Thatcher's puppet now on display

Margaret Thatcher’s Spitting Image puppet now sits alongside the works of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and other treasures at Cambridge University Library.

The latex figure of the Oxford-educated former Prime Minister, pictured above next to Darwin’s bust, has been installed in its prestigious home after the series’ co-creator, Roger Law, donated his entire archive to the university.

A script and videotape of the unbroadcast pilot episode have also been placed on the library’s shelves.

The full archive comprises thousands of photographs, as well as scripts, magazine cuttings and memorabilia and more than 400 videos. Initially, 32 boxes of material have been deposited at the library with more items – including puppets of Mikhail Gorbachev and Alan Bennett – to follow.

Law, now 77, met co-creator Peter Fluck when they were both studying at the Cambridge School of Art, now part of Anglia Ruskin University.

Librarian Dr Jessica Gardner said:  ‘Challenging the status quo, and holding those in power to account, Spitting Image provided catharsis for its millions of viewers, both at home and abroad, who were going through the social, economic and political upheaval of the 1980s and 

‘Roger and [his wife] Deirdre’s archive now takes pride of place in our already strong holdings of 18th, 19th and 20th century satirical material which includes printed works by James Gillray and the archives of the University’s famous ADC Theatre and Footlights – as well as Robert Walpole’s papers relating to his attempted suppression of the press and critics of his government.’

The library will now begin fundraising for cataloguing and conservation work on the archive.

Published: 14 Nov 2018