Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 - 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative politician, historian and diarist. April 13 is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The Conservative Party is one of the two largest political parties in the United Kingdom and the most successful party in political history based on election victories. ...

Early life

Alan Clark was the eldest son of the renowned art historian Kenneth Clark (later Lord Clark of Saltwood). He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he read law. Although called to the bar he did not practise and instead became a military historian. His first book, The Donkeys (1961), was a revisionist history of British involvement in the Great War, which was well received by the public but which greatly irritated the Army. Art history usually refers to the history of the visual arts. ... Sir Kenneth McKenzie Clark, Baron Clark, OM CH KCB, (July 13, 1903 – May 21, 1983) was a British author, museum director, broadcaster, and the most famous art historian of his generation. ... The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a prestigious and internationally known Public School for boys. ... College name Christ Church Named after Jesus Christ Established 1546 Sister College Trinity College Dean The Very Revd Christopher Andrew Lewis JCR President William Dorsey Undergraduates 426 MCR or GCR President {{{MCR President}}} Graduates 154 Home page Boat Club Christ Church (Latin: Ædes Christi, the temple or house of Christ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

However, in more recent years this work has been condemned by some historians for being one-sided and failing to recognise the intelligence and humanity of the large majority of World War One generals. Indeed when challenged by the eminent military historian John Terraine he was unable to provide an attribution for his Donkeys and Lions quotation. It was the inspiration for the popular pacifist musical Oh! What a Lovely War, though Clark himself was not pleased with the adaptation. He produced several more respected studies of the First and Second World Wars, before becoming involved in politics. John Terraine is the name of the editor who edited General Jacks Diaries. ... Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Oh! What A Lovely War began life in 1963 as a stage musical by Joan Littlewood and her London Theatre Workshop based on a book by the historian Alan Clark. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total dead: 8 million Military dead: 4 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total dead: 7 million The First World War, also known as... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Career

Clark entered Parliament as MP for Plymouth Sutton in 1974 and served in various junior ministerial posts at the departments of Employment, Trade and Defence during the Thatcher governments of the 1980s. The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Plymouth Sutton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... The Ministry of Defence (MOD, pronounced em-oh-dee) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ...

He was an outspoken maverick with strong views on animal rights, Unionism, race and class. Although he was personally liked by Margaret Thatcher, she never entrusted him with high office and he left Parliament in 1992 following her fall from power. His admission during the Matrix Churchill trial that he had been 'economical with the actualité' in answer to parliamentary questions over export licences to Iraq caused the collapse of the trial and caused the Scott Inquiry into Arms-for-Iraq, which helped undermine John Major's government. At the same time he was cited in a divorce case in South Africa in which it was revealed he had had affairs with Valerie Harkess, the wife of a South African judge, and her two daughters, Josephine and Alison. Clark's wife responded to what Clark had called "the coven" with the famous line: 'Well, what do you expect when you sleep with below stairs types?'. The logo of the Great Ape Project, which is campaigning for a Declaration on Great Apes. ... In the context of Irish politics, Unionists are people in Northern Ireland, who wish to see the continuation of the Act of Union 1800, as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, under which Northern Ireland, created in that latter Act, remains part of the United Kingdom of Great... An African-American man drinks out of the colored only water cooler at a racially segregated street car terminal in the United States in 1939. ... Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ... The Scott Report was a judicial inquiry commissioned in 1992 after reports of arms sales in the 1980s to Iraq by British companies surfaced. ... The Arms-for-Iraq scandal contributed to the growing dissatisfaction with the administration of John Major and was a cause of the landslide for Tony Blair in 1997. ... Sir John Major, KG, CH (born 29 March 1943) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 - 1997. ...

Clark published his political and personal diaries in 1993, which caused a minor scandal at the time by their candid descriptions of senior Conservative politicians such as Michael Heseltine, Douglas Hurd and Kenneth Clarke. In particular they embarrassed former chief whip Michael Jopling, reported by Clark as having described the self-made Heseltine as being someone who "buys his own furniture". The account of Thatcher's downfall in 1990 has been described, by some reviewers, as the most vivid that we have. Two subsequent volumes of his diaries have covered the earlier and later parts of Clark's parliamentary career. 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Michael Heseltine walks out of the cabinet meeting having resigned, January 9, 1986 Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC (born 21 March 1933) is a British Conservative politician and businessman. ... The Right Honourable Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC (born March 8, 1930), is a senior British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995. ... Kenneth Clarke The Right Honourable Kenneth Harry Clarke, QC, MP, (born 2 July 1940) is a leading Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. ... Thomas Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling, PC (born December 10, 1930) is a politician in the United Kingdom, and sits in the House of Lords as a member of the Conservative Party. ...

He became bored with life outside politics, however, and returned to Parliament as member for Kensington and Chelsea in the election of 1997. He died in 1999 of a brain tumour. It has been claimed by Father Michael Seed that Clark converted to Roman Catholicism just before his death, but his widow denied this. Kensington and Chelsea is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997. ... CT scan of brain showing brain cancer metastatic to left parietal lobe in the peri-ventricular area. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ...

