BBC Election 1979 opening sequence

The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 and is regarded as a pivotal point in 20th century British politics. The Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher defeated James Callaghan's incumbent Labour government in what would prove to be the first of four consecutive general election victories for the Conservative Party.

In the end, the overall swing of 5.2% was the largest since 1945 and gave the Conservatives a workable majority of 43 for the country's first female Prime Minister. The Conservative victory in 1979 also marked a change in government which would continue for 18 years until the Labour victory in 1997.

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• 1979

[tucker672]

XD love seeing Robin Day smoking live on tv :o !!! he would be shot now.

[akava77]

It's amazing that David Dimbleby and his colleagues in the studio kept going for so long with no signs of tiredness - I've been watching bits of it on BBC Parliament today and it's some marathon broadcast. True professionals.

Apart from a break of 3 hours between 4am and 7am, they went from close of polls at around 10pm well into the following afternoon. They must have gone through gallons of coffee during cut offs to go to regional updates.

[CzechMirco]

@abhudson14 Then you should learn more about your country and about how any country works, I suggest.

I tell you one thing, my country was a commie dictatorship at that time and they were scared shitless of her and Ronnie Reagan and they hated her with very similar passion to yours. And with a good reason.

[abhudson14]

@CzechMirco no im british and proud of it

[CzechMirco]

@abhudson14 Are you from Argentina? :D

[filmnet]

@bigfilmhat That would be a "fellow Yankee" with a Vancouver accent then.

[abhudson14]

the day that bitch came to power and brought the country to its knees the wores pm this country has had

[streetlegalone]

Has smoking been completely banned in the UK yet?

[SeventiesMania]

Interesting they talk about Mrs Thatcher making it, not Callaghan holding on. There was a sense of inevitability about her victory.

[1969delt]

When I was 8 my mates and me fought Labour supporting kids in the school yard. The next morning I asked my Mother if Thatcher had won. Happy memories

[supremerat]

Yes, Thatcher certainly knew how the screw the ordinary bloke in the street while tricking him into thinking she actually stood for what he wanted.