Britain wins rebate on its European Community budget contributions.

-- October 12, 1984: Irish Republican Army bombs Thatcher's hotel at Conservative annual conference in Brighton, southern England; she escapes injury but five others are killed.

-- November 20, 1984: State-owned British Telecom is privatised.

-- December 16, 1984: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meets Thatcher; afterwards she calls him as a man she "can do business with".

-- December 19, 1984: Thatcher signs joint declaration to return Hong Kong to China in July 1997.

-- June 11, 1987: Thatcher leads Conservatives to third straight term in office.

-- March 31, 1990: Riots in central London lead to demise of much-despised local community charge on property or "poll tax".

-- August 9, 1990: Thatcher commits Britain to US-led war with Iraq after dictator Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait.

-- November 28, 1990: Resigns after revolt amongst Conservatives over Europe policy.

POST-POLITICS

-- June 30, 1992: Takes her place in the upper House of Lords as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven.

-- February 5, 1994: Becomes chancellor of College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the oldest university in the United States after Harvard.

-- May 1997: Endorses young protege William Hague as he becomes new Conservative leader.

-- March 26, 1999: Pays controversial visit to right-wing former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet, held under house arrest outside London as he faced extradition to Spain on human rights charges.

-- March 22, 2002: Doctors, worried by a string of small strokes, order Thatcher to cease public speaking on health grounds.

-- June 26, 2003: Husband Denis Thatcher dies.

-- June 11, 2004: Attends funeral in Washington for former US president and ideological soulmate Ronald Reagan, who she hails in a video-taped eulogy as a great American who "won the Cold War".

-- October 13, 2005: Celebrates her 80th birthday with a party at a chic London hotel with Queen Elizabeth II among the guests.

-- December 7, 2005: Hospitalised for a night in London after complaining of feeling faint. Daughter Carol later reveals Thatcher suffers from memory loss.

-- March 7, 2008: Spends night in hospital after feeling unwell at a parliamentary function.

-- June 2009: Spends two weeks in hospital after breaking left arm in a fall at home.

-- June 8, 2010: After winning the May general election, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron welcomes her back to Downing Street for a reception in her honour.

-- October 14, 2010: Misses her 85th birthday party at Downing Street with flu before being admitted to hospital with an infection.

-- December 20, 2012: Admitted to hospital after procedure to remove a growth from her bladder.

-- April 8, 2013: Dies aged 87 following a stroke.