To date he is the only Member of Parliament to be accused of being drunk at the despatch box. In 1983 while at Employment he was making a reading of a bill in the Commons after a wine-tasting dinner with Ian Gow, who was later assassinated by the IRA. As the complexities of the bill were too unclear for him to answer questions, Clare Short accused him of being drunk. Although the Government benches were furious at the accusation, Clark later admitted she was correct. Drunkenness, in its most common usage, is the state of being intoxicated with alcohol (i. ... Richard Bacon addresses the UK House of Commons from the oppositions despatch box. ... Wine degustation is the tasting of wine. ... Ian Gow (February 11, 1937–July 30, 1990) was a Conservative MP for Eastbourne, who was assassinated by the IRA. Gow, a member of Margaret Thatchers government was persuaded by the speeches of his cousin Nicholas Budgen to resign in 1985 as Minister of State in HM Treasury over... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA; more commonly referred to as the IRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the army or the RA) is an Irish Republican paramilitary organization dedicated to the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and to a United Ireland. ... The Right Honourable Clare Short (born February 15, 1946) is a British Labour Party politician. ...

After his death, his seat was contested and won by Michael Portillo. The Right Honourable Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo (born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative politician. ...

A recent BBC TV serialisation of his Diaries re-ignited the controversy surrounding their original publication and once again brought his name into the UK press and media.

Quotes

On the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano The Belgrano as she was in 1941 as the USS Phoenix passing Battleship row at Pearl Harbor The ARA General Belgrano was an Armada República Argentina cruiser sunk, with significant loss of life, in a controversial incident during the Falklands War. ...

• "So what does it matter where it was when it was hit? We could have sunk it if it'd been tied up on the quayside in a neutral port and everyone would still have been delighted."

To refugees expelled by Idi Amin from Uganda who held residence rights in the UK: Idi Amin on a ten-shilling note Idi Amin (May 17, 1924[1] – August 16, 2003) was an army officer and President of Uganda (1971 to 1979). ...

• "You cannot come here because you are not white."

On Christmas: Christmas is a Christian holiday held on December 25 which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. ...

• "I only can properly enjoy carol services if I am having an illicit affair with someone in the congregation. Why is this? Perhaps because they are essentially pagan, not Christian, celebrations."

On Douglas Hurd: Singing carols: John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together A Christmas carol (also called a noël) is a carol (song or hymn) whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas, or the winter season in general. ... The Right Honourable Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC (born March 8, 1930), is a senior British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995. ...

• "I fell into conversation with Douglas. His is a split personality. À deux he is delightful; clever, funny, observant, dryly cynical. But get him anywhere near 'display mode', particularly if there are officials around and he might as well have a corn cob up his arse. Pompous, trite, high-sounding, cautiously guarded."

On reform of the General Staff, as Minister of Defence Procurement: The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The Ministry of Defence (MOD, pronounced em-oh-dee) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. ...

• "I want to fire the whole lot. Instantly. Out, out. No 'District' commands, no golden bowlers, nothing. Out ... If I could, I'd do what Stalin did to Tukhachevsky."

On the Troubles in Northern Ireland: Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Marshal of the Soviet Union Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky (also spelled Tukhachevski, Tukhachevskii, Russian: Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский) (February 16, 1893 - June 11, 1937), Soviet military commander, was one of the most prominent victims of Stalins Great Purge of the late 1930s. ...

• "I concluded that the only solution is to arm the Orangemen - to the teeth - and get out."

• "The only solution for dealing with the IRA is kill 600 people in one night."

On the topic of arms sales to Indonesia which were later used to brutally suppress an uprising in East Timor. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA; more commonly referred to as the IRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the army or the RA) is an Irish Republican paramilitary organization dedicated to the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and to a United Ireland. ...

• When John Pilger asked him 'I read that you were a vegetarian and you are seriously concerned about the way animals are killed. Doesn’t that concern extend to the way humans, albeit foreigners, are killed?"'

"Curiously not, no."

Books

• Diaries: Three volumes 1972-1999
  • Volume 1 Diaries: In Power 1983-1992 (1993)
  • Volume 2 Diaries: Into Politics 1972-1982 (2000)
  • Volume 3 Diaries: The Last Diaries 1993-1999 (2002)
• The Donkeys, A History of the British Expeditionary Force in 1915 (1961)
• The Fall Of Crete (1963)
• Barbarossa, The Russo-German Conflict 1941-45 (1965)
• Aces High, The War in the Air Over the Western Front 1914-18 (1973)
• The Tories (1999)
• Suicide of Empires, Battles on the Eastern Front 1914-18 (1999)
• Backfire, A Passion for Cars and Motoring (2001)

Alan Clark started keeping a regular diary in 1955 which lasted until August 1999, during his second spell as a Member of Parliament, when he was incapacitated due to the onset of the brain tumour which was to be the cause of his death a month later. ...

External link

• BBC: The Alan Clark I knew