20 Mind-Blowing Facts About Margaret Thatcher

18. Thatcher's Daughter Carol Was Suspended by The BBC For Calling A Tennis Player A "Golliwog"... And Her Son Mark Was Arrested For Being Involved In A Coup In Equatorial Guinea

On August 15, 1953, Thatcher gave birth to twins - Carol and Mark - who would go on to prove to be extremely controversial in the years to come. First of all, in 2009 Carol Thatcher was sacked as a freelance contributor to BBC's The One Show after allegedly making a racist comment during the 2009 Australian Open. Supposedly while in the show's green room, Carol referred to black French tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as a "half-golliwog" and "the golliwog Frog". She did apologise for the incident, but she was still sacked. However, even more bizarre were the actions of Mark Thatcher. As well as being accused of running loan-shark operations in South Africa, he was also arrested at his home in Cape Town in August 2004 and charged with contravening the nation's "Foreign Military Assistance Act". Thatcher's son was accused of funding and assisting his friend Simon Mann's attempts to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea. He was later found guilty and given a four-year suspended jail sentence as well as being fined 3,000,000 South African Rand (£170,000). In fact, Simon Mann even later claimed that Thatcher "was not just an investor, he came completely on board and became a part of the management team". Absolutely bizarre...