Marcia Falkender, Baroness Falkender
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marcia Matilda Falkender, Baroness Falkender CBE (born March 10, 1932), formerly Marcia Williams, previously Marcia Field, is a British Labour politician, being first the private secretary for, and then the political secretary and head of political office to, Harold Wilson. She is thought to have been one of the principal sources of true stories behind the Yes Minister series.
Educated at Northampton High School for Girls and reading a BA in History at Queen Mary College of the University of London, she became secretary to the General Secretary of the Labour Party in 1955; a year later, in 1956, she became Harold Wilson's private secretary, a position she remained in until 1964, when she rose to be his political secretary and head of political office in his position as Leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister from 1964 until 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976.
When Wilson resigned it was found that Marcia Williams had written the first draft of his resignation honours on lavender paper (it became known as the "Lavender List"). The events leading up to the drafting were portrayed in the BBC Four docudrama The Lavender List, with Gina McKee starring as Williams.
She married George Edmund Charles Williams in 1955, and divorced him in 1961, but continued to be known as Marcia Williams in her professional life. She had two children by the political journalist Walter Terry.
She was elevated to the Peerage as Baroness Falkender, of West Haddon in the County of Northamptonshire on July 11, 1974. As a result, Private Eye often referred to her as "Forkbender". Although she attends sittings in the House of Lords, she has yet to make her maiden speech.
After retiring, she worked as a columnist for the Mail on Sunday from 1983 to 1988.
This biography of a baron in the peerage of the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
