I’ve always enjoyed reading old newspapers. Before the internet era I’d go to the newspaper library in Colindale, North London and end up spending the day trawling through yellowing newspapers. Alternatively, I’d use microfilm in my public library. Now, thanks to the online Times Archive, anybody can access contemporary coverage of events free from spin or the pseudo-history in politicians’ (very) subjective memoirs.

My first political memories date back to when I was about seven years old. Here’s my choice of the most noteworthy British political events between 1974 and 1985 with some selective links to the Times Archive.

1974: Edward Heath (1916-2005,) grim-faced and shoulders definitely not shaking, loses the so-called Who Governs? February general election (March 1 1974), followed by another in October that delivered a very narrow Labour majority.

1975: A woman named Margaret Thatcher (b.1925) is the new leader of the Conservative Party. “We’ve just won the next election,” said then foreign secretary James Callaghan (1912-2005). (Front page, February 12 1975)

Also the year of strange alliances as Roy Jenkins (1920-2003) and Shirley Williams (b.1934) got into bed with Heath to campaign for a “yes” vote to stay in Europe during the referendum and Michael Foot nestled up to Enoch Powell (1912-1998) on the  “no platform”.

1976: Harold Wilson (1916-1995) resigns suddenly as prime minister and unexpectedly, triggering a wave of speculation in the media. Later, Wilson’s controversial Honours’ List alienated even some on his own side. (Front page, May 27 1976)

1977: The Liberals save the Labour government from defeat in a non-confidence vote (Front page, March 24 1977) and prop up the government with a special Lib-Lab Pact.

1978: The election that never was as new PM Callaghan defies all expectations and decides (unwisely with hindsight) not to call an election, just like Gordon Brown 29 years later. 

1979: The so-called winter of discontent brings Britain to a standstill. In the subsequent election, Mrs Thatcher wins a handsome majority and then ludicrously (in view of her subsequent style of governing) cites St Francis of Assisi as she walks up Downing Street.

1980: Pressure grows on Thatcher to make a U-Turn in the wake of rising unemployment – “U-turn if you want, the lady’s not for turning,” she tells her conference, a pivotal moment, the end of the post-war consensus whereby governments’ post-war priority was the prevention of unemployment. (Front page, October 11 1980)

1981: The Brixton riots. Norman Tebbit (b.1931), the new breed of Tory that his renascent party would have had to invent if he hadn’t existed, tells his party’s conference that he grew up in the 1930s with an unemployed father. “He didn’t riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking until he found it,” says Tebbit.  (Front page, October 16 1981)

1982: What else but the Falklands? “Rejoice, rejoice at that news,” proclaims Mrs Thatcher on the steps of Downing Street following the defeat of the Argentineans (and I’m not talking about football). Immediately, her election rating soars. (Front page June 15 1982)

1983: Probably the most mismatched election ever – poor old moth-eaten 70-year-old Michael Foot, the man lampooned by the media for wearing a duffel coat at the annual remembrance day service, takes on Mrs Thatcher, riding high on the back of the Falklands victory. Labour is routed – its manifesto, memorably described by Gerald Kaufman (b.1931) as “the longest suicide note in history”. Incidentally, Michael Foot turns 95 this year! (June 10 1983)

1984: The Miners’ Strike. Having defeated the so-called enemy without (General Galtieri 1926-2003) Thatcher defeats the so-called enemy within in the shape of militant Marxist Arthur Scargill, president of the National Union of Mineworkers (b.1938).  Also – and perhaps most memorably – this was the year that the IRA attempted to murder the entire Conservative government at their Brighton conference. (Front page, October 13 1984)

1985: Labour’s internecine war continues. Labour leader Neil Kinnock (b.1942) attacks Militant at his party’s conference in Liverpool. Left-wing firebrand MP Eric Heffer (1922-1991) storms off the platform. (Front Page, October 2 1985).

You can also search under a specific day and find out the news on your birthday or any day of particular significance for you. Enjoy the journey down memory lane!